From Tom Taylor's column this morning, an explanation of why the purchase of the FM will take a little while...
That’s because of the FCC’s local cross-ownership rules, which grandfather in WGN radio, channel 9 WGN-TV and the daily paper, but wouldn’t allow for an additional broadcast property. Also coming at WGN radio – a new slogan, replacing “Voice of Chicago” (introduced by previous GM Tom Langmyer, who once ran “Voice of St. Louis” KMOX (1120). de Castro favors “Chicago’s Very Own,” modeled on the branding of sister WGN-TV. There will be increased sharing of talent between radio and TV, including traffic reports and morning reporters from Channel 9. Any talk of acquiring an FM station probably begins at the doorstep of Merlin Media, which owns classic rock “Loop” WLUP/97.9, hot AC “i101” WIQI and the Channel 6 TV-based revival of alternative WKQX. How would the Merlin backers at Chicago-based GTCR feel about a sale, once Tribune’s got everything lined up? They’ve already got a pending sale of their Philadelphia standalone WWIQ/106.9 to K-Love parent EMF.
And this additional info from Robert Feder's Facebook page...
David Kaplan will continue to talk sports in evenings. Nick Digilio and Pete McMurray are expected to figure in some combination of late-night and overnight shifts. Weekends also are getting makeovers with deCastro zeroing in on former WGN midday stars Kathy O'Malley and Judy Markey for a late Saturday morning show and former "Sunday Papers" host Rick Kogan for a late Sunday night show. Tribune political writer Rick Pearson is slated to host a Sunday morning show, leading into later hours for Dean Richards. Others said to be on deCastro's "wish list" include such big names as Steve Dahl, Roe Conn and John Williams. Stay tuned for more.
