MEDIA NOTEBOOK
A curation of news items about the media from this past week, with a particular emphasis on Chicago…
RADIO/PODCASTS
*Chuck Swirsky Releases His Memoir
=He is beginning his 25th year as an NBA
announcer and his 15th season with the Bulls, and now Chuck Swirsky
is also an author. His book is available for pre-order beginning today via Eckhartz Press. It ships on October 26th. Chuck has some great
stories in this book, including about his days at the Loop (with Steve &
Garry), WGN Radio (a story you’ll never forget about Milo Hamilton &
Harry Caray), University of Michigan (as a one man basketball broadcasting
crew), and of course, as the play-by-play man for the Toronto Raptors and the Chicago
Bulls. Steph Curry, Chris Bosch, Jerry Reinsdorf, and Toronto Raptors owner
Larry Tanenbaum all contribute to the book, and there are tons of incredible
photographs.
*New Morning Show at WBMX
=The Ed Lover Morning show is no more at Classic
Hip Hop WBMX (104.3FM). His former co-host Jen BT (Jennifer Farina) is
taking over as the main host. The new name of the morning show is now Jams Throwback
Mornings with Jen BT. Lover remains with the company (Audacy) as the night-time
jock in New York (WXBK). Radio Insight has more details.
*Blues Breakers Breaks Away from WXRT
=Tom Marker shocked the fans of XRT’s Blues
Breakers show, which has aired on 93.1 FM since 1984, when he announced that
this Sunday’s show will be the last one on WXRT.
=The show will continue, 2-hours commercial free, as
part of the 11-hour block of Blues on WDCB (College of DuPage) every Saturday.
*Jane Clauss Joins Steve Cochran Show
=There’s a new voice on Steve Cochran’s morning show at WLS-AM 890. Jane Clauss has been added to the show. You may remember her from her stint at WLUP (2005-2008), but she has also hosted television shows on Direct-TV and worked as an entertainment reporter for local TV in Phoenix. Jane responded to the news...
"I'm thrilled to call the 'Big 89' my new radio home. Being a part
of the legendary WLS call letters and working alongside Steve Cochran every
weekday morning is a true honor."
*iHeart’s Sista Strut
=Tomorrow is the first day of Breast Cancer Awareness month and iHeart Chicago is participating in the Sista Strut Pink Celebration, which is a 3K breast cancer walk sponsored by local Ford dealers to benefit the Sisters Network Chicago, Inc. WGCI’s Kendra G will be there, V103’s Bionce Foxx, 1390s Sonya Blakely, and Steve Harvey’s co-host Carla Ferrell. The stations are partnering with ABC7 Chicago. The event kicks off at 10am at the Ray & Joan Kroc Community Center on the southside.
*Detroit News Anchor Murdered
=This is a horrible story from Detroit. The WWJ news anchor’s name was Jim Matthews. An
acquaintance of the family murdered Jim and injured four others including his 10-year-old
son and 5-year-old daughter. The suspect is in custody and has been arraigned.
*What Does Tom Jones Tell Us About Radio?
=Tom Jones was in town this week performing at
the Chicago Theater. Famed radio blogger Dick Taylor wrote a piece last
week that was inspired by going to a Tom Jones show. He called it "What I
Learned at a Tom Jones Concert." Hint: it has something to do with demographics
and radio.
*Podcast Corner
=Here’s a podcast you surely never expected. It’s hosted and produced by the CIA. I’m sure it’s wacky.
=CNN has been a prominent podcaster. It appears that
is no longer their model. This week they announced a major reduction in the podcast staff.
=Edison Research reports the differences between podcasts popular with Democratic and Republican listeners. Democrats are more likely to
listen to podcasts, but they often choose non-political ones. Republicans are less
invested in the podcast world, but are more likely to listen to political
podcasts. The weirdest information to come out of this research? The #1 podcast
is the same for both sides. Can you guess which one it is? The Joe Rogan Show.
=Another odd tidbit from another research study. The Morning Consult survey says that YouTube is now the top podcast provider choice for both adults and kids.
=Congrats to the Destination Eat Drink podcast (a great pod for traveling foodies) for posting their 200th episode today. That’s an impressive milestone.
MEDIA BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES
*Kerri Kendall’s birthday was September 25. The
former Playboy Playmate was the co-host of Playtime with Bill & Kerri
on WGCO for several years. I featured them in my Illinois Entertainer column afew years ago.
*Former Chicago Bear and WBBM-TV sports anchor Johnny
Morris celebrated a birthday on September 26th. Johnny has kept a
pretty low profile since stepping down at Channel 2, although he did make this
appearance at Rich King’s book signing in 2014.
*September 26th was also the birthday of
former Chicago Tonight host Phil Ponce. This photo was taken in 2013
when John Records Landecker appeared on the program with Phil.
*Me-TV’s Neal Sabin’s birthday was September
27. He is featured prominently in this piece I wrote for Illinois Entertainer a few years ago, when Me-TV FM first started making an impact.
*Former Jammin Oldies and WE-FM morning man Doug
James celebrated a birthday on September 27. I’ve worked with the talented
voice over man in the past. He was kind enough to pen this guest blog for me when I first began blogging back in 2006.
*September 27 is also the birthday of former
Brandmeier producer Guy Bauer. I interviewed Guy for Illinois Entertainer after he left Johnny’s show and started up his own video production
company.
*September 27, 1992, the Dr. Demento Show
featured a song I wrote for the Ebony & Ivory show on AM 1000 (“Okoberfest
is Hier!). I still have the record.
*September 28 would have been Ed Sullivan’s birthday.
If you’ve ever wondered what the experience of being on the Ed Sullivan show
was like, I’ve interviewed a few people who have told their stories about Ed, including
former Rascals lead singer Felix Cavaliere, and Buckinghams guitarist Carl
Giammarese.
*September 29, 1952, Garfield Goose debuted on
Chicago television, WBKB. The host was not Frazier Thomas. It was Bruce
Newton. The first puppeteer for Garfield was the station secretary Leann
Prineas. The show ran opposite Howdy Doody on NBC.
*September 29 is the birthday of former Channel 2
& 7 anchor Diann Burns. She was an Emmy winner as a newscaster, but
I recently also spotted her in the film Richie Rich. Don’t judge. I was
babysitting.
*September 30 is former WBBM-AM and WMAQ-AM morning news anchor Pat Cassidy’s birthday. I’ve previously interviewed him a few times, including this one in Illinois Entertainer in 2020.
*Amy Landecker’s birthday is September 30th.
The talented offspring of John Landecker is a successful actress in Hollywood
now. She has been in 88 different movies or television series including the Emmy-winning
Transparent, and the Academy-Award nominated Coen Brothers film A
Serious Man. She’s also been on my podcast.
*Carol Harmon’s birthday is September 30 as
well. Carol was Jonathan Brandmeier’s producer for many years and is very
highly regarded.
*Radio’s Best Friend Art Vuolo is also celebrating
a birthday on September 30th. Here he is at the most recent Morning
Radio Boot Camp in Chicago with the creator of the event, Don Anthony.
TV/STREAMING
*Svengoolie Interview
=The new issue of Illinois Entertainer comes out tomorrow
(October 1) and will feature my interview with Rich Koz, the Chicago
icon Svengoolie. Be sure to look for it.
*Charlie Schumacher Obituary
=I mentioned Charlie’s passing last week, but I wanted
to also pass along this obit about him in the Oak Park/River Forest Journal from this week. I think it captures him well.
*Coming soon to NBC-5 Chicago: Evrod Cassidy
=For the past few years Evrod has been working in the
Detroit market, and that’s where he’ll be until November 4th. After
that, he’ll be an anchor and reporter at Channel 5 in Chicago. Evrod grew up in
Chicago.
*R.I.P. Bill Plante
=The famous newsman passed away this week. Plante was best known for his many years at CBS News, where he worked as
a White House correspondent, but Bill got his start right here in his hometown
of Chicago. More details are in the Wrap.
*Katie Couric Announces She Has Breast Cancer
=She was filming a feature of herself getting a mammogram
to promote the importance of women getting them, when the doctor told her to turn
off the camera. They needed to talk in private. Katie has breast cancer. She wrote about that experience on her website.
*Trevor Noah Leaving the Daily Show
=He is in his 7th season as the host of the iconic late night show, but Trevor Noah is ready to spread his wings a little bit. Variety has the story this morning.
*R.I.P. Dale McRaven
=You might not be familiar with McRaven’s name, but
you’ve certainly seen his work. McRaven created Mork & Mindy with Garry
Marshall and later Perfect Strangers. He also wrote for The Dick
Van Dyke Show and The Partridge Family. Dale was 83 years old when
lung cancer got the best of him. The Hollywood Reporter has a good obit about this interesting man.
OTHER MEDIA NEWS
*The Robert R. McCormick Foundation Announces $7.5
million in grants
=That money is ticketed for sustainable fact-based
reporting. They are investing in the likes of BlockClub Chicago, Capitol News Illinois, Injustice Watch, and Northwestern
University’s Medill School of Journalism. The announcement came on Tuesday.
If you have any media stories (Chicago or national) that you think I might like to share in future columns, feel free to drop me a line at rick@eckhartzpress.com or amishrick@yahoo.com
