MEDIA NOTEBOOK
A curation of news items about the media from this past week, with a particular emphasis on Chicago…
RADIO/PODCASTS
*Hub Arkush’s Recovery
=Four months after his near fatal heart attack, Hub
Arkush is on the mend, and plans on returning to work soon. Sean Hammond
at Shaw Local News Network spoke with Hub. This story answers a lot of the
questions you’ve been asking me since I first reported his medical situation
back in August. Happy to hear he is doing so much better now.
*Lauren O’Neil re-signs with Q-101
=O’Neil has been with the station now for more than 10
years, and now the midday host will be with them for three more. Q-101
announced the news to the staff. O’Neil confirmed it via social media. From her
Facebook page: Some personal news to cap off an amazing week, I have re-signed with
Q101 Chicago for another three years. Love talking to you every day from the
greatest city on the planet XO
=I previously wrote about Lauren for Illinois Entertainer.
*Steve & Johnnie Return to WGN Radio weekend
lineup
=After doing the overnight slot for nearly three decades (ending in 2011), Steve & Johnnie are making a triumphant return. WGN has officially added them to their Saturday overnight schedule. From the WGN website: “Returning to the Saturday nighttime slot is a full circle moment for us. Our first regular show as a duo on WGN Radio was in February 1985 – on a Saturday night. Coming back to WGN for version 2.0 seemed like a fun idea,” wrote Steve King and Johnnie Putman. “Of course, we’ll be revisiting some of our most popular features, but we’re looking forward to seeing where version 2.0 takes us. We’re throwing a Saturday night party for our friends – and there’s no dress code!”
=I’ve
interviewed Steve & Johnnie for Illinois Entertainer a few times.
This one is from June of 2021.
*Tis
the Season for Giving
=All of the iHeart radio stations in Chicago (WLIT,
WGCI, WVAZ, WKSC, WCHI, WGRB) teamed up to do a radiothon last week to raise
money for the Lurie’s Children Hospital of Chicago. The radiothon lasted for
13-hours and raised more than $735,000.
=Sherman & Tingle, the morning show on the
Drive (WDRV) has been doing a live broadcast to raise money and supplies for
the Anti-Cruelty society for the past seven years. They did it again this past
weekend in Schaumburg and collected over $25,000 in pet supplies and cash.
*City Officials to Block Radio Signals for Police
Scanners
=This story is creating a firestorm in newsrooms
across Chicagoland. Chicago officials want to install encryption technology
that would block non-police from listening to police radio scanners. Those
scanners are often used by local media to find and track the news. ABC-7’s report is here.
*Podcast Corner
=Sad news this past week in Qatar, the death of soccer journalist Grant Wahl. His life is discussed at length by people who knew him in The Sports Media Podcast.
=Why is it that podcast listeners don’t seem to mind
listening to ads, while radio listeners are becoming increasingly intolerant?
There may be a simple reason why. Most podcast ads are read by their hosts, and according to this article, podcast listeners prefer host-read ads.
*What “Hacks” Can Teach Radio Air-Talent
=The critically acclaimed show “Hacks” has a very
loyal audience, but I never considered that it also provided lessons for young
and old disc jockeys alike. That’s the thesis of this piece by Seth Ressler. He
posted it in July, but I just found it this week.
*Chuck Swirsky on Chicago Tonight
=The Bulls Radio Play-by-Play man was on Chicago Tonight last night discussing his new book Always a Pleasure. Watch it here.
*Pete Crozier on Lin Brehmer's Return to Work
=If you haven’t heard it before, Lin’s Bin is an essay
written by Lin Brehmer, presented with sound effects, audio clips, and
music. Pete Crozier formerly produced Brehmer’s show on WXRT. Even
though he has moved out of Chicagoland, he still helps put together Lin’s Bin.
Crozier also has a flair with the pen that rivals Brehmer, as this essay about
Lin’s return clearly shows…(Click on the facebook link below to read the whole thing. It's worth it)
MEDIA BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES
*December 11—Marcus Leshock birthday (WGN-TV)
=Marcus does some of the more entertaining stories on
WGN, including this piece about my co-publisher David Stern, and his
wacky Pothole Store website.
*December 11, 1941—Elizabeth Brackett birthday
=Elizabeth was an award-winning journalist at WTTW.
She passed away in 2018.
*December 12—Bart Shore birthday
=I checked in the with former king of traffic reports
recently. He is retired and lives in North Carolina with his wife, but he still
dabbles in the audio world. “I still continue with my Time Warp Radio
Shows- there are over 50 stations around the world that play my weekly show-
and it is on the web at www.BartShore,com I also produce
the Zecom Radio hour- that comes out once a week and is in limited syndication
on select stations- A tribute to the late great Marty Zivin who pretty
much invented internet radio.”
=I interviewed Bart for Chicago Radio Spotlight in 2008.
*December 14—Antonio Mora birthday
=The former Good Morning America and World
News Tonight anchor worked in Chicago television for a few years
(2004-2008) at CBS-2. He is currently the editor-in-chief at newsandnews.com
*December 15—Rob Stafford birthday
=A few weeks ago I reported that Rob was stepping down
from his duties as anchorman at WMAQ-TV (Channel 5). His last newscast is
scheduled for December 23.
*December 16—Mike Houlihan birthday
=Mike is a classic Chicago Irishman. His podcast is
called Hibernian radio.
*December 16—Greg Brown birthday
=Greg retired not too long ago after a 40+ year run in Chicago radio (Q-101, WJMK, WLS-FM). I interviewed him in 2014 for Illinois Entertainer.
*December 16—Mai Martinez birthday
=Mai is now the morning co-anchor at WBBM-AM with Cisco
Cotto. Before taking that gig she worked for years in Chicago television at
Channel 2. Robert Feder wrote about her when she mad the switch to radio
in 2020.
TV/STREAMING
*RIP Floyd Brown
The Chicago broadcasting icon passed away this week at the age of 92. From 1971-1999, Brown was a staple at WGN-TV and radio. WGN Radio has posted a nice tribute on their website.
*Jim Williams/20-year anniversary at Channel 2
=Last Friday was Jim Williams’ 20th
anniversary at CBS-2 Chicago. They surprised him on the air with a celebration.
*Rafer Weigel’s Comeback
=When Rafer’s time at WFLD-TV
(Channel 32) came to end amid scandal, he feared he would never work in
television again. 3-years later he has re-emerged, as an anchor at KUSI News in
San Diego. Sounds like Rafer is happier than ever. Via his Facebook page: Sometimes it takes years to find the place that
fully recognizes your talents and gives you opportunities to thrive that is
commensurate with your experience and abilities. After 17 years in the business
I’ve found that with KUSI
News in #sandiego.
*Svengoolie Expanding Hours in 2023
=Me-TV is giving more airtime to Svengoolie next year. Beginning January 7th,
Sven’s time slot will expand to 7pm-9:30pm (CT) to allow for longer movies and
more Sven commentary and bits. The first movie he’ll be showing is a doozy,
too. “The Raven” starring Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and a
young Jack Nicholson.
*GMA3 Workplace Romance Scandal
Continues
= ABC still hasn’t allowed Robach and
Holmes to come back on the air while they investigate their completely
consensual romantic relationship. The Washington Post headline about this story
says it all: ABC is Conducting a Master Class in How Not To Handle Workplace Romance.
*Adam Sandler to get Mark Twain Prize
=Sandler becomes the 24th
winner of the prize, given out to people who have impacted society in the style
and manner of Mark Twain. Previous winners include Bill Murray, David
Letterman, and Jon Stewart. The ceremony will be on March 19 at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
*Golden Globe Nominees Announced
=The
Golden Globes announced this Oscar-style this week, with a reveal ceremony. Nominations
for the 80th Golden Globe Awards show that streaming is still dominating the
media landscape. Netflix and HBO/HBO Max tied for the most TV nominations (14
each). The full list is here.
SOCIAL
MEDIA
*US Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Ban TikTok
=Senator Marco Rubio is the ringleader
of this bill, which hopes to end all transactions on social media platforms
with more than a million users that are based or substantially controlled by
countries considered our adversaries. CNN.com has more information.
*YouTube Moderation Bots
=If you’ve ever wandered into the
comments section of a YouTube video, you know what a cesspool it can be. This week YouTube announced they have created bots to tackle
this issue, along with the issue of abusive livestreams. I should note that YouTube’s
history of success in this area is pretty shaky. Some great examples of that are in this article.
*Elon Musk Discovers His Sudden Unpopularity
=Musk has been surrounded by “yes, boss, you are a
genius” people for years now. So, you could see the surprise on his face when
he was booed heartily when Dave Chappelle invited him onstage in San
Francisco. At first, he claimed only a small portion of the crowd was booing.
He has since deleted that tweet.
=Yesterday Mr. Free Speech suspended the accounts of several journalists who have written negative things about Twitter.
*Former Twitter Employee Getting
Violent Threats
=After the “Twitter reveal” that Musk
fed to reporters Matt Taibi and Bari Weiss these last two weeks,
Twitter’s former head of trust and safety (Musk fired the whole department) has
been getting violent threats. He had to flee his own home.
PRINT MEDIA
*Washington Post Layoffs Coming
=Last week the New York Times employees walked out for
a day, and the Washington Post reported it. This week the Washington Post announced
internally that there were layoffs coming, and the New York Times reported it.
*Emma Tucker to the WSJ
=She becomes the first woman head of the Wall Street Journal. Rupert Murdoch brought her over from one of his publications in England.
*Journalists Killed Covering Stories
=Enemy of the people, my ass. Reporters and journalists literally put their lives on the line to bring us the news. The Washington Post has a story about the journalists that have been killed in Ukraine.
*Axios Chicago Book Guide
=Axios Chicago lists six books as
great Christmas gift ideas, including the latest books from Neil Steinberg
and Dave Hoekstra, a couple of food books (one about cheesecake and
another about pizza), an architecture book by the Trib’s Blair Kamin,
and one novel. Who wrote that novel? Oh, my. That’s me! “Back in the D.D.R” by Rick
Kaempfer. Or, as they put it…
🕵️"Back in the D.D.R.": In his eighth book, media writer, Cubs fan and
former radio broadcaster Rick Kaempfer offers a Cold War spy thriller
informed by his German childhood. $20
=Thank you Axios! I was blown away to
be included.
I will be back next week for one last
Media Notebook column before shutting ‘er down over the holidays. As always, if
you have any media story you’d like to share or think that I might be
interested in sharing, drop me a line at rick@eckhartzpress.com
or amishrick@yahoo.com
