MEDIA NOTEBOOK
A curation of news items
about the media from this past week, with a particular emphasis on Chicago…
RADIO/PODCASTS
*Waking up with Brian
& Justin
=The latest issue of Illinois Entertainer came out this week and features my interview with Q-101’s morning team. A fun interview with a twist at the end. You can read it here.
*The
Last Great Chicago DJ?
=This
was a front page story in the Chicago Tribune this week (January 27). The full
title of the piece is The Last Great Chicago DJ? With Lin Brehmer’s Death and Rise of AI, are Radio’s Glory Days Over? Read it and see if you if you agree.
It was written by William Lee.
*RIP
Jay Marvin
=The
former WLS talk show host had been in declining health for many years. His wife
Mary announced that he passed away on Tuesday. Marvin was a country music DJ,
who later became a lefty talker on a predominantly right-wing station here in
Chicago. The published author spent his final years in Colorado.
=I never got a chance to meet him in person, but I did interview him on the phone in 2007 for Chicago Radio Spotlight.
=Radio Ink and Inside Radio both mentioned the news, but neither really captured what Marvin was like. For me, this piece by Eric Zorn is the best and most comprehensive account of Jay that you’ll find on-line. Zorn went back into his archives and reposted three columns he had written about Marvin over the years. Well worth the read.
*Larry
Kudlow Show on WLS
=Larry Kudlow, former Trump advisor and current on-air host at the Fox Business Network, will debut a new weekend show this Sunday on WLS. The Larry Kudlow show will air from 5-8pm.
*The
Loop Files
=My weekly mining of my interviews with former Loopers continued on Tuesday, in case you missed it. This week’s feature is Bruce Wolf.
*Harper College Radio a Chicago Reader Finalist
=Tis the time of year the Chicago Reader asks people to vote for their Best of Chicago favorites in a long list of categories. One of those is best radio station. Not surprised to see perennial favorites WXRT or WBEZ in the list of five finalists, but how about 100-watt 88.3FM Harper Radio? Congrats to the local music aficionados at WHCM. The other two finalists, by the way, are Vocalo Radio and Chirpradio (107.1 FM). The poll is open through February 15th, if you want to vote. Winners are announced in their April 6 edition.
*Folk DJ Hall of Fame
=John
Platt, one of the people who launched WXRT in Chicago, is the latest member
of the Folk DJ Hall of Fame. Platt was
in Chicago for about ten years but has also made his mark in New York and
Philadelphia radio. You can read more
about him here.
*The
Day the Music died
=Today
is the anniversary of the plane crash that claimed the lives of Buddy Holly,
Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper in 1959. Over the years I’ve been
lucky enough to meet and talk to people who had a deep knowledge of the subject
matter. The man who introduced them on stage at their last performance in Iowa
was future WLS Big 89 jock Bob Hale. I worked down the hall from Bob
when I was at WJMK and he was at WJJD. He told me the whole “The Day the Music Died” story for Chicago Radio Spotlight.
=Bob Dearborn became famous during his days at WCFL when he analyzed the mysterious lyrics of the song “American Pie” by Don McLean. Bob also was kind enough to write this piece for my blog explaining why Buddy Holly was so important to him.
*The Mix and Fitz
=Last October the Mix morning show auctioned off a private perfomance by Fitz and the Tantrums, and this week the band came into town and delivered the promised accoustic set to a select group of listeners at 167 Green Street. The money raised went to the American Cancer Society. The band played at the Vic last night.
*50 Years of Bill & Walter
=Dave Plier always seems to get the biggest
guests on his WGN radio show. This past week he managed to reunite Bill
Kurtis and Walter Jacobson for the 50th anniversary of their
pairing. A fun listen.
*Jen
Weigel to interview Kathy Hart
=February
19 at Madame Zuzu’s in Highland Park. A spiritual discussion is sure to ensue.
=WGN
Radio’s Lisa Dent was interviewed by Brandwidth on Demand podcast
hosts Kipper McGee and Dave Martin this week. I love these radio-on-radio conversations.
=Acclaimed novelist Adam Langer (a former WXRT intern) has a new podcast that examines the history and back-story of the Pulitzer Prize winning play The Diary of Anne Frank.
=Nick DiGilio is doing another live podcast (The
Nick D Show) at Zanies in Rosemont on February 21st. Amy Guth
will be there with him, filling in for co-host Esmeralda Leon.
=My podcast, Minutia Men, posted our 300th
episode this week. I’m still having a ball doing the show with my Eckhartz
Press co-publisher David Stern. The 300th episode is titled “Shopping
with your German mother”. It’s very high-brow.
MEDIA BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES
*January
30—Chuck Swirsky birthday.
=Chuck
is not only the play-by-play man of the Chicago Bulls. He’s also an author. His
book Always a Pleasure came out during the holiday season.
*January
30, 1935—Warner Saunders birthday
=Warner Saunders had a long and distinguished
television career in Chicago at NBC-5. He retired in 2009 and passed away in 2018.
*January
30--Lisa Dent birthday
=Lisa hosts afternoons on WGN Radio. I was lucky enough to interview her for Illinois Entertainer in 2016, shortly after she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame (during her days at US-99).
*January
31—Josh Liss birthday
=The
morning sports anchor for WBBM News Radio was featured in the December 2016 edition of Illinois Entertainer.
*January
31—Nick Shepkowski birthday
=Shepkowski was a producer and host at the Score for 15 years.
*February
1—Lisa Miller birthday
=Lisa
has been one of the most powerful media agents in Chicago for the past four decades.
She is married to Channel 5 meteorologist Brant Miller.
*February
3—Karen Conti birthday
=Karen has been a legal analyst and host at WGN Radio for many years.
*February
3—Dan Roan birthday
=Dan
retired as the sports director of WGN-TV last year. I snapped this photo of Dan
and his fellow WGN-TV colleagues at Rich King’s book launch party last
May, just a week or so before Dan retired.
*February
3—Lisa Greene birthday
=Lisa
did stints at several radio stations in Chicago, including WJMK. I interviewed her for Chicago Radio Spotlight in 2008. She currently lives in California.
*February
3—Steve Bertrand birthday
=Steve
has been a news mainstay at WGN radio since the mid-80s. I interviewed him for Chicago Radio Spotlight in 2012.
*February
4, 2009—Eddie Schwartz died
=Eddie
was the overnight voice of Chicago for decades, first at WIND, then at WGN, and
finally at WLUP. He had such an unusual sounding voice that he sparked impersonations
from the likes of Steve Dahl and Kevin Matthews. Kevin even
created a band to impersonate Eddie. He called it Ed Zeppelin. When I interviewed Eddie in 2007, he was already in declining health and was difficult
to understand. Still, I’m glad I got the chance to get him on the record while
I could.
*February
4—Jim Williams birthday
The
Channel 2 news anchor recently celebrated his 20th anniversary at
the station.
TV/STREAMING
*Lisa Parker leaves NBC5
=If you feel like they are dropping like flies at
NBC5, you aren’t alone. Here’s another one…
*Marcus Stroman appears on CBS News
=Cubs pitcher Marcus Stroman appeared on the national CBS News morning show to talk about his new children’s book, and his baseball
career. Not an everyday event for a Chicago athlete.
*DECADES remembers actresses Cindy
Williams and Lisa Loring
=We lost two beloved sitcom stars this
week, Cindy Williams and Lisa Loring.
=This weekend, Weigel Broadcasting honors Cindy
Williams with tributes on MeTV and DECADES. MeTV will present four selected
episodes of Laverne & Shirley that Williams said were her favorites,
airing on Sunday afternoon from 2-4pm. DECADES will pay tribute with a Weekend
Binge of 36 back-to-back Laverne & Shirley episodes beginning
Saturday, February 4 at 11am.
=DECADES will pay tribute to Lisa Loring beginning
at 5am on Sunday, February 5 with a special binge of 48 back-to-back episodes
of The Addams Family celebrating her character, Wednesday Addams.
*Cheryl Scott Welcomes a New Colleague
=The Channel 7 weather department grew by
one this week. Cheryl Scott welcomed her newest colleague Jaisol Martinez.
Jaisol is a native Texan. Hopefully the Chicago weather doesn’t scare her off.
*Cable News Corner
=In a move that was teased a few weeks ago, CNN signed
comedian Bill Maher for Friday nights. It should be interesting to see how he adjusts after
having complete freedom at HBO for many years now. Maher is known to be a bit
prickly.
*The mystery of ABC journalist answered
=James Gordon Meek was a top producer at ABC
News. It made news last year when he abruptly resigned his position after the
FBI raided his apartment. He basically disappeared after that, cutting off all
contact with his former colleagues. This week’s unsealed court filing probably
answers the reason why. Meek was charged in a child pornography case.
*The End of the GM3 Drama
=The
titillating scandal involving the extra-marital affair of GM3 hosts Amy
Robach and T.J. Holmes appears to have been resolved with the hosts leaving the network after a settlement was reached. Semafor reports that ABC
Talent VP Galen Gordon is also on thin ice because he knew about the affair
and didn’t alert his bosses.
*Giving back to their alma mater
=Alex Maragos and Mike Lowe may be on different
channels in Chicago (NBC5 and WGN), but they are from the same alma mater
(Loyola Academy) and spoke to students at the school last Friday.
PRINT MEDIA
*Newsworthy week in Chicago print media history.
Three big changes were announced…
=The Chicago Tribune named a new managing editor.
=The Chicago Sun Times announced their CEO was leaving.
=The Chicago Reader named their new Publisher and CEO
*Trump Sues Bob Woodward
=Yet another (probably) frivolous lawsuit was filed by the former president this week. This time he’s suing Bob Woodward for
releasing the audio tapes of the on-the-record interviews he conducted with
Trump. Presumably, the tapes include Trump agreeing to be taped. That’s
something I always get on tape, and I’m sure Bob Woodward did the same.
SOCIAL MEDIA
*TikTok CEO to testify before Congress
=If you haven’t noticed, the new Congress is going
hard after TikTok. They have called TikTok’s CEO to testify and justify TikTok’s
modus operandi.
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. If you're in Chicago media and wondering why I didn't mention your birthday, it's probably because I don't know it. Drop me a line and let me know and I'll put you on my calendar.
