Friday, July 19, 2024

Media Notebook--7-19-24















MEDIA NOTEBOOK

A curation of news items about the media from this past week, with a particular emphasis on Chicago.


RADIO/PODCASTS

 

*RIP Bob Newhart

=Bob Newhart passed away yesterday at the age of 94. Most people are aware that Bob was from Chicago. I've interviewed him a few times about that, including one time about his love of the 1945 Cubs. But the story that isn't often told about Bob is he really got his career start working in radio. He was discovered by the morning man at WCFL, Dan Sorkin. In 2010, a few years before Sorkin's death, I got a chance to ask him about it. Here's a transcript of that portion of the interview with Dan.

    Rick: One of your claims to fame was discovering a mild mannered comic/accountant named Bob Newhart. I saw an interview of Newhart a few years ago and he gave you credit for giving him his big break. How did you and Bob initially cross paths?

    Dan: Playhouse 90 writer Jim Gallagher and I were friends. Jim and Bob had put together and were selling to radio stations a 5 minute taped comedy "man on the street show" for $5 a show. It cost them $7 a show to produce. The more successful the sale, the more money they lost. I loved the comedy routines and asked Jim to bring Bob to the WCFL studios for a live interview. He did. Bob performed several of his routines on air. When Warner Bros. President Jim Conkling came to Chicago I performed Bob's routines for him and suggested a contract. Jim Conkling contracted and had Bob booked into the Tides Hotel in Dallas and recorded  "The Button Down Mind Of Bob Newhart" live. That album sold over a million copies.

    Rick: Bob later asked you to be a part of his first television show. How was that experience?
    Dan: Wonderful. Every Friday after finishing my WCFL Morning Show I would cab to the roof of the Merchandise Mart where a helicopter took me to O'Hare Field in time to catch a Continental non-stop to Burbank where I had a Honda motorcycle stashed at the air freight office. I strapped my bag to the Honda and drove to the NBC Burbank sound stage where I arrived in time to announce the Bob Newhart TV Show. It was a wonderful year!


Kevin Matthews Has a New Book

=Former Loop/WCKG/CD-94.7 radio legend Kevin Matthews has written another book in his Broken Mary series.


*Ryan Arnold Resigns from WXRT

=A day after celebrating his 11th anniversary at WXRT, night jock Ryan Arnold tendered his resignation to the station yesterday. He plans on spending full-time at his PR firm, Desoto & State, which works in the not-for-profit sector. (I interviewed Ryan for Illinois Entertainer in 2017.)


*Coming Soon: Classic Rock U

=YouTube star Adam Reader (The Professor of Rock) will be bringing his classic rock interview show to the radio. It will be produced here in Chicago at Hubbard Media (owners of the Drive, the Mix, Throwback) and will air on the Drive (97.1 FM) in Chicago. It will also be syndicated into markets like St. Louis and Phoenix.

 

*From WBEZ to Medill

=Another change at WBEZ. Natalie Y Moore is moving on to bigger and better things.


*JRL on WGN

=John Landecker had a bit of a rant on his Facebook page this week. I enjoyed it tremendously. Thought I’d share…

Have I ever ranted on Facebook? Well, I am now. I am sick and tired of the comments about WGN whenever the Chicago ratings are posted. "Oh, it’s not what it used to be,’ 'I stopped listening when (fill in the blank)". I really like the posts that say they never listen anymore and then comment on something that happened on the air. I don't know if all of you radio experts know the current state of AM radio these days, but WGN is an exception. First of all, we are not a part of some oversized bankrupt broadcast group. WGN is the only radio station owned by NexStar media. That is a very big deal. And this constant bitching about the overnight show. Get over it. You know you're not up then anyway.

I'm not done. There was a post with the WGN and WLS ratings in the 25-54 yr old age group. I cannot tell you how misleading this is. Ever since I have been in broadcasting there has been an obsession with this demo. I mean just about every station AM/FM didn’t matter. The idea that WGN, an AM station, would be programming to 25-54 is utter nonsense and to use the ratings of this group as a measure of the station’s success is totally unfair and misleading. I 've got some news for you. There are people who are older than 54! No really. In fact, some of my best friends are over 54. As a matter of fact, I know some people who are even older than 64!

Radio stations are in the business of making money and WGN has found a business model that does that and in doing so they have maintained a fully staffed news department and hired some heritage Chicago talent who busts their ass to put on informative and entertaining programming. So in closing if you don't have anything nice to say..shut the fuck up

=As someone who is himself out of the demo (I’m 60), I can commiserate. By the way, the ratings I post here are always 6+, meaning basically all ages. (Although the six and under crowd is brazenly ignored)

 

*Midge Ripoli Let Go by the Drive

=He announced the news this week…


*Podcast Corner

=The Office Ladies podcast (hosted by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey) is moving from Sirius/XM to Audacy. The Hollywood Reporter has the story.

=Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy had to be rescued by the Coast Guard this week.

=Sarah Spain has a new podcast too…


 *Ex-Chicago Radio

=The Oakland A’s are moving out of Oakland at the end of this season, and they aren’t bringing along their radio announcer Vince Controneo, who has been with the club for 19 years. One of the announcers who worked alongside him was Ken Korach. Ken was part of the White Sox radio team back in 1992.


*Rest in Peace

=Richard Simmons

Simmons was 76. He had gone into seclusion in recent years, but there was a time when Richard was the best radio guest ever. Here’s an example. An appearance on Melissa Forman’s morning show on WLIT (h/t Tony Lossano)


 

MEDIA BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES

 

*July 13, 1985--Live Aid concert

=It raised more than $125M for Africa famine relief and was a major cultural touchstone for people of a certain age (like me). The lineup is still staggering.



*July 14--Dave Plier birthday

Dave hosts Friday evenings on WGN Radio. I interviewed him for Illinois Entertainer in May of 2022.

 

*July 14--Steve Stone birthday

=Played for the Cubs and White Sox, broadcast for the Cubs and White Sox. Currently the color analyst on White Sox television broadcasts.

 

*July 14—Greg Easterling birthday

=I wrote about Greg for Chicago Radio Spotlight when he was still hosting overnights at the Drive. He now does a show on WDCB.

 

*July 14--Steven Haas birthday

=Former broadcast journalist at WBBM-AM. Now lives in Florida.

 

*July 15, 2006—Twitter is founded.

 

*July 15—Jonathon Brandmeier birthday

=At one time, the biggest star on the Chicago radio dial (The Loop). Also worked at WCKG, WLS, and WGN. I wrote about him for Chicago Airwaves magazine in 1993. He is also, of course, heavily featured in my book The Loop Files

 

*July 15—Lauren O’Neil birthday

=I wrote about the Q-101 jock back in 2016 for Illinois Entertainer.

 

*July 15--Dr. Ian Smith birthday

=Chicago’s favorite celebrity TV doctor. Had him on my podcast during the pandemic.


*July 17--Lou Boudreau birthday

=The Good Kid was a Chicago boy even though he played his big-league ball in Cleveland. He was later a Cubs manager, and for many years anchored the Cubs radio broadcasts on WGN. His show “Durocher in the Dugout” is still the best Cubs radio show ever. (Have you ever heard the outtakes?) Lou passed away in 2001.

 

*July 17--Mike Kessler birthday

=Mike was in radio for many years, mostly at WMAQ, but he also worked at WXRT/The Score, WBBM-AM (as a Bears producer), WGN (doing traffic), and briefly in his early years at The Loop, WMET, WRXR, WUSN, WNUA, and WLUW.

 

*July 17--Marc Alghini birthday

=Marc was a long-time WXRTer, but moved down to Peoria a few years ago and is now serving as the PD/morning man at WWCT.

 

*July 19—Terry Gibson birthday

=Terry Gibson did nights at the Loop, afternoons on the Blaze, and is now working in a promotional capacity for the band Styx. I interviewed him for Chicago Radio Spotlight.

 

*July 19—Todd Manley birthday

=Todd was a production guru before moving into the programming department of WGN. He is still active in the podcast world. I interviewed Todd during his WGN days for Illinois Entertainer.

 

*July 19--Wayne Messmer birthday

=Not many people remember Wayne was once a radio guy—he worked alongside the likes of Paul Barsky and John Records Landecker as a newsman. Oh, and yes, he clearly knows how to sing the National Anthem.

 

*July 20—Pugs Moran birthday

=Pugs worked in Chicago radio at the Loop and WCKG before taking his talents down to Dallas. That’s where he lives today. He hosts a show on the Radio Misfits Podcast Network. I interviewed him years ago for Chicago Radio Spotlight.

 

*July 20--Tommy King birthday

=Tommy was the Loop’s promotional genius behind the “Loop Girl” competition.

 

TV/STREAMING

 

*Ranking the Local Baseball TV Announcers

=Awful Announcing did their rankings this week, and whoo boy, they are brutal to the White Sox team. They rank them dead last (30th) with a grade of F. It should be noted that the man the Sox let walk away, Jason Benetti (in Detroit), is ranked 10th. The Cubs team places 9th overall with a B grade. According to these rankings, the Mets have the best TV broadcast team in baseball (Gary Cohen, Ron Darling, and Keith Hernandez). 


John Eskra Retires

=Congrats to WFLD-TV sports producer John Eskra, who called it a career this past weekend after 30+ years.


*Paul Rennie to Retire

=The VP/General Manager of WGN-TV has been at the helm for the past eight years. His last day will be August 30th.


*Newhart Binge Weekend

=The Catchy Comedy network is doing a Bob Newhart marathon this weekend to honor the late comedian. From 11am on Saturday July 20th until Monday July 22nd at 5am they will be showing nothing but Newhart comedies, The Bob Newhart Show, Newhart and Bob.


*Livin’ the Dream

=For one day (Sunday), Alex Cohen was a MLB announcer. (He normally does the Iowa Cubs games)


 *Cable News Corner

=The Monday following the assassination attempt on Trump, MSNBC pulled their morning show (Morning Joe) off the air to supposedly focus on breaking news. Joe Scarborough is pretty ticked off. Follow the controversy here.

=Donald Trump Jr. brought Tucker Carlson with him to the Fox News greenroom at the convention. According to this piece, he did it to get back at Fox for blacklisting him temporarily.


*Prime-Time Emmy Nominations Announced

=The full list is here. The Bear set a record for comedy nominations. Once again folks, The Bear is *not* a comedy.


Inside Out 2 is Pixar’s Biggest Film Ever

=That’s what the numbers say.

 

*Skip Bayless Leaving FS1

=The show wasn’t doing great in the ratings, but Bayless was one of the most prominent hosts on the network. More information here.


*WNBA Signs $2.2 Billion TV Deal

=It’s an 11-year deal with ESPN, NBC and Amazon. The previous deal was for $50 million a year.


*Is America Finally Embracing Soccer?

=As a soccer podcast host and author and someone who traveled all the way to Berlin to watch the Euros a few weeks ago, I’m obviously biased, but this is exciting news.


*Rest in Peace

=Lou Dobbs

The political commentator and cable news anchor was 78.

=Naomi Pomeroy

Top Chef Masters star. She was only 49. She died in a tubing accident.

=Shannon Doherty

The former star of 90210 and Charmed was only 53.

=James Sikking

Former star of Hill Street Blues and Doogie Howser. He was 90.

=Benji Gregory

Former Child Star in ALF. He was 46.

=Dr. Ruth


 DIGITAL/PRINT

 

*Where’s My Paper?

=The Sun-Times and the Tribune did not publish print editions on Tuesday because of “weather-related production issues.” Needless to say, they heard from their subscribers.


*Wall Street Journal Reporter Fired Over Union Role

=That’s the claim made by Selina Cheng, who was elected chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association last month. The New York Times has the story.


*New Book from Daily Herald’s Jim Slusher

=For 25 years Jim has been writing the “Letter to Readers” column in the Daily Herald. This week he released the highlights of those 25 years in a book published by Eckhartz Press (Yes, that’s my publishing company). It’s called To Nudge the World. The book is available for pre-order now. It ships in August.



 

SOCIAL MEDIA

 

*Elon Musk Contributing $45 Million a Month to Trump SuperPAC

=That’s a staggering number. Trump has raised about $400 million so far. One man will give him about half of that the rest of the way. Imagine giving that much money to someone who posted this about you less than two years ago...




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.


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