Friday, August 09, 2024

Media Notebook--8-9-24















MEDIA NOTEBOOK

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



RADIO/PODCASTS

 

*Chicago Radio Ratings

=The numbers for July are out, and here are the top ten rated stations in Chicago (M-Sun, 6am-Mid, 6+)…

WDRV—6.6

WVAZ—6.5

WLIT—5.9

WXRT—5.3

WBBM-AM—5.2

WUSN—4.0

WLS-FM—3.9

WRME-FM—3.9

WOJO—3.1

WBMX—3.0

WTMX—3.0

=The Drive is back on top after a big month (+0.5) but take a look at WRME’s (Me-TV FM) numbers. The little engine that could moved up a whole ratings point (1.0) in the last month to vault into the top ten (tied for 7th). WXRT also took a nice jump (+0.6) to finish in fourth.

=On the other side of the ledger, the biggest drop occurred at US-99 (WUSN). They are down over a full point (-1.1).  WLIT (-0.7) and WOJO (-0.6) also took a hit.

 

 

*Is Danny Parkins Leaving the Score?

=According to this piece in Barrett Media, Parkins has been offered a seven-figure deal to move to FS1.

=If he is leaving, it won’t be in the next few weeks. Next week he is hosting the Score’s Cubs-for-a-Cure Radiothon beginning at 10am.


 

 

*White Sox Announcer Escalates Fight with the Score

=Yes, it’s true that Score talk show hosts have been pretty rough on new White Sox TV Play-by-Play man John Schriffen. But I don’t think this is a good way for him to win them over. Awful Announcing reports.


 

 

*Remembering Triad Radio

=Really interesting piece in the Reader about Triad Radio. It went off the air in 1977, but while it was around, the commercial free experimental station (remember the term “progressive rock”?) made its mark. Saul Smaizys is now trying to digitize his archives.


 

 

*Rewound Radio

=It’s coming back again this Labor Day weekend, a tribute to WCFL and WLS. A whole weekend of airchecks with music and original commercials from the all-time great jocks of the 1960s and 1970s. I interviewed Ted Gorden Smucker about it this week for Illinois Entertainer and I’m very excited. He even sent me a few promos, which I’ll give you between now and then. Here’s one of my all-time favorites, the great Fred Winston. Listen to Fred’s quips in this 40 second bit. Is there anyone better?



 

 

*Music News

=Taylor Swift shows in Austria were canceled because of a threatened terrorist attack.

=Steven Tyler’s vocal injury will prevent the band from ever performing again. Variety has the details. I only saw them in concert once, in 1984 in Springfield IL, and it did not go well. (This was pre-rehab). Tyler fell off the stage during the first song, the band got into a fight on stage, and just like that, show over.

 

 

*Ex-Chicago Radio

=Jaybeau Jones was once a program director in Chicago (Jammin’ Oldies). He is now the new morning man on Frank-FM in New Hampshire. For the past twelve years he was on Sirius/XM.

=Native Chicagoan (Former B-96 and WSHE) Rob Rose has gone into radio sales in Columbia, Missouri.

 

 

*Podcast Corner

=Hubbard named a new VP/Podcasts this week. John Goforth is his name. He is based in Chicago.

=The Pod Save America gang is undergoing a bit of labor unrest. Variety has the details.

=One of the most popular podcasters in America is Joe Rogan, the comedian. But how good is he at comedy? The New York Times reviews his latest Netflix special.

=Another popular podcaster, Bill Simmons, will become a free agent in 2025. That’s when his contract with Spotify runs out.

 

 

*Rest in Peace

=David Graves

Transformed WIND from a music station into a news/talk station. He was 76 years old.

=Ina Jaffe

Scott Simon eulogizes his NPR colleague. She was 75.

=Larry Nelson

Treasurer of the Illinois Broadcasters Association. He was 74.


 

 

MEDIA BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES

 

 

*August 4, 1957—Robin Robinson birthday

=For many years Robin anchored the marquee newscast at Fox-32. She retired a few years ago after a distinguished career.

 

*August 4—Phil Manicki birthday

=Former Loop/Drive jock was a fixture of rock radio in Chicago for decades. My 2019 Illinois Entertainer interview with Phil is here. He also did a stint as a fill-in host at WGN, but for the last year or so he has been the program director of Me-TV FM. I interviewed him about that earlier this year.


 *August 4—Scott May birthday

=Scott worked with Kevin Matthews on the Loop, with Mort Downey Jr.’s television show, and is currently the keyboardist for the Ides of March. I interviewed him last year for my podcast.


*August 5, 1962

=Marilyn Monroe found dead in Los Angeles. This is the Newsreel report on the day of her death.


*August 5—Geoff Pinkus birthday

Geoff is a former WIND/WCKG talker. My 2008 Chicago Radio Spotlight interview with Geoff is here. 

 

*August 6—Fahey Flynn birthday

=Fahey Flynn was born this week in 1916. He also passed away this week in 1983. Fahey was one of the most popular and successful television news anchors in Chicago history, especially during his time paired with Joel Daly at Channel 7.


*August 6—Elizabeth Hess birthday

=Elizabeth worked at WJMK and WCKG in Chicago, and later co-hosted a show on WDWS-Champaign Urbana.

 

 

 *August 6—Tom Kent birthday

=Kent was a veteran of the WLS music era, and became the president of the Tom Kent Radio Network, which syndicated programming to 600 stations nationwide. He passed away earlier this year.

 

 

*August 7—Lorna Ozmon birthday

=Lorna was an air personality (WKQX), and program director (WTMX) in Chicago. She is now a very successful radio consultant and has been for decades.

 

 

*August 7—Chuck Knapp birthday

=Chuck is another alumni of the WLS-AM music era (1971-1972) and WCFL-AM.

 

*August 8, 1958—Deborah Norville birthday

=The host of Inside Edition worked locally here at Channel 5. For one of the greatest stories you’ll ever hear about Deborah, check out cameraman Chuck Quinzio’s book Life Behind the Camera.

 

 

*August 9—Bob Sirott birthday

=The WGN Morning man was inducted into the Illinois Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in September. Click here to read my most recent profile of Bob from 2021. 

 

*August 9--Fred Weintraub birthday

=Fred is a Renaissance man. He co-hosts a radio show from all over the globe, covers the Royal family, and handles the local high school sports programming for WCIU-TV. I interviewed him in 2020.

 

 TV/STREAMING

 

 *Pat Boyle Re-Signs with Blackhawks TV

=He confirmed the news himself this week on X/Twitter



*Thom Brennaman’s Second Chance

=There are a couple of interesting nuggets in this piece about Thom Brennaman and his return to sports broadcasting. Among them, the roles played by NexStar’s Perry Sook and Sean Compton. They championed his return.


 *Judd Sirott Moves to Boston Bruins TV Booth

=The Chicago native and former WGN radio announcer got a promotion this week in Boston. He moves from the radio booth to the television booth on Boston Bruins broadcasts. Judd is the nephew of WGN Radio morning man Bob Sirott.


*Colin Jost’s Bumpy Ride as a Surfing Correspondent

=He was in Tahiti covering the Olympic surfing events, which sounded like a dream gig. But he cut his foot and got a staph infection. Then he got an ear infection. And now he’s back home.


 

 

*Price Hikes Coming for ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu

=CNBC has the details.

=Also, I’m guessing the folks at Disney aren’t thrilled with Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. They’ve asked the DOJ to investigate the new sports streaming service Venu as a monopoly.


 

*Cable News Corner

=CNN’s media reporter Oliver Darcy has left the network to start a media newsletter called Status.




*Barkley Not Retiring After All

=This week he signed a new long-term contract with TNT. 10 years/$210 million, despite the fact that there will only be one more season of NBA basketball on TNT. Should be interesting to see what else they assign him to do in the following years.


 

 

*Maya Rudolph

=Not sure if there’s anyone more excited about Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign than Maya Rudolph. She’ll be back on SNL this season to portray Kamala on the show.


 

 

*Art Norman

=It turns out that Donald Trump’s appearance at the NABJ conference wasn’t the only thing that happened there…


 

*Fergie and Kenny

=Like I said, it turns out that Donald Trump’s appearance at the NABJ conference wasn’t the only thing that happened there…


 

*Rest in Peace

=Patti Yasutake

Asian-American actress, starred in television (Star Trek Next Generation) and films (Gung Ho). She was 70.

=George Schenk

Showrunner/writer/producer for NCIS. He was 82.


 

DIGITAL/PRINT

 

*Broadcasting + Cable to Cease Print Publication

=The news was announced this week. Print editions will cease at the end of September. The newsletter will also go away but will be replaced by “a new curated SmartBrief newsletter on Media and Entertainment.”


 

*Layoffs at Axios

=50 people across the country, or about 10% of their staff.


 *Bloomberg Disciplines Reporter/Editor Over Prisoner Swap Story

=One of Bloomberg’s top reporters Jennifer Jacobs was fired for violating the embargo on the story. An editor has been demoted. The New York Times has more.


 


STAGE/SCREEN

 

*Vince Vaughn Interview

=I thought this profile of Lake Forest’s very own Vince Vaughn was very revealing. He talks about his upbringing in a way I hadn’t heard before. It was in the Sunday New York Times.



 

*Bill & Ted on Broadway

=The actors who played Bill & Ted in the movies, Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, are going to co-star again, but this time on Broadway. And no, it’s not a stage version of Bill & Ted. They’ll be doing “Waiting for Godot”.



*Glengarry Glen Ross Revival Coming to Broadway

=Check out this cast...Kieran Culkin, Bill Burr, and Bob Odenkirk. 


 

*Rest in Peace

=Jay Kanter

Hollywood agent to stars like Marlon Brando and Marilyn Monroe. Inspiration for the film The Apartment. Click on his name to read the obit. What an interesting life! He was 97.



SOCIAL MEDIA/TECH

 

*Google Loses Monopoly Case

=This is probably the biggest story in the media news this week. Google has legally been declared a monopolist. CBS News explains the implications of this decision.

=Six ways the Google case could change the internet


 

 

*Grok Pushing Misinformation on X

=Five Secretaries of State are urging X to fix their AI Chatbot Grok, which sent out false information about the upcoming election. Reuters has this story.


 

 

*Google Pulls AI Ad

=Perhaps you saw the ad while you were watching Olympic coverage. It was about AI helping a child write a fan letter to an athlete. I must admit, it bugged me when I saw it. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one. Google has pulled the ad.



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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Thursday, August 08, 2024

20 Years: Free Excerpt from "Back in the DDR"

 

This year marks my 20th year as a professional writer. Over the course of 2024, I'll be sharing a few of those offerings you may have missed along the way.

In 2022 I released my third novel, "Back in the D.D.R". It's a spy thriller set during the Cold War, and features a 13-year-old main character named Rudi. Many of the tales in this novel are true stories that happened to me, including this one I'm excerpting today.

This week is the anniversary of Heidelberg American Middle School officially shutting it's doors (August 6, 2013). My dad Eckhard really did design the school, and I really did attend it the year it opened (1976).



The new middle school wasn’t located in Mark Twain Village, of course. It was located in Patrick Henry Village, which is another American community (much bigger) in Schwetzingen, about twenty minutes away by bus. Dad says that more than 10,000 Americans live here, and that sounds about right to me. It’s the biggest military base I’ve ever seen, like a small town. All of the apartment buildings are painted yellowish white, and there are also single-family homes for the higher-ranking officers. PHV has everything you can imagine: a strip mall with a movie theater, bookstore, bowling alley, and snack bar. A grocery store (Commissary) and department store (PX). A large football field with a track around it. An elementary school, a church, a teen club, an NCO club, an Officer’s club, a baseball diamond.

                Today is the grand opening of the brand-new middle school designed by my dad, located at the far West end of PHV. He was invited to be there for the opening ceremony, so for this first day of school I’m riding with him instead of the regular school bus.

                “Are you excited?” he asked me.

                “I don’t know any of the kids,” I pointed out.

                “But it’s a brand-new school!” he said.

                “I’m excited that you designed it,” I said. I meant it too. I was really starting to think this whole engineer thing was a big scam, with mysterious Nazis and East Germans and Communists and Terrorists and CIA spies around every corner. Today he was proving to me that it wasn’t. Dad had been telling me the truth.

                I could tell he was proud. They saved a parking space for us, and Dad pulled the station wagon into the space. A Stars & Stripes photographer snapped a picture of Dad getting out of the car. Apparently, this really was a big deal, although you wouldn’t have known it by looking at the students. Hundreds of kids were roaming around aimlessly. All of them are 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. I haven’t had to wear a school uniform since St. Roberts, but all the boys in this school have an unofficial uniform. We all wear flannel shirts, jeans, and either Adidas or Pumas. My new ones are black Pumas with an orange form-strip. Pretty darn cool. The girls wear jeans too, the kind that flair out at the bottom, and some of them have rhinestones or spangles or something shiny on them. A few of the girls are wearing tube-tops and overalls. Glad Mom isn’t here to comment on that.

                The structure itself is rather unusual. It looks like three different buildings merged together, because each section is a slightly different height. When I asked Dad about that, he was amused.

                “It’s called design,” he said. “Wouldn’t it be boring if it looked like an ordinary school?”

                I couldn’t argue with that logic.

                We were supposed to meet the principal in the gymnasium for the ceremony, but I wasn’t really paying attention to the path we were taking because I was peeking into all of the classrooms as we walked by. It looked much nicer than any other school I had attended. But after about five minutes of walking, I noticed a classroom I had seen before. We were going in circles. That’s when I looked up at Dad. He had a grimace on his face.

                “Something wrong?” I asked him.

                “I could have sworn the gym was this way,” he said. Mr. Rand McNally was somehow lost.

                “Didn’t you design this school?” I asked.

                He was too irritated to answer me.

                “Maybe it’s this way,” he said, more to himself than to me.

                We finally found the gym, and it was packed with kids and teachers. They had a little stage, and asked Dad to come up. The Stars and Stripes photographer was already there, waiting for him. He started snapping shots madly. I grabbed a seat next to another boy on the main floor. He had much longer hair than I did—like something out of the Edgar Winter Group. These are kids of military folks?

                “I’m Johnny,” he said.

                “Rudi,” I replied. We didn’t shake hands. We just nodded at each other.

                “Want to share a bowl at lunch?” he asked.

                “Um,” I said. “I think everybody gets their own bowls.”

                He laughed and slugged me in the arm.

                “Welcome to Heidelberg Middle School,” the principal said into the microphone. “Pretty nice school, isn’t it kids?”

                No response.

                “I said, it’s a pretty nice school, isn’t it kids?” Then he raised his arms up as if to remind the crowd of its important cheering role. We responded with a smattering of applause. Tough crowd. “We have a special guest with us today for the opening ceremony. He and his team were in charge of this project and designed it through the US Army Corp of Engineers. Please, let’s give a big round of applause…that means clapping, kids…to Mr. Fred Sieger!”

                Dad cringed when the principal called him Fred. The folks at his office in Campbell Barracks simply refused to call him Fritz or Friedrich, so they Americanized it. He hated the new name. The photographer got a shot of Dad shaking the principal’s hand, and then got in position to shoot his speech.

                “Hello kids,” Dad said. “I’m proud to be here today for this big day. You will always remember where you were today, when you became the very first class of Heidelberg Middle School Panthers.”

The clapping was a little better than earlier, but not much.

“I know I’ll never forget this day,” Dad said. “It’s a real sense of pride to follow a project like this from beginning to end. But this is even more special for me. I didn’t just design this school for all of you.”

                Oh no, please don’t.

                “My own son is going to be one of the students this year too.”

                No, Dad. No.

                “He’s a little small, but believe it or not, he’s in 8th grade.”

                I could feel my face turning bright red. I was slinking so low in my seat I was in danger of falling to the ground in front of it.

                “Rudi,” he said, as I knew he would, “Please stand up!”

                When I did, I waved like Queen Elizabeth. I don’t know what made me do that, but I thought that’s what was expected of me. The photographer snapped a photo, mid-wave. I could feel all eyes in the room staring at me, so I quickly reclaimed my seat, and looked straight down at the ground.

                “Dude,” Johnny whispered to me. “Your dad is like a celebrity.”

                I didn’t see, hear, or feel anything else after that. I wanted nothing more in life than to simply blend in with everyone else. That’s clearly not going to happen.

                Again.







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