Showing posts with label Andrea Darlas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Andrea Darlas. Show all posts

Friday, August 25, 2023

Media Notebook--8-25-23















MEDIA NOTEBOOK

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

(By Rick Kaempfer)



RADIO/PODCASTS

 

*Joey Boy Leaves B-96

=He announced the news on his Instagram feed this week:

I’ve decided to take my “talents” back to Phoenix‼️ I have made a personal decision to come back HOME. First to be with ALL my kids and loved ones. And secondly, to focus on my well being, as well as my attention on the Valley. Rockin for you Mornings, on Live 101.5‼️ With that said. The other members of the show decided to still rock for you in Chicago and I wish them nothing but good luck and success.

=The show, which had been simulcasting in Phoenix, will simulcast no more. The rest of the B-96 show is Aneesh Ratan, Jeana Shepard and Karla Hernandez. The station is looking for a replacement for Joey Boy. Click here if you want to know more.


 

*National Radio Day

=I always look forward to National Radio Day (August 20). It’s a great day to see old pictures from radio’s heyday. This one is my favorite from this year’s batch. Sky Daniels…


 

 

*ESPN Radio Changing Transmitters

=I’ve actually been out to the old transmitter, which still has the WCFL call letters on it. ESPN 1000 announced this week they have applied to move to a new transmitter, 20 miles south, at the night site of WCPT’s tower in Willow Springs. Good Karma (owner of ESPN 1000) is not selling the old transmitter because they never owned it. It still belongs to Disney. ESPN would still be 50,000kw during the day, and 38,000kw during the night.

 

 

*50 Years of Charlie Meyerson

=Charlie’s career has included stops at WXRT, WNUA, and WGN, and he is currently the editor-in-chief of Chicago Public Square, but this week also marks the 50th anniversary of his career launch at the University of Illinois radio station WPGU. Congrats to Charlie.


 

*Bernie Tafoya Steps Back

=In case you missed it, at the end of June, WBBM morning reporter Bernie Tafoya announced he was stepping back from his full-time reporting job after (only) 37 years at the radio station, and 25 years as the morning reporter. I know what you’re thinking. “But I still hear him on the air!” Well, it’s not a full-fledged retirement. Bernie just cut down to three days a week.

=How tough of a reporter is Bernie? He’s a southside Cubs fan. I interviewed him for Chicago Radio Spotlight in 2009. 

 


*Calling all podcasters!

=This year’s Chicago’s Arts in the Dark parade, a parade of Chicago artists, is also inviting podcasters to participate. If you’re a podcaster and you’d like to participate (there’s no fee), e-mail info@rivet360.com and ask for all the information. They will send it to you. The parade is on October 21st from 4:30-8pm.

 

*Podcast Corner

=The 2023 Most Powerful People in Podcasting

=iHeart starting up a True Crime podcast network. 

=White noise podcasts are costing Spotify millions. It’s algorithm related. 

=A podcast about sobriety. 

=NPR’s podcast chief is leaving. 

 


*Pick the Winner

=These four media pros (Andrea Darlas, Rick DiMaio, Kathy Voltmer, and John Dempsey) golfed together this week. Guess who won? (*The answer at the end of the column)



 

 


MEDIA BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES

 

*August 21—Joel Daly birthday

=The late great newscaster would have been 89 today. My publishing company Eckhartz Press published Joel Daly's book The Daly News in 2014.  My co-publisher David Stern and I had monthly breakfasts with Joel until he got too sick. He was a great storyteller. Joel seemingly met every major historical figure from the second half of the 20th century.



*August 21—Steve Johnson birthday

=The former arts and culture writer for the Chicago Tribune has always been one of my favorite local writers.

 

*August 21—Joe Strummer birthday

=The late Clash guitarist obviously isn’t a member of the Chicago media world, but I do have this picture of him with former WXRT great Bobby Skafish (from Bobby’s book: We Have Company) 



 *August 21—Marcella Raymond birthday

=The former WGN-TV reporter (she just stepped down in June ’23) owns her own public relations firm, Marcella Raymond Media.

 

*August 21—John Filo birthday

=Who is John Filo, you ask? He’s just the guy who won the Pulitzer Prize for taking this photo during the Kent State Massacre. I interviewed him on the 50th anniversary. The story of how he happened to be there to take that photo, and what it took to get it to a newspaper, is a great one. Filo went on to become an executive at CBS.



*August 22—Alison Moran birthday

=Alison is a trailblazer in covering women’s sports. I interviewed her in 2012 for Chicago Radio Spotlight. 

 

*August 22—Darrin Jackson birthday

=The White Sox radio analyst.


 

*August 23, 1991—The World Wide Web

=It’s not that long ago. Think how much it has changed the world. The World Wide Web officially opened to the public this week in 1991.

 

*August 25—Ken Zurski birthday

=Ken is a long-time radio traffic reporter (currently working in Peoria), but he’s also an author. His book is called The Wreck of the Columbia

August 26—Ernie Scatton birthday

=Ernie was one of the blade men (old term, look it up) at ESPN Radio in Chicago for many years.


*August 26—Vicki Truax birthday

=Vicki Truax was a traffic reporter and morning co-host at WJMK in the 1990s. She was also married to the late sportscaster Tim Weigel.


*August 26, 1968—The Whole World is Watching

=This is the anniversary of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which famously ended with a nasty confrontation between Chicago police and war protestors. A friend of mine, local Chicago actor (and son of the police chief at the time) Johnny Conlisk was there. He wrote about that day for myblog a few years ago. 



TV/STREAMING

 

*The Air & Water Show

=Barry Butler took the best pictures…


=Christian Piekos Rode with the US Air Force Thunderbirds, as part of Channel 7’s coverage of last weekend’s Air & Water show

=Stephan Holt Rode with the US Army Golden Knights, as part of Channel 5’s coverage of last weekend’s Air & Water show.

=All well and good but check this out.


 

*Ex-Chicago TV

=Remember Larry Mendte? He was controversial anchor/reporter here in Chicago during his television days at Channel 2 (1991-1995). He is now a conservative talk radio news director. Details are here.


 

*Strike Update

=The two sides are talking at least, although the latest offer was rejected by the union yesterday.



*ESPN Announces New Monday Night Countdown crew

=Suzy Kolber had been the host of the show in previous seasons. She was let go this summer. The new host is Scott Van Pelt. The rest of the crew is noted here. 

 


*Guess Who is a Cult Hero Now?

=Would you believe it’s Mrs. Roper from Three’s Company? I definitely didn’t see this one coming. The New York Times has the story. 

 


*Cable News Corner

=Is Newsmax shaking down non-Trump candidates to appear on their network? 

=CNN considering NYT editor for new boss


 

*Rest in Peace

=Ron Cephas Jones

The “This Is Us” star was only 66 years old.

=David Jacobs

He was the creator of Dallas and Knot’s Landing


 

 

PRINT/DIGITAL


*What happened to theater in Chicago?

=An in-depth piece by Tribune theater critic Chris Jones about an industry devastated by COVID.



*Froomkin vs. Baker

=Dan Froomkin was a reporter for the Washington Post for years and is now a media critic. This piece about New York Times reporter Peter Baker is quite the take-down.



 *Rest in Peace

=John Warnock

Creator of the PDF. He was 82.



SOCIAL MEDIA

 

*More Twitter Controversies

= Elon Musk to Limit Block Feature. Trolls will now have free reign. Just what everybody wants. 

=Twitter will now also remove news headlines. Forbes has the story. 


 

*The winner of the golf outing was Kathy Voltmer.




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.


If you're interested in some of my other projects...


Minutia Men Podcast: Spiders, Frogs, and Gorillas

Minutia Men Celebrity Interview Podcast: Jim Peterik & Larry Millas from the Ides of March

Free Kicks with Adam & Rick: New Season Kickoff

The Fifth Edition (2023) of EveryCubEver is out now!  Buy your copy today

The Fifth Edition (2023) of EveryCubEver is also on amazon. Buy your copy today.

My latest novel: Back in the D.D.R

Windy City Reviews Back in the D.D.R.

Podcast Interview about Back in the D.D.R: Military Family Museum Podcast

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Friday, May 05, 2023

Media Notebook--5-5-23















MEDIA NOTEBOOK

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

(By Rick Kaempfer)



RADIO/PODCASTS

 

*Andrea Darlas Interview

=The latest Illinois Entertainer came out this week and featured my interview with brand new Illini Media Hall of Famer Andrea Darlas.


*Close call for Terri Hemmert

=The WXRT Legend found herself in the news this week for a very unexpected reason. The Tribune has the story of her trip to New Orleans, where she was caught in the crossfire of a potential gang dispute. Shots fired. A server killed. Others injured, including a friend of Terri’s, who got a bullet in the back. A harrowing tale for sure. 

=A grateful Terry is back in Chicago among colleagues and friends


*What really happened at Q-101?

=I’ve been spending all week trying to figure out exactly what happened at Q-101 last Friday when Cumulus PD VP/Programming Rock Formats (and VP/Operations manager of Q-101) Troy Hanson left the station abruptly with 2 ½ years remaining on his contract. My sources told me he was fired, but the station has not released a formal statement confirming that. In fact, they didn’t release a statement at all. When I asked a high-level official for comment, I didn’t hear back.

=The radio trade publications treated Hanson’s departure as a simple resignation, or said he “exited” the station, or was “leaving” the station. The only quotes, however, came from Hanson himself. He implied he’s leaving radio altogether. Here’s an example of one quote from the RAMP newsletter. "What a fun ride my radio experience was. It was inspiring to meet so many talented people along the way. Wrapping up the last ten years with the great programmers of the Rock/Classic Rock & Alternative Platform at Cumulus was the chef's kiss."

=I have spoken with staffers and former staffers, and I think it’s safe to say there wasn’t exactly an outpouring of grief about Hanson’s departure. I heard many stories that were hard to believe. At least one of those was confirmed by multiple sources. Six different people sent me a copy of an invitation Hanson sent from his corporate e-mail address inviting people to a party at his house (after the big Q-101 concert at the Salt Shed). I’ve never seen anything like that invitation, and I worked at rock stations during some incredibly politically incorrect times. Let me put it to you this way; I’m not even comfortable sharing it here.

=Is any of this related to the Justin Nettlebeck resignation last week? I’m told the hiring of new co-host Kenzie K had nothing to do with Justin’s resignation. So what did? There’s clearly more to this than has been publicly shared. I reached out to Justin and he declined to comment on the situation.

=I expect more news to emerge. If anyone wants to provide a quote on the record, I’m all ears. In the meantime, James Kurdziel is the interim PD for now.



*Former WTMX Producer Drops Appeal

=After a court dismissed her defamation case against Hubbard Radio in December, former WTMX producer Cynthia DeNicolo filed an appeal. That appeal has now been dropped. Inside Radio has more details on the case, which is now officially over.



*Chicago’s Country and Folk Music History

=Robert Loerzel interviewed Mark Guarino, author of Country and Midwestern: Chicago in the History of Country Music and the Folk Revival, for WBEZ.org.  The book came out this week. You might be surprised how important a role Chicago played in that genre’s history. The interview is here.


*The Loop Files

=It posts every Tuesday. This week I featured Eddie Webb.


 *The Fred Show Nabs First Affiliate

=Last week I reported that The Fred Show (which airs in Chicago at Kiss-FM) was going to be offered up for national syndication. This week WDGC-Raleigh became the first official affiliate. Chris "Fred" Frederick, host of The Fred Show said in a release: "We are SO excited to bring The Fred Show to Raleigh and G105! Thanks to Michael Burger, A.J., Trevor Morini, and the iHeartMedia Raleigh team for the opportunity to introduce our show to such a legendary and powerful brand! We can't wait for Raleigh to join our dysfunctional family on May 8!"

 

*Museum of Broadcast Communications 40th Anniversary Auction

=It’s the 40th anniversary of the museum this year and they have put together a pretty unique auction of various different broadcasting experiences to help raise money. Check out the site here.

=Among the radio items available: virtually co-hosting a podcast with Garry Meier, co-hosting a show on WGN with John Landecker, taking a Chicago architecture tour with WGN’s Lisa Dent, golfing with Steve Cochran at Cantigny, a cake made by Melissa Forman, a tour of the WTMX studios, DJ for a day at Q-101 or WLS-FM, participating in speed jokes with John Williams at WGN, and more.

 

 

*Podcast Corner

=From the everybody has a podcast now files, here’s another name to add to the list: Ted Lasso’s Brett Goldstein.

=7 Findings About Podcast Listeners

=Podcasts claim nearly 50% of all personality/talk listenership.

=Conan O’Brien’s podcast dropping May 17: The Lost Hans & Franz Movie.


 

*RIP Mike Shannon

=It’s hard to overstate Shannon’s place in the cultural history of St. Louis. He was a former player, the voice of the Cardinals for many years, and a restauranteur.

 

 

MEDIA BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES

 

*April 30—Chet Coppock birthday

=The big Bohunk would have been celebrating his birthday today. Hard to believe he’s been gone four years already. My last official interview with him for Illinois Entertainer goes back to 2014.


*April 30--Scott Miller birthday

=Scott was part of the Pete McMurray show on WGN and the Drive and is now hosting his own show in downstate Illinois. I interviewed him about his new show in 2020 for Illinois Entertainer.

 

*April 30—Steve Leventhal birthday

=Steve is the founder of InternetFM and Acid Flashback Radio and is currently working on a book about his time in college at North Carolina University in 1982.

 

*May 1—Mike Murphy birthday

=Murphy is one of the deans of the sports talk world in Chicago, having worked at both sports talk stations in town. He is also one of the original Bleacher Bums from the memorable 1969 Chicago Cubs season. Here’s a little Murphy trivia: He caught the only career home run hit by 1968 Cub Jose Arcia. (That’s in my EveryCubEver book.)

 

*May 1—Max Robinson birthday

=Max was an ABC network news anchor in the late 70s/early 80s based out of Chicago, part of a three-man anchor team that included Peter Jennings and Frank Reynolds. He was a trailblazer for other African-Americans in the TV news business. Max passed away in 1988, due to complications from AIDS. He was only 49 years old.

 

*May 1, 1997--Carol Marin resigns from Channel 5

=This was the top story in Chicago when it happened. Marin resigned after Jerry Springer was named to be a commentator on the 10:00 Newscast. Her fellow anchor Ron Magers resigned shortly thereafter.

 

*May 2, 1960—WLS becomes a rock station

=This was the most momentous event in Chicago radio at the time. It remained one of the city’s powerhouse stations for the next three decades. I’ve been very fortunate over the years to speak with lots of those WLS greats, my childhood heroes. I’ve accumulated highlights of some of themhere, including Clark Weber, Ron Riley, Larry Lujack, Tommy Edwards, Bob Sirott, Fred Winston, John Records Landecker and more.


*May 2—Larry Potash birthday

=The co-anchor of the WGN Morning News and the host of Backstory is one of the biggest stars on the local television scene. I interviewed him on my podcast a few years ago. It’s here if you’d like to listen to it. The interview begins at the 21:40 mark.


*May 2, 2022—Don Beno birthday.

=Don worked in Chicago radio, but the reason I interviewed him last year for Illinois Entertainer is his incredible Facebook page Chicago Radio Archives and Memories. Read all about that here.


*May 2—Wayne Randazzo birthday

=Randazzo got his start here at the Score (670 AM) but turned his Kane County Cougars play-by-play gig into a big-league job. He was the play-by-play man for the New York Mets for a few years before recently taking a similar job with the LA Angels. The St. Charles East (and North Central College) grad is also involved in the Italian Sports Hall of Fame.

 

*May 2—Donn Pearlman birthday

=The 25-year NewsRadio WBBM man now lives in Vegas. He has been running his own PR firm for decades.

 

*May 3—Jim Modelski birthday

=For years Jim was Chet Coppock’s right hand man at Coppock on Sports and had a big hand in the formative years of WMVP. He’s a success now in the world of finance, but he also made his mark in radio. (Photo of former "boyquarium" members Mike Davis, Jim Modelski, and Tom Serritella with their old boss Chet Coppock at a 2018 book signing)


*May 3—Greg Gumbel birthday

=The pride of Hyde Park became a WMAQ-TV weekend sports anchor before transforming himself into one of the biggest names in sports broadcasting. Greg is the Sox-fan half of the Gumbel brothers. Bryant is the Cubs fan.

 

*May 3, 1971—NPR debuts “All Things Considered”

=The man at the microphone for the first show was Robert Conley. He had been a correspondent for The New York Times and The Huntley/Brinkley report on NBC. That first show was inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.

 

*May 3—Erin Carman Birthday

=Erin hosts the midday show at WLS-FM every weekday. She previously also hosted shows at WLUP, WTMX, and K-Hits.

 

*May 3—Wes Bleed birthday

=Bleed spent 14 years in the WGN Radio newsroom, including several years as the news director. He is currently the Membership, Marketing, and Communications Director at Water Quality Association.

 

*May 4—George Will birthday

=George’s only real connection to Chicago is his love of the Cubs. The long time political pundit for ABC News and columnist for the Washington Post is a Pulitzer Prize winner. His connection to the Cubs is from his boyhood years growing up in downstate Illinois. (Photo: George and I displaying our Cubs bonafides)



 

*May 5—Mark Caro birthday

=The long-time Chicago Tribune writer is now the host of a great podcast called Caro-pop. I wrote about the show for Illinois Entertainer last year.


May 5—Jimmy Caranne birthday

=Jimmy was a contributor at WBEZ for several years but is mainly known as an improv artist/actor/writer/comedian/teacher. Caranne is a Second City veteran.

 

May 5—Rafer Weigel birthday

=The son of legendary sports anchor Tim Weigel had a run here in Chicago as an anchor at WFLD-TV. He left under bumpy circumstances, but Rafer has recovered nicely. He currently works as a reporter/anchor at San Diego’s top station, KUSI-TV.

 


TV/Streaming

 

*Hollywood Writers Go On Strike

=The threats are over; the strike is here. The writers walked out because they believe they are not being paid fairly during this era of streaming. The vote of the WGA board was unanimous. In a statement released Tuesday, the union said: “The companies’ behavior has created a gig economy inside a union work force, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing.”

=How does the strike affect your favorite shows? 

 

 

*Chicago TV Sports Royalty

=Two former competitors, among the best to ever do what they did, met up this week. Something about this picture is comforting, isn’t it?


*Natalie Bomke Profile

=Natalie is an anchor at WFLD-TV (Channel 32). Illinois Alumni Magazine has a nice profile of her in this month's issue. 



*Museum of Broadcast Communications 40th Anniversary Auction

=It’s the 40th anniversary of the museum this year and they have put together a pretty unique auction of various different broadcasting experiences to help raise money. Check out the site here.

=Among the TV-related items available…lunch with Henry Winkler, tickets to see a bunch of shows based in New York like The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, The Drew Barrymore show, and Live with Kelly & Mark, or tickets to see a bunch of LA-based programs like The Connors, the Kelly Clarkson Show, and more. Obviously the strike will delay the prize, but all are still incredible opportunities when things return to normal.

=For a more local flavor, how about a behind the scenes tour of WGN-TV and a chance to watch the morning show live in the studio. Or a Chicago pizza tour with NBC-5’s Food Guy Steve Dolinsky? But to me, the coolest auction item available has to be “chicken thrower” on Svengoolie’s show. There are a lot of other options too.

 

 

*Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s exit interview with ABC-7

=The Mayor didn’t do a ton of local media interviews, but she did grant one to ABC-7 in Chicago. You can watch it here.



*The White House Correspondent’s Dinner

=Chicagoan Roy Wood had the honor of doing the keynote, and he killed.  


 *Vice Media likely headed for bankruptcy

=Not a surprising development, unfortunately. The New York Times has the details.



*Cable News Corner

=The Tucker Carlson text that alarmed Fox Bosses. “That’s not how white men fight.” Read the whole text here.

=Donald Trump agreed to appear on CNN for a Town Hall in New Hampshire this coming Wednesday. Needless to say, the former president rarely appears on this network. 



*Behind the scenes during James Corden’s final week

=The Hollywood Reporter was there for Corden’s last week and chronicled it... 


 

 *Kelly O’Donnell Honored with Journalism Award

=NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell was honored this week at the 10th annual Washington Women in Journalism Awards. TV Newser has more informationabout the gala.


*Poll: American Media to Blame for Dividing Americans

=I hate these polls because the term “The Media” doesn’t mean anything to me. You can’t make such a generic pronouncement, as “the media says this” or “the media says that.” Specificity is required. The media outlets that actually do divide us are on the political margins, not in the mainstream. People who are most upset at the mainstream media and who most loudly claim it is polarizing, are the same people who replace it with something much more polarizing—not less.



*Girls Soccer on the U

=The Game of the Week returns to the U (WCIU, WMEU) this coming Wednesday at 6:00. It’s the Chicago Public League Girl’s Soccer Championship live from Lane Tech High School.

 

*Shaq’s gas

=For my fellow emotional adolescents …


 

 

PRINT/DIGITAL MEDIA

 

 

*Block Club Chicago Adds Two More Pros

=Block Club Chicago announced the addition of two journalism pros this week. Former Chicago Sun Times food editor Janet Rausa Fuller and Associate Professor of Journalism Curtis Lawrence joined the team, as managing editor and senior editor of investigations.


 

*RIP Mary Knoblauch

=Mary was a reporter and editor at the Chicago Tribune for many years. Her old paper did a nice tribute to her after she passed away this week at the age of 80.


 

*Excerpt From Ben Smith’s New Book

=Ben Smith was the media writer for the New York Times, but before that he was the editor of Buzzfeed. His new book is about that era in our media times when the young guns of the internet were challenging the media elite. The book is called Traffic, and Smith posted an excerpt at his new on-line publication Semafor. The headline of this excerpt gives the content away: When the Media Giants Learned to Open Their Doors.

*Charlie Meyerson interview

=The Illini Media Hall of Famer, and founder/editor-in-chief of the excellent Chicago Public Square, gets the feature treatment at entrepreneurtechstack.com. It’s a good read. 

 

*Collier Prize for State Government Accountability

=The Los Angeles Times was the 1st place winner, The Miami Herald finished in second, and a collaboration between The Marshall Project, NBC News, and Pro-Publica finished in third. More information about the specific stories that were recognized, and what the Collier Prize is, can be found here.


 *Requiem for a Newsroom

=Maureen Dowd’s column this weekend lamented the changes that have come to the physical newsrooms of newspapers since COVID. 

 

 

SOCIAL MEDIA


 

*Elon Musk Has Another Hissy-Fit Over NPR’s departure

=Musk is upset that NPR didn’t just forgive and forget being labeled “government sponsored” like the Russian and Chinese propaganda outlets. He thought if he removed the label, everything would return to normal. NPR hasn’t come back yet. So, Musk threatened to let someone else use the @NPRhandle. And he e-mailed a reporter at NPR to say “You Suck”.




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.


If you're interested in some of my other projects from this week...

The Fifth Edition (2023) of EveryCubEver is out now!  Buy your copy today

The Fifth Edition (2023) of EveryCubEver is also on amazon. Buy your copy today.

Minutia Men: Who Spilled the Rice?

Minutia Men Celebrity Interview: 1883 star Eric Nelsen

Minutia Men Celebrity Interview Classic: Mark Giangreco

Free Kicks with Adam & Rick: The Blonde Assassin

Meet the Eckhartz Press Author: Rich King

From the Eckhartz Book Shelf: Down at the Golden Coin

My latest novel: Back in the D.D.R

Windy City Reviews Back in the D.D.R.

Podcast Interview about Back in the D.D.R: Military Family Museum Podcast

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