MEDIA NOTEBOOK
A curation of news items about the media from this past week, with a particular emphasis on Chicago.
Radio/Podcasts
=Today marks the 50th anniversary of Terri Hemmert on WXRT. Congrats to Terri and the station. The celebration began this morning but continues in many ways. A few of them are listed here.
*Christmas
music on WLIT
=Tis
the season. As of yesterday afternoon, WLIT is playing Christmas music 24 hours a day. This propels them to the top of the ratings every year. This year the
jump won’t be as high. They’re already the #1 rated station in Chicago.
*Audacy
De-listed by NYSE
=Not
a great sign for the financial health of the broadcasting giant. More details are here. In
Chicago Audacy owns WXRT, WSCR, WBBM-AM, WBBM-FM, WBMX, and WUSN, some of the
biggest and most popular radio stations on the dial.
*Highest
Net Worth Americans/ Favorite radio formats
=Katz Media did research on what media the highest net worth
households in America consume to show which radio formats most align with other
media choices. I’m sure the sales departments of talk stations (news,
news/talk, all talk, sports) already knew this. Same with the classical and
jazz formats. Nice to see AAA and Soft AC on the list too. Full list is here…
·
All News Radio: $646,103
·
Classical Radio: $599,206
·
News/Talk Radio: $587,859
·
Kiplinger’s Personal
Finance: $586,602
·
Golf Channel: $572,626
·
The Atlantic: $568,719
·
Fox Business Network: $567,362
·
All Talk Radio: $551,150
·
Condé Nast Traveler: $545,908
·
Sports Radio: $541,450
·
Golf Magazine: $540,810
·
Wall Street Journal: $535,649
·
AAA Radio: $534,125
·
Real Simple: $531,181
·
The New Yorker: $519,879
·
MSNBC: $518,431
·
Jazz Radio: $513,884
·
Smithsonian Channel: $506,552
·
New York Times (Daily): $503,912
·
New York Times (Sunday): $499,398
·
BBC News: $496,957
·
HGTV: $490,740
·
The Economist: $484,128
·
CNBC: $473,659
·
Soft AC Radio: $469,501
·
Average U.S. Household:
$399,050
*Podcast
Corner
=Last
year’s scandal becomes this year’s podcast. TJ Holmes and Amy Robach were TV
news co-hosts on ABC when their affair became news. They were each married to
someone else at the time. That eventually led to their departure from ABC. Now
they are back with their own podcast. Radio Ink has the details.
*Ex-Chicago
Radio Report
=Former WJMK program director Kevin Robinson has a new gig. He is the new Executive Director of listener-supported, non-profit 98.9 WYRZ/Brownsburg, IN, “The Voice of Hendricks County,” a teaching radio facility operated by the Hendricks County Educational Foundation.
*Sports
Talk Chicago Regional Syndication
=Jon
Zaghloul’s YouTube show Sports Talk Chicago announced this week it
is being syndicated regionally in Illinois and Indiana. It can now also be
heard on WKAN Kankakee (Saturdays 6-7pm), WKYT
Wilmington (Satudays 10-11am), WRPW Bloomington (Saturdays 6-7pm), WJOB
Hammond (5-6pm Thursdays), JED-TV Hammond (5-6pm Thursdays), and ACTV Aurora
(various times, daily).
*Spotify
creating new royalty rules
=These rules don’t kick in until 2024, but it won’t surprise you to discover it will mean less money going to musical artists. Details are here.
*Rest
in Peace
You’ve undoubtedly seen all the stories
about him throwing chairs in fits of anger. A few years ago I interviewed radio
sports reporter Alison Moran, and she had her own story…"I was asked by UPI Radio to interview him at Northwestern
after he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Well, I ended up being the
last to enter the interview room, and there were literally no seats left
anywhere. The room was packed. I was going to do what I usually did--just put
the mic on the interview table and dive under it to stay out of camera range. I
was also nervous because I was wearing...horrors of horrors--a purple and white
dress...Northwestern colors! And I'd never met him before. So, Bob rose up from
his seat, picked up the chair next to him....held it over his head...and placed
it gently on the floor right across from him. Then he patted the seat, looked
at me, and said. "There's a chair for ya." I sat down and mouthed
"thank you, Coach!" You wouldn't expect that from Bob Knight, would
you?"
*The
Loop Files
=The latest issue of Illinois Entertainer is out and includes a preview of my book, The Loop Files. Quotes from Mitch Michaels, Garry Meier, Jonathon Brandmeier, Kevin Mathews, Bob Stroud, and Chet Coppock are in the article.
=I also
appeared on Bruce Wolf’s podcast to promote The Loop Files. Thanks to
Bruce for having me on.
=It looks like the book will officially (cross your fingers) ship next week. Thanks to everyone who pre-ordered it! It took a little longer at the printer because there were so many orders. 3 book signings are already scheduled (one in the city, one in the southwestern burbs, one in the south burbs). I’ll share those details next week. I want to book one more in the northwestern burbs. Got any suggestions?
Media
birthdays/milestones
*October
30, 1938
=Orson Welles broadcasts "The War of
the Worlds" radio hoax, causing mass panic in US.
*October
30—Jim Volkman birthday
=Best
known for his spot-on Harry Caray impersonation.
*October 31—Jim Shorts birthday
=The (totally real) sportscaster was born on
Halloween. (I've interviewed him in English, and German, The German one is
here, if you'd like to hear it.)
*October 31-- Jane Pauley birthday
=She obviously went on to bigger and better
things, but she did a stint here locally at WMAQ-TV, Channel 5.
*October 31--Bill Gamble birthday
=Former Chicago radio program director (Q-101,
CD-94.7, et al). I interviewed him for Chicago
Radio Spotlight back in 2009.
*October 31—John Candy birthday
=The late great comic actor also hosted a radio
show that aired on AM 1000 back in the eday.
*November 1-- Tom Sochowski birthday
=Former radio producer/host (WJMK, WCKG,
ESPN, The Fish).
*November 1-- Judy Pielach birthday
=Former WGN & WLS newscaster
*November 3--Alex Quigley birthday
=Alex worked at several radio stations in Chicago
including Q-101, WGN, and The Game. I interviewed him back in his
WGN days (2010) for Chicago Radio Spotlight.
*November
3-- Catherine Johns birthday
=The
Chicago broadcasting legend (WLS, WJMK) is now a motivational speaker. I’ve
interviewed Catherine several times over the years. The first time was 15 years
ago.
*November 3-- J.R. Straus birthday.
=He and his brother were featured together
for a piece I wrote in 2008.
*November 4--Tom Hush birthday
=The Steve Cochran show (WLS
Radio) producer.
TV/Streaming
*Chicago
Emmy Awards
=The ceremony is coming soon, November 11 at the Swiss Hotel. The full list of this year’s nominees is here.
*Me-TV
to air M*A*S*H finale on Veterans Day
=Veterans
Day is November 10th. The show airs at 6pm. When it first aired 40
years ago, it was one of the most watched shows of all-time. It remains the 13th
most watched show ever, and if you don’t count Super Bowls, it’s 3rd
behind only the first moon landing and Nixon’s resignation speech. 105.9
million tuned in.
*Disney
buys the rest of Hulu
=Comcast
owned 33% of Hulu, but Disney bought them out. They now own Hulu outright. What
is it supposedly worth? $27.5 billion.
*James
Cordon Replacement Named
=The show will be called After Midnight. The host will be Taylor Tomlinson. It will be nice to have a female late-night host. The Hollywood Reporter has the details.
*The
untold story of Tucker Carlson’s departure from Fox News
=Vanity Fair has an excerpt from Brian Stelter’s new book.
*Boris
Johnson Becomes Right Wing TV Host in UK
=This headline didn’t surprise me in the slightest. Sounds like what he was put on this earth to do.
*Rest
in Peace
=Matthew
Perry
The Friends
star was only 54. He was, without question, the funniest Friend.
The Night Court star was 80. The Catchy Comedy Network will air 88 back-to-back episodes of the series all weekend long from Saturday, November 4 at 10am through Monday, November 6 at 5am.
The General Hospital star was only 50.
Print/Digital
*The Daily Herald brings home the hardware
=16 first place, 10 second place, and
11 third place awards in the annual Northern Illinois Journalism contest.
*Fact Checking vs. Fact Crusading
=Mark Jacobs argues for the latter in his Substack this week.
*Death Toll of journalists covering
Israel/Hamas war reaches 34
*Paramount sells Simon & Schuster
=It is now a stand-alone company
again, which it hasn’t been since Sumner Redstone purchased it. The price was $1.62 billion. I’d like to think that The Radio Producer’s Handbook (a
Simon & Schuster product) had a little something to do with that massive
price tag.
*What happens when a Russian business
tycoon buys an American magazine?
=They are finding out at Forbes.
According to Semafor, journalists at the magazine are reluctant to share
sensitive information with their new owner.
Social media
*Twitter is now worth $17 billion
=Not bad, right? Not bad unless you paid $44 billion for it just a year 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.
If you're interested in some of my other projects...
Minutia Men Podcast: Spartans & Spies
Minutia Men Celebrity Interview Podcast: The real Matt Foley
Free Kicks with Adam & Rick: Not so Spursy
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.
Windy City Reviews Back in the D.D.R.
