MEDIA NOTEBOOK
A curation of news items about the media from this past week, with a particular emphasis on Chicago.
RADIO/PODCASTS
*Rewound Radio—WLS & WCFL
=This is the weekend for the big event at Rewound Radio. My column about it (an interview with
Ted Gorden Smucker) comes out this weekend in the Illinois Entertainer. Here’s
another promo from one of the participants: Lyle Dean.
=The RAMP Newsletter covered the story this morning too.
=A little more info…It starts Saturday (August 31) morning at 5:00 AM CDT. Highlights include various Animal Stories, Chickenman episodes, Steve King and WLS Music People, memorializing Elvis Presley (1977), Dick Biondi and Pop Goes The Music (1965), WLS Countdown of the Top 16 hits of 1978 and more.
*Dan Proft Kicked Off Charity Board
=You’d think someone who is on the board of a charity that
supports people with intellectual, developmental, and psychiatric disabilities
wouldn’t publicly mock someone like Gus Walz for his reaction to his
dad’s speech. WIND’s Dan Proft is not one of those people. Envision Unlimited removed him from their board after he mocked Walz. The vote was
unanimous.
=His co-host Amy Jacobson, who joined in on the mocking, is also in trouble. In addition to being on the air at WIND, she was a volleyball coach at Amundsen High School. Some parents at the school didn’t think someone who mocks kids with disabilities should be coaching kids. Amy resigned from Amundsen on Wednesday.
=It doesn’t appear the duo will face any consequences at WIND-AM 560.
*BetQL
=Some Chicago-related developments in the latest changes
announced by Audacy’s BetQL. Sam Panayotovich will team up with Joe
Ostrowski on BetQL Daily weekdays from 8am-11am CT. You
may remember Panayotovich from WGN Radio. He also previously worked with
Ostrowski.
*Podcast Corner
=The Kelce brothers signed a $100 million deal with Wondery.
The deal includes the full back catalog of previous shows and international
podcasting rights.
=Car Con Carne is on LinkedIn now. The show is approaching it's 1000th episode. Pretty impressive.
*Music News
=15 years after the breakup, the brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher are putting their differences aside and reuniting for a Oasis tour. Why? I
can give you tens of millions of reasons.
=The Cure is releasing their first new music in 16 years, and they are doing it on eco-vinyl as a fundraiser for climate change advocates Earth Percent.
*WBEZ’s night with Margaret Atwood
=The author of The Handmaid’s Tale is coming to town Monday October 7 at the University Club.
*Ex-Chicago Radio Update
=Former WLS & WCFL star Chuck Knapp has his own
website now, featuring classic clips from his long career.
=Mike Dubs, former weekender at WUSN, left his
morning show at Kool 108 in Minneapolis last week.
MEDIA BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES
*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, and is now working at WGN Radio.
*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,
1939
=First
televised Major League Baseball game. The Brooklyn Dodgers hosted the
Cincinnati Reds at Ebbets Field, and it was broadcast on an experimental
television station for the World’s Fair.
*August 26,
1963
=Martin
Luther King’s "I Have a Dream” speech in Washington.
On this day in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his landmark speech
— AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY (@AfricanArchives) August 28, 2024
"I Have a Dream" pic.twitter.com/WQniIo7w1S
*August 27—Ron Magers birthday
=Magers has
been retired for a few years now, but he had a legendary run as a news anchor
in Chicago at both NBC-5 and ABC-7.
*August 27—Joe
Cicero birthday
=Joe is the
morning man at Star 105.5. I
interviewed him for Illinois Entertainer a few years ago.
*August 27—Dan
McNeil birthday
=I’ve
interviewed the former Score, ESPN, Drive, and Loop host many times over the
past few decades, but I think this 2004
piece I wrote about him for Lake Magazine is the best.
*August 27--Tom Shaer birthday
=Sportscaster for Chicago radio (the Score) and television (Channel 5) for decades.
*August 28,
1981—Greetings from Graceland
=Steve & Garry’s TV show aired on Channel 7…(Thanks to S&G fan page for this Sun-Times clipping)
*August 29—Tom
Couch birthday
=Couch is the former creative director for Hubbard Broadcasting in Chicago and WXRT. He is now with Noteworthy Media.
*August 30—Mark Zander birthday
=Zander has worked at several stations in Chicago,
including the Loop, ESPN, WCKG, and Me-TV FM. I’ve interviewed him a few
times, including this one from 2007.
*August 31—Robert
Jordan birthday
=Jordan
retired a few years ago after a long and productive career on WGN-TV. This
photo is from Rich King’s book “Ike & Me” (L-R: King, Ramsey, Bange, and
Jordan)
=News that
shocked the world. This is how the news was reported in England.
TV/STREAMING
*The Cubs are Swifties Now
=With all the talk of the White Sox terrible season, you may have missed that the Cubs have quietly started playing well. Is Taylor Swift somehow responsible?
Taylor Swift COULD be helping the @Cubs right now 🤣👀 pic.twitter.com/jVHgiTbhbn
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) August 27, 2024
*Danny Parkins Takes on TV
=The former
Score radio host is now part of the FS1 lineup and discusses that transition and the “arranged marriage” aspect of the show in this piece.
*Someone Throws a Rock at Channel 7 State Street Studio
=Needless to say, this was caught on video. The rock damaged the glass but didn't harm anyone. They haven't caught the person yet. Watch the video here.
*Harry Caray Ltd Sues Texas Steakhouse
=The people who own the name and likeness of the late Harry Caray (Harry Caray Ltd) are suing a chain of restaurants in Texas known as The Holy Cow Restaurant for trademark infringement. In the lawsuit they say the name Holy Cow was chosen to “create a false association with the Harry Caray restaurants, and to willfully, intentionally and unlawfully misappropriate the tremendous goodwill of Harry Caray Ltd.’s well known, if not famous HOLY COW! mark, as well as the goodwill associated therewith.”
*Rafer
Weigel interview
=The former
Chicago TV newsman (and son of Tim Weigel) was interviewed this past
week by Margaret Larkin…
*Kamala's First Interview
=It happened last night on CNN. The interview was conducted by Dana Bash and went fairly well for the Vice President. Here are some takeaways.
*Rules for
the Presidential Debate September 10
=These are the
rules released this week by ABC.
=Both sides clearly haven’t agreed to them yet. Brian Fallon is a Kamala Harris spokesperson.
=As ranked by Esquire Magazine. As always, these lists are designed to spark discussion and
debate. Schweddy Balls is only #40? Not so sure. Frozen Caveman Lawyer is #1? Not
so sure.
*Wolf Blitzer wins Cronkite Award
=The award is given out every year by Arizona State University (Cronkite's alma mater). Blitzer is the 41st recipient of the award. More details here.
*Nikki
Glaser to Host Golden Globes
=Last year comedian Joe Koy wasn’t
warmly received. This year it’s Nikki’s turn to give it a shot. It will be on
CBS on January 5th.
*Pat McAfee
=Pride in his ignorance.
Journalistic standards.#PMSLive pic.twitter.com/9H2Bu8I6wj
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) August 29, 2024
*Rest in
Peace
For 22 years (1987-2009) he was the chief political correspondent for WFLD-TV (Channel 32). Jack passed away in Arizona this week. He was 77.
Former CBS
News correspondent. He was 87.
Comedian who
appeared on same episode of the Ed Sullivan show as the Beatles. She was 93.
SOCIAL MEDIA
*Google’s
Anti-Trust Loss Opens Door to Yelp Lawsuit
=Now that
Google has been labeled a monopoly, the floodgates are opening from companies
that feel the big thumb of Google has been removed. First up in court, Yelp.
*Telegram
Founder Arrested in France
=His name is Pavel
Durov. His alleged crime is failing to prevent illicit (criminal) activity on his app.
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.
