Guy Bauer

My latest media column for the Illinois Entertainer has been posted.

This month I spoke with former Brandmeier producer Guy Bauer--who is now a successful video entrepeneur.

Read it here.

US-99 Wins More Awards

Yesterday their PD was named as top PD, but there were a few other awards given out as well.

US-99 was named major market country radio station of the year, and Ray Stevens & Lisa Dent were named best major market personalities. More details are here.

Congrats to everyone at US-99. I just interviewed Ray Stevens for a recent column at the Illinois Entertainer, if you're interested in reading more about Ray.

Todd Manley

My latest Illinois Entertainer article is about WGN VP of Content & Programming, Todd Manley.

You can read it here.

Ramblin' Ray Stevens

My January media column has been posted in the current issue of the Illinois Entertainer. This month I interviewed US-99's Ray Stevens.

You can read it here.

Gone But Not Forgotten

My latest Illinois Entertainer media column has been posted. This month I feature three of my all-time favorites who we lost in the last year...Larry Lujack, Roy Leonard, and Cindy Gatziolis

You can read it here.

Bruce Wolf

My latest Illinois Entertainer media column has been posted. This month I interviewed WLS Radio's Bruce Wolf

You can read it here.

Rockin' For You

My latest media column has been posted in the Illinois Entertainer. This month it's a tribute to all my fellow WPGUers in Chicago media, including Rick O'Dell, Robin Baumgarten, Alex Quigley, Wendy Rice, Charlie Meyerson, Kathy Voltmer, Phil Manicki, Greg Easterling, Marc Vernon, Brian TheMix, Adam Harris, Andrea Darlas, Melissa Forman, Dane Placko, Jon Hansen, Lise Dominique, and Gene Honda.

You can read it here.

Robert Murphy

My latest Illinois Entertainer column is out. This month I interviewed WLS-FM's Robert Murphy

You can read it here.

Pete McMurray

My latest media column has been posted at the Illinois Entertainer. This month I interviewed WGN's Pete McMurray

You can read it here.

Bob Stroud

My latest Illinois Entertainer column has been posted. This month I talk music with the Drive's Bob Stroud.

You can read it here.

Danielle Tufano

My latest media column has been posted in the Illinois Entertainer. This month I feature The River's Danielle Tufano

You can read it here.

Next month: Bob Stroud talks music

Chet Coppock Interview--Illinois Entertainer

I talked to the Godfather of sports radio in Chicago for the Illinois Entertainer. He had a few things he wanted to get off his chest.

It's a doozy. You can read it here.

Bob Sirott & Marianne Murciano

My latest media column for the Illinois Entertainer is about Bob Sirott & Marianne Murciano.

It's posted right here.

Media Spotlight--February 3

Every weekday in 2014, I'll be keeping an eye on what's happening in the media. My focus will be on some of my favorite subjects...the moguls, the pundits, the broadcast news biz, show business, and the publishing business. (Read "$everance" if you want a crystallization of my positions on those subjects.) And, of course, I'll also keep tabs on Chicago's media.


Chicago Media

~Greg Brown
My February media column has been posted at the Illinois Entertainer. This month I got into the weeds of disc-jockeying with WLS Radio's Greg Brown.

~WGN-FM
The internet version of WGN, which stars Johnny B and Harry Teinowitz, is adding a few other voices this week. Pugs & Kelly and Abe Kanan will be getting tryouts this week, according to Chicagoland Radio & Media. (I've previously interviewed Pugs for Chicago Radio Spotlight)

~Lineup Shuffle Coming to ABC-7
Robert Feder has the details about the implications of Katie Couric's departure, and it's good news for Jeopardy fans. It looks like it will be returning to it's old 3:30pm timeslot.


The Moguls

~Amazon's plan to take over the world
According to this piece, it's poised to become the biggest media company in the world.

~Rupert to be inducted into the TV Hall of Fame
The ceremony will be held on March 11. Details in the Guardian.


The Pundits

~O'Reilly's interview with the president
It was testy, but Bill finally got to ask questions about the non-scandals that Fox News is obsessed with. "These kinds of things keep on surfacing in part because you and your TV station will promote them," the president said. Now Fox will get to spend a week obsessing that the president is blaming them for the non-scandals they just know are much bigger deals than everyone else in the world believes. It's a never-ending cycle.

~Katie's getting married
Katie Couric was a guest on Howard Stern's 60th birthday bash and spilled the beans about her upcoming wedding. People Magazine has more at the link.

~Bill Kristol to join ABC News
The Weekly Standard's editor Bill Kristol will become a panelist on George Stephanopolos' show "This Week". Basically he and George Will have just swapped jobs.


Advertising

~Super Bowl Commercials
The New York Times analyzes this year's crop. I don't think there was a particularly memorable one in the whole bunch.


Showbiz

~Philip Seymour Hoffman
Sad news--the Academy Award winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died yesterday of a drug overdose (the needle still in his arm). Addiction can take any life, even the great ones. I hope he's remembered for his work and not for the way he died. It usually doesn't work that way, unfortunately. Ask John Belushi's family.

~Jerry & George Reunion
They teased it on the Super Bowl commercial last night, and here's the full webisode at the link above.

Larry Lujack Outtakes From His Final Interview with the Illinois Entertainer

I've only met Larry Lujack in person twice.

The first time was in the early 90s, after he had retired from the radio business. I was working with Brant Miller on his KidsRadio program and we had just recorded a segment not too far away from Larry's house. Brant said: "Let's go over and say hi." When we got to Larry's house, he was in the backyard. He had rescued an injured squirrel and was nursing it back to health. The entire visit consisted of squirrel talk. (When I spoke to him on the phone for the Illinois Entertainer article more than twenty years later, he remembered that day.)

The second time I met him was at a live remote for the John Landecker show. He came to our miniature golf outting, and was absolutely hilarious on the air that day.

But even though I talked to him in person a few times, and on the phone a dozen or so times to book him as a guest, I didn't really get to know him until the book "Records Truly Is My Middle Name" came out. When I talked to him about appearing on Windy City Live to surprise John, we brainstormed bit ideas. He called me back about five times until he was satisfied that we had a good one.

I remember my son Tommy answered the phone one time.

"Do you know who I am, kid?" Larry asked Tommy.

"Yes," Tommy replied, "You're Larry Lujack the radio legend."

"I'm worried about you, kid," Larry said.

During our conversations that day we really bonded. I asked if he would mind doing an interview with me for the Illinois Entertainer. I said I've interviewed just about every radio personality in Chicago radio history, but the one glaring hole was that I had never interviewed him. He hated doing interviews, and told me he still had a bad taste in his mouth from the book "Superjock" (which he hated), but he finaly agreed.

On the day of the interview I spoke to him a good solid hour. I got so much great stuff from him (he had me laughing until I cried), that I considered making it into a two or three part series. Here's the original Illinois Entertainer column. I never quite did get around to doing parts 2 and 3.

I went back to the tape this morning and got several more quotes and stories from Larry that didn't make the final article. I hope you enjoy them...

His early pre-Chicago radio days...

“I never had a problem with ratings, but they kept firing me because I didn’t sound friendly enough. I had humongous ratings in Spokane, so I thought I could get away with anything. There was a commercial for Volkswagen and it started out in German (“Achtung! Achtung!”) and I thought it was funny—it reminded me of those old WW2 movies. And I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I apparently said something that made them think I was implying this dealership was a cover for an underground Nazi movement in the United States. It turned out that the Volkswagen dealer was from Germany, flew for the Germans in WW2, and his employees were all German and they were highly offended. They were going to sue me and the station, so the station fired me to get him off their back.”

Coming to Chicago...

“WCFL let me do whatever the hell I wanted to do on that overnight show, and it was a lot of fun. I was trying to be who I was, and that had been getting me fired all over the place; in San Bernandino, Spokane, Boise, you name it. I was just glugging down the coffee, pitcher after pitcher of the stuff. When I got the call from WLS four months later to do afternoons, I thought—that beats the hell out of staying up all night.”

The WLS/WCFL Battle...

“At that time the battle between WLS & WCFL was a big deal. Obviously loyalty was not one of my strong suits, because I kept switching back and forth, but I remember the first time WCFL beat WLS in the ratings and it was a HUGE deal. It was a real battle. Very exciting. If I were to count up the number of guys who went through CFL and LS in the 60s and 70s I’d need an adding machine. With millions of dollars riding on those ratings, if you didn’t cut it, they didn’t mess with you. They just got someone else. It was a very stressful business in those days.”

The worst time of his career...

“That last year at WCFL (1976) was the worst, after they changed formats and became beautiful music. They fired everyone but me, because I had a no-cut contract. That was the worst year of my professional life. They were trying so hard to get me to do something that would get me fired, or make me so miserable that I would quit. Everybody had been instructed to note everything I did wrong. Thirty seconds late for work—duly noted. I was coming on the air every fifteen minutes saying ‘The World’s most beautiful music. All day. All night. WCFL.’ If I screwed up and gave the wrong time, or didn’t say the words exactly right, they wrote it down. They were trying to build a case against me. People I considered friends were suddenly afraid to be seen talking to me. It was really really horrible.”

His radio influences...

“I think the Real Don Steele is the best pure rock and roll disc jockey of all-time—he was from Los Angeles at KHJ. That guy was incredible. I never really considered myself a disc jockey—and I didn’t imitate him, but he was the very best. He was like Landecker or Brandmeier—pure high energy. I didn’t do that kind of radio, but I admired how good he was. The best thing that has ever been on the radio though, in my opinion, was Paul Harvey. We used to ride up on the elevator every morning together—we got to work around the same time. He was the best that ever was and the best that ever will be. He was a brilliant writer, and had an unbelievably fantastic delivery. Most news guys go in one ear and out the other. He was way more than that. He reached through the radio and grabbed your throat and said ‘Hey, listen to this. This is important.’ He was so commanding. Everything about it. I just idolized that guy. There will never be another one like him.”

Rush Limbaugh...

“I understand he doesn’t like me anymore. I heard him do one of the cruelest things on the radio once—he was praising how attractive the Bush twins were, while ripping the looks of Amy Carter and Chelsea Clinton. I thought that was just unbelievable. They were kids! And I said I was appalled by that, and it got back to Rush. So at the NAB Hall of Fame induction a few years back when I was being inducted, they asked Rush to introduce me because they knew about how he felt about me. Well, Rush said he would only do it if he was assured that I wouldn’t rip him, and of course they couldn’t promise him that—so he passed.”

After I told him that he really WAS charming and delightful...

“I’m so good at fakin’ it. I plead guilty to being moody and easily depressed. I spent a lot of time in a down mood—so that stuff is basically accurate. But I also knew that nobody wanted to listen to someone who was always down, so I faked this whole charming and delightful thing. Very successfully I might add.”

After the interview I asked if he could send me a photo we could use to accompany the article. He sent me a recent photo his wife took of him, wearing an Elvis shirt, along with a copy of Clark Weber's book about radio because I told him that I didn't have a copy of it. His note said: "Tell Landecker that I loved his book but I didn't need to read about the catheter in his dick."

My Latest Illinois Entertainer Column

For the holiday season I went searching for a positive story (for a change) about the newspaper business for my monthly media column in the Illinois Entertainer. I found it in a certain division of the Chicago Tribune.

You can read it here.

Best Wishes To Eric Ferguson

The star of the Eric and Kathy show is undergoing spinal surgery today. Robert Feder has the details.

Obviously, everyone is wishing him well, including me. I've gotten to know Eric a little over the years, and get along with him very well. He's had a rough go of it health-wise over the past year or two, so I hope this surgery is as minor as he thinks it will be.

The morning schedule does have a way of taking a toll on your health. You can't really understand how damaging it can be (especially if you work as hard as you need to work to be successful in that timeslot) until you live it for a while. He's been living it now for twenty years, which is really tough. I was on three different regular medications after only ten years. (Not kidding)

He says he'll be ready to go after Thanksgiving.

(If you missed the piece I did about the Eric & Kathy show a few months ago in the Illinois Entertainer, you can read it here.)

Wendy Snyder

I wrote this month's Illinois Entertainer media column about WGN's Wendy Snyder.

You can read it here.

Swany

My latest Illinois Entertainer column is about the man behind the scenes at the Eric & Kathy show--their long-time producer John "Swany" Swanson.

Read it here.

Andy Shaw

This month's Illinois Entertainer media column has been posted.

I interviewed former long-time ABC-7 reporter and current BGA CEO Andy Shaw about his long and interesting career.

You can read it here.