MEDIA NOTEBOOK
A curation of news items about the media from this past week, with a particular emphasis on Chicago.
RADIO/PODCASTS
*Chicago Public Media’s AI Plan
=OpenAI and Microsoft have invested $10 million in local news, including a $500,000 grant to Chicago Public Media in Chicago. According to Axios, in Chicago it will be used by WBEZ and the Chicago Sun Times for transcriptions, translations, and summaries. There’s more info here.
=WBEZ also got a grant from the Mellon Foundation to expand their radio project targeting prisoners and their families. Inside Radio has more.
*Vikki Kokuzian Leaving WGN Radio
=Her last day will
be on Monday. Vikki is leaving to concentrate on her kids and her real estate
business.
*Will Ferrell’s House Party
=Ferrell is coming to town tomorrow to host a charity party at Wintrust Arena, along with DJ White
Shadow and Swedish House Mafia. They will be spinning tunes along with
celebrity DJs and artists like D-Nice, A-Trak, Felix Da Housecat, Terry Hunter,
Terrence Parker, Twista, and Henry Fong. It’s a charity fund raiser for Cancer
for College. Get your tickets here.
*Podcast Corner
=Carson the Magnificent. Steve Cochran interviews Mike Thomas, who has just finished the Johnny Carson book begun by the late great Bill Zehme.
=Coming soon: The Supper with Sylvia Podcast starring Chicago TV journalist Sylvia Perez.
=Trump is appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast today.
=Tom Jones interviews Steve Kornacki for his Poynter Report Podcast.
=Political podcasts get election year bump.
=Barstool Sports Won’t Interview Harris or Trump. Dave Portnoy: “I’m not deep enough.”
*Ex-Chicago Radio Update
=Tony Sculfield,
who anchored the morning show at WGCI for a few years, has re-emerged on the
radio dial. The stand-up comic is now the co-host of the Toni and Tony
Morning show on Kiss 104 FM in Atlanta.
*Music News
=MusiCares names
the Grateful Dead as the Persons of the Year. The 34th annual award
is handed out at a gala ceremony around the time of the Grammys. Tickets available here.
=Here’s an endorsement you might have missed: Insane Clown Posse endorsed Harris for President. Country singer Jason Aldean early voted for Trump.
=Chicago-based rapper Lil Durk arrested on murder-for-hire charge.
*Rest in Peace
Former lead singer
of Iron Maiden. He was 66.
MEDIA
BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES
*October 20—Artie
Kennedy birthday
=The always
lovable former WLUP and ESPN producer/production man. You can get an idea
of Artie’s engaging personality from
reading this interview I did with him back in 2009.
*October 21—Frank
Mahoney birthday
=Frank worked with
Geoff Pinkus at WIND and WCKG.
*October 22—Danny
Parkins birthday
=Former Afternoon co-host
at the Score, now with FS1.
*October 22—John Govi birthday
=The man behind those
great Chicagoland record shows
*October 22-- Joe
Collins birthday.
=One of Chicago’s best
traffic reporters passed in 2017, just a few years after I interviewed him for Illinois Entertainer.
*October 22—Kurt
Scholle birthday
=Former
WJJD/WJMK/Satellite Music Network jock/newsman Kurt Scholle (air
name: Kurt Schafer) is a dead-ringer for Santa during the holiday
season.
*October 22—Pam Zekman birthday
=Chicago television’s
investigative reporter extraordinaire
*October 23—Dan
Dorfman birthday
=Dan is a reporter for Pioneer
Press, who occasionally writes for the Chicago Tribune.
*October 23, 1925
=Birth of the greatest
late-night talk show host of all-time, Johnny Carson.
*October 24—Mary June
Rose birthday
=The former WGN Radio
program director Mary June Rose now lives in North Carolina
and works as a photographer (MJ Rose-Photos).
* October 24 Anne-Marie
Kennedy birthday
=Former WLUP (and
CBS-Boston) promotional guru
*October 25, 2014
=Ten years ago this week,
we lost one of the good ones. Cindy Gatziolis was the
promotion director at the Loop during the second Loop hey-day in the 90s,
before going on to work for the Mayor’s Office of Special Events. I wrote this tribute to her the day she passed away.
*October 25-- Patti
Haze birthday
=Chicago rock radio
royalty. I interviewed Patti for Illinois Entertainer in 2016.
*October 26-- Jasmine
Cooper birthday
=TV/radio producer (WCIU,
WGN)
TV/STREAMING
*Kevin Cross
new IBA Chairman of the Board
=Cross is the President/GM
of NBC Universal Chicago (Channel 5 & Telemundo). He added another title to
his crowded business card, chairman of the board of the Illinois Broadcasters
Association…
*NAB President
Warns About Trump’s Media Threats
=Trump has now
threatened to revoke licenses of NBC, ABC, and CBS during this current
campaign. The president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters Curtis
LeGeyt talked to The Hill about the threat.
*Leila
Rahimi Leaves NBC-5
=Two years ago
she was named the lead sports anchor at Channel 5. This week she confirmed to the
Sun-Times that she is no longer with the station. She will continue
appearing twice a week on the Score midday show.
*Mully
& Haugh on TV
=It’s a radio
simulcast…
Big news @mullyhaugh, solid partnership with @CHSNhttps://t.co/SUrgd6d6uu pic.twitter.com/t8BoxkhlkL
— David Haugh (@DavidHaugh) October 21, 2024
=Tomorrow
night (Saturday) at 8:00 on WCIU, Dave Bernhard and Tim O’Halloran will host a
high school football special, celebrating the 50th anniversary of
the state playoffs, and previewing and predicting this year’s upcoming finals
(from 1A to 8A). The games will be played Thanksgiving weekend.
*Cable News
Corner
=Father
clearly doesn’t approve of this approach…
New FEC filings show that James Murdoch -- son of Newscorp and Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch -- and his wife Kathyrn together gave $1 million to the leading pro-Kamala Harris super PAC, FF PAC, in September
— David Wright (@DavidWright_7) October 21, 2024
=Cigar Aficionado Interviews Bret Baier
*Dana
Carvey’s Incredible Joe Biden Impersonation
=The New York Times analyzes the great political impersonations from this election season and
one of them stands out. Dana Carvey as Joe Biden. Totally agree.
*Congrats
to WGN-TV
=More hardware
for the WGN-TV shelf…
PRINT/DIGITAL
*Scoops of
the Week
=Former Trump
Chief of Staff General John Kelly ended his long silence, talking to Jeffrey
Goldberg at the Atlantic, and Michael Schmidt at the New
York Times. He has said of some of these things before, but this time there
is audio.
*LA
Times Editor Quits After Owner Nixes Endorsement
=The newspaper
was getting ready to endorse Kamala Harris for president when owner Patrick
Soon-Shiong stepped in to announce no endorsement would be made. That led
editorial chief Mariel Garza to step down. The New York Times has more on the story.
=FYI, in case you forgot, the Chicago Tribune also no longer endorses candidates for president. Their owners (Alden Capital) made that decision in 2022. Neither does the Chicago Sun Times, because they merged with Chicago Public Media, and are now considered a not-for-profit.
=LATE UPDATE: Jeff Bezos also killed the Washington Post's endorsement of Kamala Harris.
*Writer
Underwriting Writer
=Did you know
that when Blair Kamin retired as the architecture writer for the Chicago
Tribune, he agreed to pay for his successor out of his own pocket? Mark
Caro has that incredible media story.
*Cooper
Hefner Trying to Buy Back Playboy
=Hugh
Hefner’s youngest child, Cooper, is trying to buy back the iconic Playboy brand, and according to this report, is offering $100 million. Cooper is 33
years old, the son of Hef and Kimberly Conrad.
=LATE UPDATE: His bid was "unanimously rejected" last night.
*Nuzzi Parts
Ways with New York Magazine
=She had been
suspended since the news of her affair with RFK Jr. came out a few weeks ago,
but Olivia Nuzzi and New York Magazine made it official this week
that she no longer works for the magazine.
*3rd
Most Popular Magazine in America
=Would you
believe it’s Costco Connection?
SOCIAL MEDIA
*Whistleblower
Demands Nunes Firing at Truth Social
=According to
this piece in Pro Publica, a whistleblower at Trump Media is calling out
CEO Devin Nunes for “consistently lying” and “making the company
vulnerable to action by regulators.”
