MEDIA NOTEBOOK
A curation of news items
about the media from this past week, with a particular emphasis on Chicago
(By Rick Kaempfer)
TV/Streaming
*Tom Skilling's Big Announcement
*75th anniversary for Channel 5
=If you’ve been watching Channel 5 News this week, you’ve seen some of the segments celebrating the station’s 75th anniversary. Great features from the wayback machine. They’re going to keep on doing it through December. New interviews with Channel 5 alums like Ron Magers, Carol Marin, Mark Giangreco, Bob Sirott, Rob Stafford, Lisa Parker, Phil Rogers, Rich Samuels and more will be part of the celebration. I’m thoroughly enjoying it.
*Um, so close
=Whoops…
*Blackhawks Broadcasting Plans for 2023
=The season started this week. The broadcasting crew has some new names, some old.
*SAG/AFTRA strike talks break down
=If you assumed the SAG/AFTRA strike talks would be resolved quickly after the WGA strike was settled (like I did), you were mistaken. This piece in the Hollywood Reporter explains the contentiousness of the negotiations.
*How big will it be?
=Taylor Swift’s concert movie comes out today. Experts are predicting box office records.
*A Conversation with Brian Williams
=My alma mater (U of I) scored Brian Williams for a chat. He’ll be down in Urbana, but it is possible to join via zoom. October 23rd, 7-8pm.
*Cable News Corner
=CNN Boss Assesses His Network
*Rest in Peace
=Terence Davies
Media birthdays/milestones
*October 10--Jeff Hoover
birthday.
=I’ve interviewed the WGN
Morning News producer a number of times over the years. This one from 2007 was
the first time. Yes, he will also be featured in my upcoming book, The Loop Files.
*October 10--Carol Marin
birthday.
=You surely know that Carol
has won countless awards (including Emmys, a Polk, a Peabody, and more), but
did you know she was the sister-in-law of the late news great Garrick
Utley? She is also an Illini. Just sayin.
*October 11, 1975, SNL debuted. By my math, that’s 48 years ago. Laraine
Newman says 49.
*October 12--Marv Nyren birthday
=WLS Radio executive, VP/Market
Manager
*October 12--Stephanie
Tichenor birthday
=Another WLS Radio executive, Program director
*October 12--Ryan
Chiaverini birthday.
=Former Windy City Live
host and current ABC-7 sportscaster
*October 12-- Tom Teuber birthday.
=Tom recently passed away
but is remembered fondly in this town for his time at WMET and WBEZ.
*October 13--Roseanne
Tellez birthday.
=Roseanne has been on
television in Chicago since the mid-90s. She previously worked for Channel 9
and Channel 2, and currently works at Fox-32.
*October 13—Ty Bentli
birthday
=The former Kiss-FM
host is now out in Los Angeles.
*October 14—Lisa Wolf
birthday
=The former WGNer and
current AM 560 air personality also happens to be the cover girl of this month’s
Highland Park Neighbors
Radio/Podcasts
*Delilah to be Awarded Inaugural Gracie’s Icon Award
=Consider it to be a lifetime achievement award, if you will. Delilah can be heard locally in Chicago at WLIT.
*WGN Spooktacular
= WGN Chicago (720) will air “WGN Radio Theatre Spooktacular with Carl Amari” on Tuesday, Oct. 31 from 8pm-1am. The five-hour special will include old-time radio episodes of “Lights Out,” “Suspense,” “Inner Sanctum Mystery,” “The Whistler,” and “The Sealed Book.” That last one originally aired on April 14, 1945, on WGN. That’s two days after the death of FDR, and two weeks before Hitler’s suicide in the bunker.
*Spotify’s Supremium
=Word is leaking about the latest plans at Spotify. They are working on a new category of listening that will go for $19.99/month. Read more about it here to see if it’s worth it for you.
*The bots have come for podcasts
=Semafor explains.
*Podcast Corner
=Surprised it took this long. Chip and Joanna Gaines announce their own podcast network.
=One for the youngsters: NPR’s college podcast scholarship opportunity
*Rest in Peace
=Rudolph Isley
Writer of the classic tunes "Shout", "It's Your Thang" and "That Lady" among others. He was 84.
*The Loop Files
=The Loop Files book has gone to the printer. In the meantime, I appeared on Matt Kissane’s podcast this week to talk about the book.
=Many thanks also to the RAMP newsletter for their nice write-up about the book.
=Here are a few more teases of what you’ll find in the book, including stories by Bobby Skafish, Dorothy Humphrey, and Buzz Kilman
=I’m getting the galleys in my hands (for interviewers) in the next week or two.
Digital/Print
*Washington Post Cutting 240 Jobs
=The paper has been having financial difficulties. The
Hill has details of how these cuts will occur.
*Getting Evan Released
=From the Wall Street Journal…
Social Media
*X (Twitter) Under Pressure for Lack of Content
Moderation
=The European Union is demanding that X do a better job
of moderating content from Hamas. NBC News has the details.
*Utah Sues TikTok
=They claim that it harms the mental health of Utah’s youth.
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...
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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
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