Showing posts with label Pat Boyle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pat Boyle. Show all posts

Friday, September 20, 2024

Media Notebook--9-20-24















MEDIA NOTEBOOK

A curation of news items about the media from this past week, with a particular emphasis on Chicago.



RADIO/PODCASTS

 


*New Blackhawks Studio Host

=Now that Joe Brand is gone to Pittsburgh, WGN needed a new studio host. Meet Charlie Roumeliotis…


 

 *Why was Laurence Holmes Missing from his Score Show this week?

=It’s not a conspiracy. It’s not related to the Bernstein/Barstool blowup last week. He has been dealing with a dental issue. Details are here.

 

 

*Podcast Corner

=An Ode to Kathy & Judy

=The latest TV show to go audio is 60 Minutes. They now do a podcast.

=From the “everybody has a podcast these days” files, add another name to the list: Nikki Haley.

=John Heilemann interviews the 2nd Gentleman, Doug Emhoff. It’s a 90-minute interview.

=How about a podcast about the media? Tom Jones from Poynter is now hosting one.

=Slate’s podcast is also about the media. It’s called “Slow Burn: The Rise of Fox News”


 

*Music News

An unusually busy week for music news…

=Jane’s Addiction cancels tour after on-stage fight.

=Dave Grohl’s love child.

=Diddy in the clinky

=Billie Eilish and Finneas endorse Kamala Harris too.

=The end of the road (literally) for REO Speedwagon…


 

*Rest in Peace

=JD Souther

Singer/Songwriter wrote the song “Heartache Tonight” for the Eagles. He was 78.

=Tito Jackson

The most memorably named of the Jacksons. He was 70.


 

 

MEDIA BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES

 

*September 17—Bobby Skafish birthday

 =Bobby was my very first interview for Illinois Entertainer back in 2013. He later authored a book for my publishing company Eckhartz Press called We Have Company.

 

*September 17—Matt Spiegel birthday

=Spiegel got the Chicago Radio Spotlight treatment back in 2010.

 

*September 17—Randy Merkin birthday

=The former ESPN producer published Behind The Glass for Eckhartz Press in 2021. A little birdie told me he might be working on another one.

 

*September 17/Peter Bowen birthday

=Long-time Chicago radio executive (CBS, Cumulus, Entercom, iHeart)

 

*September 17/Chuck Quinzio birthday

=Retired WFLD photographer, and author of the Eckhartz Press book Life Behind the Camera

 

*September 19—Ryan Arnold birthday

=Until very recently Ryan was part of the WXRT air-staff. He remains in town, running his own PR firm. My 2017 interview with him is here.

 

*September 19--Mike Tomano birthday

=Mike has bounced around the suburban radio scene for decades now. He’s currently the morning host and program director at Milner Broadcasting. Way back in 2008, I interviewed him for Chicago Radio Spotlight.


*September 19--Jimmy Fallon birthday

=The boyish Tonight Show host turned 50 this week.


*September 20—Ed Curran birthday

=Back in the day, Ed was part of the radio duo of Al & Ed on WGN Radio. He became a meteorologist and is now delivering weather reports for Channel 2.

 

*September 20--Jill Egan birthday

=During her radio career Jill was an air personality and producer at the Drive and the Loop.

 

*September 21—Janet Dahl birthday

=The most famous spouse in radio history. Janet Dahl has probably been on the air more than 90% of the full-time personalities on the air today.

 

*September 21--Bill Kurtis birthday

=The pairing of Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson at Channel 2 might just be the most popular news team in Chicago television history. Bill still is the voice of WWDTM on NPR and has an ultra-successful production company. I interviewed him for my podcast a few years ago.


 

TV/STREAMING

 

*Bulls & Blackhawks TV Crews for 2024-2025 season

=New network (Chicago Sports Network), but familiar faces…


=As for the Bulls, Jason Goff, Kendall Gill, and K.C. Johnson will be handling the pre and post-game show. Will Perdue will not be back.


 

*Midwest Emmy Award Nominations

=Tis the season. Full list of those nominated is here.

=The local NBC family garnered 34 nominations this year.


 

*Coming this October: Svengoolie’s Halloween Boo-Nanza

=Svengoolie and the Sven-Squad will host the month-long celebration of Halloween on Me-TV again this year. There will be back-to-back scary movies every Saturday night, and full weekend lineups of Halloween episodes of  your favorite shows from the past, including a full day of Halloween westerns on October 6th.



 

*Meet the new SNL Cast Members

=The New York Times has profiles of all three, Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakum, and Jane Wickline. The 50th season begins this month.

=The first five shows look pretty darn good.


 

*Dancing with the “Stars”

=The new season began this week. As usual the new crop of “stars” may need those quotation marks. How many have you heard of? I’ve only heard of four of them.

"Real Housewives" star Phaedra Parks

Former NFL player and two-time Super Bowl champion Danny Amendola

Former "Bachelor" star Joey Graziadei

Olympic rugby player Ilona Maher

Actress Chandler Kinney

Fake Heiress Anna Delvey

Actor Eric Roberts

Model Brooks Nader

"Family Matters" actor Reginald VelJohnson

"Beverly Hills, 90210" star Tori Spelling

Former "Bachelorette" star Jenn Tran

NBA star Dwight Howard

Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik

 

 

*Interviewing Candidates for WGN-TV General Manager

=Paul Konrad takes the helm…


 

*Whatever Happened to Steve from Blues Clues?

=To kids in the 1990s and early 2000s, Steve Burns was a superstar. Those same kids are adults now and they’ve re-discovered Steve. These days he’s hanging out on TikTok.


 

*Connie Chung

=The former CBS news anchor has a new memoir out. The New York Times has a preview.


 

*The Emmy Awards

=Full list of winners is here.

=The Washington Post declares the most shocking and surprising moments.

=I thought Jimmy Kimmel’s tribute to Bob Newhart was a nice moment too.

=Ratings were way up. 54% higher than last time.

 


*Fox News Drama

=People are confused what this behind-closed-doors Rupert Murdoch trial is about. It’s about Rupert’s irrevocable trust. I thought the Daily Skimm described this perfectly this week…

Rupert, who retired last year at 92, will make the case to amend his irrevocable trust so that when he dies, his eldest son (and chosen successor) Lachlan becomes his “number one boy.” The change would give Lachlan “exclusive” rights to 40% of the voting stakes in each company (read: major control of the firms). That might sound like a snooze until you get to this plot twist: Lachlan’s siblings, James, Elisabeth, and Prudence, are fighting so that they each get equal voting shares, as the trust originally states. Cue: the dramatic music.

=Now Mark Cuban wants to buy Fox News.

=Fox fired another producer for sexual harassment this week. Reported by Brian Stelter’s CNN Reliable Sources newsletter…

Robert Samuel, a nearly 20-year veteran of Fox News, was terminated last week after allegations of sexual harassment surfaced internally, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter. Samuel was an executive producer on Sean Hannity's prime time show, where he served as #2 under boss Tiffany Fazio.

=Last week I posted a link explaining what Sane-washing was. This piece is specifically about how Fox News does it.


 

*Wojnarowski Leaves ESPN

=NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski has left his reporting duties behind to become the general manager of the St. Bonaventure basketball team.

=He is walking away from $20 million.


 

 

DIGITAL/PRINT



 

*Scientific American Endorses Kamala Harris

=In the 179 years of this magazine, it’s only the second time they have endorsed apresidential candidate. The other one was Joe Biden.


 

SOCIAL MEDIA

 

*Facebook Bans RT

=They did so via an announcement on Monday: "After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets. Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity." 

 

*Instagram Changes Settings for Teens

=They are implementing some pretty big changes for the under 18 crowd, including shutting off notifications between 10pm-7am, and making all under 18 accounts private. The New York Times has more information on this story.



 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.

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Friday, August 09, 2024

Media Notebook--8-9-24















MEDIA NOTEBOOK

A curation of news items about the media from this past week, with a particular emphasis on Chicago.



RADIO/PODCASTS

 

*Chicago Radio Ratings

=The numbers for July are out, and here are the top ten rated stations in Chicago (M-Sun, 6am-Mid, 6+)…

WDRV—6.6

WVAZ—6.5

WLIT—5.9

WXRT—5.3

WBBM-AM—5.2

WUSN—4.0

WLS-FM—3.9

WRME-FM—3.9

WOJO—3.1

WBMX—3.0

WTMX—3.0

=The Drive is back on top after a big month (+0.5) but take a look at WRME’s (Me-TV FM) numbers. The little engine that could moved up a whole ratings point (1.0) in the last month to vault into the top ten (tied for 7th). WXRT also took a nice jump (+0.6) to finish in fourth.

=On the other side of the ledger, the biggest drop occurred at US-99 (WUSN). They are down over a full point (-1.1).  WLIT (-0.7) and WOJO (-0.6) also took a hit.

 

 

*Is Danny Parkins Leaving the Score?

=According to this piece in Barrett Media, Parkins has been offered a seven-figure deal to move to FS1.

=If he is leaving, it won’t be in the next few weeks. Next week he is hosting the Score’s Cubs-for-a-Cure Radiothon beginning at 10am.


 

 

*White Sox Announcer Escalates Fight with the Score

=Yes, it’s true that Score talk show hosts have been pretty rough on new White Sox TV Play-by-Play man John Schriffen. But I don’t think this is a good way for him to win them over. Awful Announcing reports.


 

 

*Remembering Triad Radio

=Really interesting piece in the Reader about Triad Radio. It went off the air in 1977, but while it was around, the commercial free experimental station (remember the term “progressive rock”?) made its mark. Saul Smaizys is now trying to digitize his archives.


 

 

*Rewound Radio

=It’s coming back again this Labor Day weekend, a tribute to WCFL and WLS. A whole weekend of airchecks with music and original commercials from the all-time great jocks of the 1960s and 1970s. I interviewed Ted Gorden Smucker about it this week for Illinois Entertainer and I’m very excited. He even sent me a few promos, which I’ll give you between now and then. Here’s one of my all-time favorites, the great Fred Winston. Listen to Fred’s quips in this 40 second bit. Is there anyone better?



 

 

*Music News

=Taylor Swift shows in Austria were canceled because of a threatened terrorist attack.

=Steven Tyler’s vocal injury will prevent the band from ever performing again. Variety has the details. I only saw them in concert once, in 1984 in Springfield IL, and it did not go well. (This was pre-rehab). Tyler fell off the stage during the first song, the band got into a fight on stage, and just like that, show over.

 

 

*Ex-Chicago Radio

=Jaybeau Jones was once a program director in Chicago (Jammin’ Oldies). He is now the new morning man on Frank-FM in New Hampshire. For the past twelve years he was on Sirius/XM.

=Native Chicagoan (Former B-96 and WSHE) Rob Rose has gone into radio sales in Columbia, Missouri.

 

 

*Podcast Corner

=Hubbard named a new VP/Podcasts this week. John Goforth is his name. He is based in Chicago.

=The Pod Save America gang is undergoing a bit of labor unrest. Variety has the details.

=One of the most popular podcasters in America is Joe Rogan, the comedian. But how good is he at comedy? The New York Times reviews his latest Netflix special.

=Another popular podcaster, Bill Simmons, will become a free agent in 2025. That’s when his contract with Spotify runs out.

 

 

*Rest in Peace

=David Graves

Transformed WIND from a music station into a news/talk station. He was 76 years old.

=Ina Jaffe

Scott Simon eulogizes his NPR colleague. She was 75.

=Larry Nelson

Treasurer of the Illinois Broadcasters Association. He was 74.


 

 

MEDIA BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES

 

 

*August 4, 1957—Robin Robinson birthday

=For many years Robin anchored the marquee newscast at Fox-32. She retired a few years ago after a distinguished career.

 

*August 4—Phil Manicki birthday

=Former Loop/Drive jock was a fixture of rock radio in Chicago for decades. My 2019 Illinois Entertainer interview with Phil is here. He also did a stint as a fill-in host at WGN, but for the last year or so he has been the program director of Me-TV FM. I interviewed him about that earlier this year.


 *August 4—Scott May birthday

=Scott worked with Kevin Matthews on the Loop, with Mort Downey Jr.’s television show, and is currently the keyboardist for the Ides of March. I interviewed him last year for my podcast.


*August 5, 1962

=Marilyn Monroe found dead in Los Angeles. This is the Newsreel report on the day of her death.


*August 5—Geoff Pinkus birthday

Geoff is a former WIND/WCKG talker. My 2008 Chicago Radio Spotlight interview with Geoff is here. 

 

*August 6—Fahey Flynn birthday

=Fahey Flynn was born this week in 1916. He also passed away this week in 1983. Fahey was one of the most popular and successful television news anchors in Chicago history, especially during his time paired with Joel Daly at Channel 7.


*August 6—Elizabeth Hess birthday

=Elizabeth worked at WJMK and WCKG in Chicago, and later co-hosted a show on WDWS-Champaign Urbana.

 

 

 *August 6—Tom Kent birthday

=Kent was a veteran of the WLS music era, and became the president of the Tom Kent Radio Network, which syndicated programming to 600 stations nationwide. He passed away earlier this year.

 

 

*August 7—Lorna Ozmon birthday

=Lorna was an air personality (WKQX), and program director (WTMX) in Chicago. She is now a very successful radio consultant and has been for decades.

 

 

*August 7—Chuck Knapp birthday

=Chuck is another alumni of the WLS-AM music era (1971-1972) and WCFL-AM.

 

*August 8, 1958—Deborah Norville birthday

=The host of Inside Edition worked locally here at Channel 5. For one of the greatest stories you’ll ever hear about Deborah, check out cameraman Chuck Quinzio’s book Life Behind the Camera.

 

 

*August 9—Bob Sirott birthday

=The WGN Morning man was inducted into the Illinois Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in September. Click here to read my most recent profile of Bob from 2021. 

 

*August 9--Fred Weintraub birthday

=Fred is a Renaissance man. He co-hosts a radio show from all over the globe, covers the Royal family, and handles the local high school sports programming for WCIU-TV. I interviewed him in 2020.

 

 TV/STREAMING

 

 *Pat Boyle Re-Signs with Blackhawks TV

=He confirmed the news himself this week on X/Twitter



*Thom Brennaman’s Second Chance

=There are a couple of interesting nuggets in this piece about Thom Brennaman and his return to sports broadcasting. Among them, the roles played by NexStar’s Perry Sook and Sean Compton. They championed his return.


 *Judd Sirott Moves to Boston Bruins TV Booth

=The Chicago native and former WGN radio announcer got a promotion this week in Boston. He moves from the radio booth to the television booth on Boston Bruins broadcasts. Judd is the nephew of WGN Radio morning man Bob Sirott.


*Colin Jost’s Bumpy Ride as a Surfing Correspondent

=He was in Tahiti covering the Olympic surfing events, which sounded like a dream gig. But he cut his foot and got a staph infection. Then he got an ear infection. And now he’s back home.


 

 

*Price Hikes Coming for ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu

=CNBC has the details.

=Also, I’m guessing the folks at Disney aren’t thrilled with Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. They’ve asked the DOJ to investigate the new sports streaming service Venu as a monopoly.


 

*Cable News Corner

=CNN’s media reporter Oliver Darcy has left the network to start a media newsletter called Status.




*Barkley Not Retiring After All

=This week he signed a new long-term contract with TNT. 10 years/$210 million, despite the fact that there will only be one more season of NBA basketball on TNT. Should be interesting to see what else they assign him to do in the following years.


 

 

*Maya Rudolph

=Not sure if there’s anyone more excited about Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign than Maya Rudolph. She’ll be back on SNL this season to portray Kamala on the show.


 

 

*Art Norman

=It turns out that Donald Trump’s appearance at the NABJ conference wasn’t the only thing that happened there…


 

*Fergie and Kenny

=Like I said, it turns out that Donald Trump’s appearance at the NABJ conference wasn’t the only thing that happened there…


 

*Rest in Peace

=Patti Yasutake

Asian-American actress, starred in television (Star Trek Next Generation) and films (Gung Ho). She was 70.

=George Schenk

Showrunner/writer/producer for NCIS. He was 82.


 

DIGITAL/PRINT

 

*Broadcasting + Cable to Cease Print Publication

=The news was announced this week. Print editions will cease at the end of September. The newsletter will also go away but will be replaced by “a new curated SmartBrief newsletter on Media and Entertainment.”


 

*Layoffs at Axios

=50 people across the country, or about 10% of their staff.


 *Bloomberg Disciplines Reporter/Editor Over Prisoner Swap Story

=One of Bloomberg’s top reporters Jennifer Jacobs was fired for violating the embargo on the story. An editor has been demoted. The New York Times has more.


 


STAGE/SCREEN

 

*Vince Vaughn Interview

=I thought this profile of Lake Forest’s very own Vince Vaughn was very revealing. He talks about his upbringing in a way I hadn’t heard before. It was in the Sunday New York Times.



 

*Bill & Ted on Broadway

=The actors who played Bill & Ted in the movies, Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, are going to co-star again, but this time on Broadway. And no, it’s not a stage version of Bill & Ted. They’ll be doing “Waiting for Godot”.



*Glengarry Glen Ross Revival Coming to Broadway

=Check out this cast...Kieran Culkin, Bill Burr, and Bob Odenkirk. 


 

*Rest in Peace

=Jay Kanter

Hollywood agent to stars like Marlon Brando and Marilyn Monroe. Inspiration for the film The Apartment. Click on his name to read the obit. What an interesting life! He was 97.



SOCIAL MEDIA/TECH

 

*Google Loses Monopoly Case

=This is probably the biggest story in the media news this week. Google has legally been declared a monopolist. CBS News explains the implications of this decision.

=Six ways the Google case could change the internet


 

 

*Grok Pushing Misinformation on X

=Five Secretaries of State are urging X to fix their AI Chatbot Grok, which sent out false information about the upcoming election. Reuters has this story.


 

 

*Google Pulls AI Ad

=Perhaps you saw the ad while you were watching Olympic coverage. It was about AI helping a child write a fan letter to an athlete. I must admit, it bugged me when I saw it. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one. Google has pulled the ad.



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.


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