*On this in 2020, Mob Adjacent co-author Mike Gentile appeared on WGN Radio to talk about his book. You can listen to that interview here.
*On this day in 2018, Chet Coppock appeared on WGN Radio with Bill & Wendy to promote his Eckhartz Press book Your Dime My Dance Floor.
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*On this day in 2014, Chuck Quinzio appeared on Rick Kogan's show on WGN radio to discuss his Eckhartz Press book Life Behind the Camera. You can listen to the interview here.
*On this day in 2016, Bobby Skafish (We Have Company) appeared on WGN Radio with Roe Conn and Anna Devlantas. That interview is here.
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
=Inside Radio has the latest Chicago radio ratings. (Click here)
=The Top
Five stations currently are The Drive (6.1), Lite-FM (5.4), WBEZ (5.1), WVAZ
(5.1) and WBBM-AM (4.6). That’s a big jump for the Lite, which is pulling in
these numbers without their annual Christmas music bump. The other four
stations have all been in the top spot at least once this year.
*Podcast of the Year award winners
=Adweek’s annual Podcast of the Year award winners
were announced this week. (Click here to see the full list)
=Among the winners…Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend (Best
Comedy Podcast), The Right Time with Bomani Jones (Best Sports Podcast),
Bridgerton: The Official Podcast (Best Television and Streaming Podcast), and
The Problem with Jon Stewart (Best Interview Podcast).
*Bears Broadcasts Leaving WBBM-AM
=According to this piece by Jeff Agrest in the Sun Times, Audacy has been losing money on the Bears radio broadcasts, so they are not renewing their deal after this season. Am I the only one who has a hard time believing they are truly losing money? I listen to the games. They have more commercials than action. In any case, this is a seismic change in Chicago. The Bears/WBBM releationship goes back 22 years. Agrest reports that Joniak and Thayer will remain on the broadcasts, but they will be moving to either ESPN (AM 1000), or WCHI (95.5 FM).
=This week Axios Chicago ranked the best sports play-by-play teams currently working in Chicago. Did Joniak and Thayer make the list? See if you agree/disagree with their choices.
*RIP Ken Draper
=He was the program director of WCFL during the famous
1960s battles between WLS & WCFL. Super CFL was one of the most creative
and memorable radio stations in history, and Ken Draper was the man who put it
all together. He passed away this week at the age of 89.
=Former colleague Jim Hampton (in Radio Ink):
“When he took over,
WCFL was owned by its namesake-the Chicago Federation of Labor. He figured if he
could just get one half of WLS audience he would be doing incredibly well. So,
a lot of the things he pioneered at KYW in Cleveland along with some of the
people that were there; he brought them to town. Management gave him carte
blanche. He believed in the talent; he wasn’t going to hire somebody and then
tell him to shut up. He wanted them to be who they were…he wanted them to
perform. To put on a show. You couldn’t just do a record hop…he sent all of the
guys out together to the events, to represent the station. He was very, very
competitive. He believed that News could be just as exciting as any record that
was played, if it was presented properly. They had a huge News Department, it
was unionized and paid well. He showcased the News and made it into something
really important.”
=Arguably
the biggest star at WCFL was Ron Britain. I got a chance to interview the late
great jock about ten years ago, and he was quick to give Draper the credit…
”So I flew up to Chicago and met with the folks at WCFL. I thought, you
know what? This is a great radio town. Maybe this is where I should go. Ken
Draper, the guy who hired me, and Jim Runyan drove me into the city. All these
lights were lit along Michigan Avenue, and they told me that they decorated the
city just for me. I took the job, but I was scared to death. I had never worked at a place
that had so much talent. It was just unbelievable—I was intimidated by it. They
had guys I really respected like Jim Runyan and Joel Sebastian. I thought, how
I can work alongside great talent like this? I was so scared when I went on the
air the first time—I didn't know what to do. I thought what I had been doing
before wasn’t good enough. My first night on the air, I was using squeaky toys,
and I got a note from Ken Draper. The note said "We hired Ron Britain not
Pinky Lee." Of course, he was right.”
=Draper
was even indirectly responsible for the creation of the incredible Chickenman
bit. He hired Dick Orkin to do production. I spoke to Dick in 2012 and he also
gave credit to Draper…
“The origin of Chickenman was the direct result of the
popularity of the television show "Batman". It was huge. It was camp.
It was fun. Draper decided that each of the DJs should choose a campy superhero
mascot, and for the Jim Runyon show, we came up with
Chickenman. I sort of based the character on the Broderick Crawford sheriff
character--that sort of straight, know it all delivery of his. It seemed like a
fun thing to parody. It began with that. I wasn't thinking about a chicken.”
=This
video was done by Jim Hampton. If you’re interested in the legacy of Draper,
you’ll love it.
*Radio formats with most upscale listeners
=The Sound Answers blog from Katz Radio Group did an
analysis of the average net worth of radio listeners in every format, and they
conclude that 17 different radio formats have listeners with an above average
net worth. (Full details are here)
=The five radio formats attracting the most upscale
audiences are All News, Classical, Public Radio, News/Talk and Jazz.
=Other music formats classified as having an upscale listenership: AAA, Alternative, Adult Standards, Classic Rock, Classic Hits, Soft AC, and Hot AC.
*Another Big Player Expands Reach in Podcast World
=Apple has signed a deal with Futuro Studios to produce more original podcast content. Bloomberg has the details
*Rick on the Radio
=Tune in to WGN Radio tonight. I’ll be on the Phil
Manicki show talking about this column, my publishing company, and our upcoming
books. Plus we’ll get into my radio background a bit and discuss my former
roles on the shows hosted by Radio Hall of Famers Steve & Garry, and John Records Landecker.
*Museum of Broadcasting tribute to rock
radio
=Don't forget! This Sunday August 14th (3pm) at the Des Plaines
Theater, a few local radio legends will be part of a discussion about the
heyday of rock radio (including John Landecker, Tommy Edwards, and Bob Stroud).
Other rock radio legends from around the country will also be joining via zoom.
Wendy Snyder will the host/moderator. Get
your tickets here. All proceeds benefit the Museum of
Broadcast Communications. (Photo: WGN-TV's Dean Richards interviews John Landecker & Tommy Edwards)
*Former Chicago Radio Alert
=Sending out positive vibes to Jay Marvin, once a talk show host at WLS in Chicago. Apparently, he is not doing well. This is what he posted on his Facebook page this week...
MEDIA BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES
I’ve interviewed quite a few Chicago media figures who
are celebrating birthdays this week. Click on their names to read the
interviews. The year I interviewed them is in parenthesis.
*August 9--Fred Weintraub (2020)
*August 11--Andrea Darlas (2007)
*August 11—Barry Butler (2019) Audio interview
*August 12--Marianne Murciano (2014)
*August 12—(the late) Ron Smith (2011)
*August 12, Lauren Jiggetts
Wishing a very Happy Birthday to our very own @laurenjiggetts! 🥳🥳🥳 pic.twitter.com/4bMM0oSHU3
— WGN Morning News (@WGNMorningNews) August 12, 2022
*August 13--Danny Bonaduce (2021)
*August, 2004—Infamous Dave Matthews Band Poop Incident
=This week in 2004, hundreds of pounds of human waste
was dumped out of their tour bus, and splattered all over people on a Chicago
River tour. Bobby Skafish was the first one to interview Matthews about that
day, and a partial transcript appears in his book We Have Company: Four Decades of Rock and Roll Encounters Here’s an excerpt from that chapter…
We
had a strict allotment of time for this interview which I’m not proud to say I
exceeded, but I wanted to wait for the right opening to broach the Chicago
River incident, which of course was nicknamed by some “Poopgate,” and had not
been commented on publicly by anyone in or surrounding DMB.
My opening came when I
asked about the band’s charitable organization known as Bama Works, which began
in 1999 in the band’s ground zero, the Charlotteville, Va. area, but had since
spread out nationally and internationally, and supported all sorts of causes
including, as Boyd Tinsley reminded me, the Amazon rainforest…
Bobby Skafish: “…which
makes this Chicago River incident all the more unexplainable. Everyone I know has always thought of DMB as
being a green band, and then this incident popped up…”
Dave Matthews (cutting
in): “Well, certainly if we could turn it around, if we had any control
directly over that event…I mean it’s contrary to everything we believe and the
thing that kinda kills me about it is if someone else had done it, I’d be
furious. And if I was in Chicago, I’d be furious about it. And we’re just so
embarrassed and we’re truly, truly sorry about what happened in Chicago, and we
will keep doing things to try to keep that river clean, we will keep doing
things to try to help out in Chicago until this thing is only remembered for
what good came out of it. We want to do our best to turn this thing around
because, honestly, I can’t tell you enough how contrary to everything that
event was for us, and everything we believe and everything we think about
Chicago. Chicago’s been an awesome part of our career, always a place that is
sort of a home for this band. It was our first journey west and the first place
to embrace us. It’s just horrible and we couldn’t be more sorry.
TV/STREAMING
*Keenan Thompson Hosting the Emmys
=The longest-running cast member of SNL has been named
to host this year’s Emmy Awards broadcast in September. The Associated Presshas the story.
*Chicago TV Job Alert
=Whenever I see job openings like this in Chicago, I'll share them....
Interested in working on our studio productions at NBC Sports Chicago?
— Kevin Anderson (@Kevin_NBCS) August 7, 2022
We're looking for a part-time freelance Associate Producer
Apply here: https://t.co/rt1KZk8Rfi
*Rachel Maddow’s Next Step
=Vanity Fair has a long piece on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow
It addresses what she is planning on doing next, and also touches on the highly
unusual mega-money contract she just signed to do less.
*A Revised/Alternate Plan for CNN Plus
=After CNN+ went belly up, it appeared there wouldn’t
be a streaming outlet to watch some of the original programming CNN has aired
over the years. That has changed, thanks to Discovery+. Beginning August 19th, there will be a
special hub on Discovery+ for CNN Originals. Among the shows you can see
there… Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown; Stanley Tucci:
Searching for Italy; The History of the Sitcom; United
Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell; and The History of Comedy.
=One of the Discovery+ shows that has my attention is the House of Hammer. Army Hammer comes from the famous Hammer family who created the brand of baking soda you probably have in your refrigerator to keep it smelling nice. A new television show will soon reveal the dark underbelly of the entire Hammer family. Here’s the trailer…
*TV's Effect on Political Polarization
=Niemann Labs has done a study of political polarization and information silos, particularly regarding television news. Here's a short excerpt from their findings...
Besides being more politically
siloed on average, our research found that TV news consumers are much more
likely than web consumers to maintain the same partisan news diets over time:
After six months, left-leaning TV audiences are 10 times more likely to remain
segregated than left-leaning online audiences, and right-leaning audiences are
4.5 times more likely than their online counterparts. While these figures may
seem intimidating, it is important to keep in mind that even among TV viewers,
about 70% of right-leaning viewers and about 80% of left-leaning viewers do
switch their news diets within six months. To the extent that long-lasting echo
chambers do exist, then, they include only about 4% of the population.
OTHER MEDIA NEWS
*Another media columnist bites the dust
=I’m starting to think the idea of covering the media
isn’t such a great idea. The New York Times media writer Ben Smith left at the
beginning of this year and hasn’t been replaced. Robert Feder left the Daily
Herald and hasn’t been replaced. Here’s yet another example of a media
columnist leaving the business, Margaret Sullivan at the Washington Post. She talked to Vanity Fair about why she is leaving.
*Axios sold for $525 million
=You read that right. Axios just sold to Cox for $525 million. Details are here.
*How hot
is it?
=The New York Times has the story about how much the unprecedented heat has
affected summer outdoor performances…
Smoke from
a raging wildfire in California prompted the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival to cancel a recent performance of “The Tempest” at
its open-air theater. Record flooding in St. Louis forced
the cancellation of an outdoor performance of
“Legally Blonde.” And after heat and smoke at an outdoor
Pearl Jam concert in France damaged the throat of its lead singer, Eddie
Vedder, the band canceled several shows. Around the
world, rising temperatures, raging wildfires and extreme weather are imperiling
whole communities. This summer, climate change is also endangering a treasured
pastime: outdoor performance.
*Chicago Job Alert
=Another media job possibility…
friendly reminder —
— Tiffany Walden (@Waldens_Block) August 5, 2022
we’re hiring for a Digital News Editor at @TheTRiiBE.
salary range: $54K-$58K, based on experience.
application deadline: Aug. 31
here are some of the News stories that have come out of The TRiiBE. 🧵https://t.co/qzG9IhXLKK
=David McCullough has passed away. McCullough won Pulitzer Prizes for two presidential biographies: Truman in 1992 and John Adams in 2001. McCullough is also known for narrating Ken Burns’ 1990 PBS series “The Civil War.” The New York Times has the obituary.
*Burt Constable Exit Interview
=Eric Zorn got a chance to interview outgoing Daily Herald
columnist Burt Constable. Burt sounds like a man who is definitely ready to
hang up his keyboard. (Read it here)
=I was part of Constable’s column exactly twice, twenty years apart.
His interview with me in 1999 and in 2019
If you have any media stories (Chicago or national) that you think I might like to share in future columns, feel free to drop me a line at rick@eckhartzpress.com or amishrick@yahoo.com
MEDIA NOTEBOOK
A curation of news items
about the media from this past week, with a particular emphasis on Chicago…
RADIO/PODCASTS
*Bob Stroud Profile
=The latest issue of Illinois
Entertainer is out and features my interview with the recently-semi-retired
rock and roll jock Bob Stroud. (Read the full interview here) We discussed his entire career, including what
led him into this business in the first place…
“The DJ that sent
me on the course to where I am is Dick Biondi,” he says. “It was so important
in my life – sixth grade, living in Kalamazoo, a friend of mine said, ‘Have you
heard this disc jockey named Dick Biondi on WLS in Chicago? He’s crazy.’ I went
home that night and listened, and it changed my life. The other guy who I
always mention because I thought he was so brilliant was Ron Britain from WCFL.
When I met him the first time, it was like meeting a Beatle for me.”
=Coming up next month (September 1st), Garry
Meier.
*Update on the WTMX lawsuits
=Inside
Radio has the full story with the latest updates. You can read that here. Bottom line,
according to the article is that Melissa McGurren, former Eric Ferguson
sidekick and current morning co-host at US-99, is appealing the dismissal of
her lawsuit. The case brought by former producer Cynthia DiNicola is still in
the midst of litigation in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
*Legendary broadcaster Vin Scully passes away
=How much of a part of the American broadcast world was Scully? 67 years behind the microphone calling games for the Dodgers. The youngest person to broadcast a World Series game (age 25). 3 perfect games. 18 no-hitters. Hank Aaron’s 715th home run. Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A presidential medal of freedom from Barack Obama. The street leading to Dodger Stadium is named after him, and so is the press box. Vin Scully was simply the best there ever was. Read the AP obit of Scully here.
=To
me, this is a great example of Scully’s greatness. It’s his radio play-by-play
of the 9th inning of Sandy Koufax’s perfect game against the Cubs in
1965.
*WGN
Radio News
=There was a big announcement this week about the WGN radio archives being donated to Northwestern. This includes everything from 1941-2011. 70 years of audio is now in the hands of Northwestern University Libraries in the Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections and University Archives. Some truly historic material has been donated by WGN and their corporate bosses Nexstar. More details here.
=Editor & Publisher also reports that Nexstar CEO Perry Sook has been extended through 2026.
*Maybe
radio jobs aren’t extinct after all
=This announcement came from EP of WBEZ’s Reset…
Great positions open on WBEZ's daily talk show @WBEZ: Senior Producer, Digital Engagement Producer and Reset Production Fellow (1-year position, pays 55K). We'll also be posting a Producer position soon. Please spread the word and reach out with questions. https://t.co/JfObSYK9Ae
— danielptucker (@danielptucker) August 1, 2022
*Audacy
Stock Price
=Audacy
owns quite a few radio stations in Chicago, including WBBM-AM, B-96, The Score,
WXRT, US99 and 104.3 Jamz, but the company is facing a serious financial crisis.
The stock price hasn’t been over $1.00 since the beginning of July (it closed
at 70 cents a share yesterday), and now they are in danger of being de-listed
by the New York Stock Exchange. (Details are here)
How that will impact Chicago’s Audacy stations remains to be seen. Cumulus
faced a similar financial emergency a few years ago and managed to recover.
*Podcast
Roundup
=The film industry is jumping into the podcasting world. Lionsgate is the latest major player to announce they are joining the crowd. Podcast Business Journal has the details.
= The New York Times recommends six new political scandal podcasts. They are about (pick your topic): Hurricane Katrina, Putin’s obsession about Ukraine, Chappaquiddick, British scandals, a BBC look at Bush & Blair, and a little-known Australian coup from the 1970s. Something for everybody here.
=Bloomberg has a story this week about some podcast guests paying a fortune to appear on popular shows. I’ve clearly been doing this all wrong.
*Chicago radio anniversary
=The late great WNUA signed on with
their smooth jazz format exactly 35 years ago this week. If you’re feeling
nostalgic, here are a few places to read or listen to some highlights.
=My interview with WNUA star RickO’Dell (2010)
=Former Ramsey Lewis producer BobKessler reminisces (2012)
=Charlie Meyerson’s WNUA interviews with Richard M. Daley and Jane Byrne
*WXRT Hall of Fame
=This tweet by Johnny Mars has a photo from 25 years ago that features nearly every one of the all-time WXRT greats. See if you can identify all of them.
The WXRT air staff 1997 pic.twitter.com/fYfZ9I57MM
— Johnny Mars (@JohnnyMarsDJ) July 30, 2022
MEDIA BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES
*Jerry G. Bishop
=The anniversary of Chicago broadcasting icon Jerry G. Bishop’s birth was this week. His protégé (as both Svengoolie and in radio) Rich Koz mentioned Bishop on his Facebook page this week: “An amazing talent, a good man, and a good friend- his generosity to me could never be paid back.”
=When I interviewed Koz in 2009,
he went into a little more detail about what Jerry G. meant to him…
“The job with Jerry actually came about when he was leaving
WFLD after they cancelled his Svengoolie show he was in talks with NBC for
both radio and TV, and he thought enough of me to try and get me involved as
part of his team for the radio side. He did some fill in at WMAQ, with me
filling the afore-mentioned sidekick/producer/goofball role- and, when they
brought him in full time- first, in afternoon drive, then in morning drive- I
went along for the ride.
It was a great gig, other than having to get up so early
for the morning show- we’d ride in, going over the papers, and he’d read
something about Dean Martin, and say-“let’s do a bit on this- you be Dean!” I’d
write stuff and be about 85% of the characters and “celebrities” that called
in- I’d write song parodies for him, invent new bits, and we’d do sponsored
commercials as bits- for example, I played the president of a lumber/home
improvement chain, playing him as a sort of dopey guy, in a running series of
live read commercials, and they went over really well.
Plus, on Monday mornings, when the show started an hour
earlier than usual, for a while, Jerry had me do that first hour by myself!
Jerry was the best--very generous, and, as I’ve always said, the guy who’s responsible
for me getting into the broadcasting business…so blame him!”
*Former Loop/Drive jock (and current WGN fill-in) Phil Manicki celebrated a birthday August 4th. My 2019 Illinois Entertainer interview with Phil is here.
*Former WIND/WCKG talker Geoff Pinkus celebrated a birthday on August 5th. My 2008 Chicago Radio Spotlight interview with Geoff is here.
*Chicago sports broadcasting pioneer Chet Coppock released his final (and most critically acclaimed) book Your Dime, My Dance Floor this week in 2018. Less than a year after this book came out, Chet died tragically in a car crash. My final Q&A with Chet is here.
*Former Chicago traffic reporter Joe Collins passed away five years ago this week. It would be difficult to find someone more universally loved than Joe. I had the chance to interview him for Illinois Entertainer just a few months before he passed away.
*One of the biggest
names in Chicago television news history, Fahey Flynn, was born this week in
1916. He also passed away this week in 1983. His Eyewitness News (Channel 7) co-anchor
Joel Daly delivered the eulogy, which he published in his book The Daly News.
The following is a short excerpt from Joel’s speech…
“Fahey had very strong feelings, deeply held
political and philosophical convictions. But he never let them show on the air.
During this time of great change and great debate, Fahey was steadfast…his
eyebrows as straight as his familiar bow tie. Fahey was the original,
quintessential anchorman. Unmoved, unemotional, a man whom people trusted to
tell them the truth… without endorsement or embellishment. Fahey Flynn fought
the odds of time in a very tough business in a very tough town. And his tenure,
all that time as a broadcaster and newsman belie the unfortunate myths which
cloud our profession: that it is cosmetic…that it is shallow… that it is ‘slick
and superficial.’ For Fahey, the most successful of all, was none of these.
On
the contrary, what you saw was what you got…what he was—a decent, caring human
being, so obvious and so visible every night at 6:00 and 10:00. For many years,
at the beginning and end of our news programs, the camera would show the two of
us talking. You couldn’t tell what we were saying to each other. That,
naturally, aroused a lot of curiosity. People would invariably ask me; “What do
you and Fahey talk about every night?”
Usually,
I’d just smile and remain noncommittal, as if it were some kind of secret. We
were two men bound in time—victims of the unrelenting clock. And we talked
about living and dying…of where we had been…and where we were going…if we only
had time. And those conversations would often last long after the studio lights
went out. We would sit there in the darkness, as if unwilling to let go. Those
were the moments I will most remember.
That
rich voice rolling out of the darkness, spinning a tale from the past…or posing
a question of the future—often funny, sometimes sad—intimate words that could
be said and shared without the presence of the clock…without the witness of the
world. But now time has run out! No more deadlines, my dear friend…no more
rush. No more stories to send…no more fuss. So rest in peace, dear friend…and
be to heaven bound. We’ll follow, for time must end…Just pray the bridge is
down”
TELEVISION/STREAMING
*Devil in White City to film in
Chicago
=One of the most famous books ever
written about Chicago, The Devil in White City, is about to become a
television series. Some big-time names are attached. Keanu Reaves to star.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese to produce. And most importantly, it will
actually be filmed here in Chicago. Reel Chicago has the details.
*I want my MTV
=It’s hard to believe it’s already 41 years, but one of the original VJs Martha Quinn tweeted about the anniversary this week. Do you remember where you were? I was in college at the University of Illinois, and it was a groundbreaking moment.
Happy 41st birthday to the pop culture meteor that enrolled us all in the greatest school of rock ever-#MTV High! Can you remember the first video you saw? Where were you?? pic.twitter.com/40c3Agc3HU
— Martha Quinn Ⓥ (@MarthaQuinn) August 1, 2022
*Whoopsie-Doopsie
moment for Alex Jones
=The
InfoWars host/founder had a very bad week. He discovered live on the stand that
his lawyer had accidentally given all of Jones’ phone records (all of them) to
the lawyers representing the Sandy Hook families. He lost in court and was
ordered to pay a $4 million settlement. The January 6th committee
then asked for the files too, which may have further implications for him in
future legal matters.
=NBCNews has the details on the whoopsie moment.
=NPR has the story about the Jan 6 angle of this story.
=US News & World Report has the story about the settlement.
*Batgirl must be really,
really, bad
The movie Batgirl is not coming
out at all…anywhere. I get why they don’t want to spend money marketing it, or
they don’t think it’s big enough for nationwide theater release, but I don’t
get why they won’t just release it on HBO Max. Supposedly they are taking it as
tax write off, but even that doesn’t quite smell right. They’ve already spent
$90 million (see below). Rumors have been trickling out that it tested very
badly, despite their initial quotes to Variety this week. Here’s
a short excerpt…
Studio
insiders insist the decision to axe “Batgirl” was not driven by the quality of
the film or the commitment of the filmmakers, but by the desire for the
studio’s slate of DC features to be at a blockbuster scale. “Batgirl” was
budgeted to screen in homes on HBO Max, and not for a major global release in
theaters. The initial $75 million production budget for the project, which
finished principal photography earlier this year and was in post-production,
reached $90 million, due in part to COVID-related delays and protocols.
*RIP Nichelle Nicols
=The actress who brought Star
Trek’s Lt. Uhura to life passed away this week. The Washington Post has a great obit of this amazing woman. What a
fascinating life. I didn’t realize that she was from Chicago, or that she was
discovered by Duke Ellington, or that she dated Gene Rodenberry and Sammy Davis
Jr. it’s worth a read. RIP Nichelle.
If you have any media stories (Chicago
or national) that you think I might like to share in future columns, feel free
to drop me a line at rick@eckhartzpress.com or amishrick@yahoo.com
MEDIA NOTEBOOK
A curation of news items
about the media from this past week, with a particular emphasis on Chicago…
Radio/Podcasts
*Daily Herald media critic/writer Robert
Feder stepped down last week after more than 40 years on the media beat. That’s
a big loss for the local media community. Everyone, and I mean everyone, read
him. I’ve always wanted to interview him, but he always politely declined over
the years. Now that he’s stepping away from the beat, however, he did do this
interview with his old friend and rival Eric Zorn (Read the whole interviewhere). I thought this was the most interesting quote, about
what a successor (if any) should write about…
“I can't imagine they would focus on radio as much as I did.
Radio has a declining role in the market. My daughter doesn’t even listen to
radio. I’m sure your kids don’t, either. You could probably say the same about
TV news and print newspapers. I would think the coverage in the future would be
more about digital, about nonprofit newsrooms, about streaming, about new
financial models, about all these new platforms that matter now.”
*Local Chicago radio and television showed their worth this past week with
their coverage of the shooting in Highland Park. Despite the small weekend
staffs, radio stations like WBBM-AM and WGN-AM did a fantastic job of covering
the story. The national trade publication Radio Ink spoke with WGN
Radio’s Sean Compton about their coverage. Here is what they wrote:
Like many other businesses WGN had a
skeleton crew in place due to the long 4th of July holiday weekend. Once in
place Compton says the radio team went live to cover the local press
conferences, interview people at the scene and take calls from listeners and
Chicago officials. Compton said, “it’s what we do. It’s the business we’re in.”
The station had been playing a best-of talk show at the time of the shooting.
Host Jon Hansen took over live after the 90 minutes of coverage from WGN-TV.
The Daily Herald’s Jim O’Donnell also talked to long-time Chicago television producer and host Mike Leiderman about his hometown of Highland Park. Jim’s piece is here.
*Julian “Jumpin” Perez steps away from radio. From Friday’s RAMP newsletter: Longtime Chicago mix-master extraordinaire, Julian "Jumpin" Perez, whose four-decade Windy City radio career has taken him to WGCI, WVAZ (V103), B96 (twice), WKSC (103.5 Kiss FM), and WBMX (104.3 Jams), to name just a few, announced his departure from radio and his intention to "start his next chapter."
*Media Monitor released their list of the top radio advertisers in the country. #1 right now is Indeed. I haven’t seen the list for top podcast advertisers, but if Athletic Greens is not on the list, I’d be shocked. I hear their ads on virtually all the podcasts I listen to (and I listen to a lot of them).
*Lewis
Black is suing Pandora. The music streaming giant also has spoken word content,
and if this lawsuit is to be believed, they haven’t been ponying up the
royalties. From Billboard:
Pandora is facing
yet another lawsuit claiming it has failed to pay legally-required royalties
for comedy, this time by from comedian Lewis Black. In a complaint filed Thursday (July 7)
in California federal court, attorneys for Black said Pandora “took and
exploited his works solely to make themselves money while knowing it had no
license and had not paid, and would not be paying, royalties to Lewis Black.” The
case is the latest in a string of lawsuits filed
by comics, including the estates of George Carlin and Robin Williams, who say Pandora is violating
copyright law by refusing to pay the equivalent of publishing royalties for
spoken-word content.
*In my opinion,
the best podcast in the world the past few years has been Gilbert Gottfried’s
Amazing Colossal Podcast. I never missed it. The network has continued
re-posting old episodes since Gilbert passed away a few months ago, but they
have never had an episode with his co-host Frank looking back on his time doing
the show with Gilbert. I wish they would. In the meantime, if you are a
Sirius/XM subscriber, you can hear the last long form interview Gilbert gave.
The RAMP Newsletter reports:
SiriusXM announced the release of a special
installment of its audio documentary series, which will fondly remember comic
legend Gilbert Gottfried, who passed away on April 12 at 67. Obsessive
Comedy Disorder: Boomers - The Gilbert Gottfried Is Dead Special debuted
yesterday on Comedy Greats Channel 94. In what is believed to
be the last long-form interview done with the voice that became comedy gold,
this 90-minute conversation is an expansive and hilarious deep dive into the
mind and memories of one of comedy's most brilliant and unique talents. It was
February 13, 2020, when Obsessive Comedy Disorder producer and
host Dan Pasternack got together with Paul Provenza,
director of the hilariously profane cult comedy The Aristocrats, to
interview Gottfried about his experiences leading up to and during the comedy
boom of the '80s.
*The Joe Rogan podcast was in the news again this
week. And it wasn’t even for something that happened on his podcast. It’s for
what has not happened on his podcast. Despite having the reputation of
being pro-Trump (probably because of his anti-vax and/or mask views), Media-Ite
reported that Rogan said the following on a podcast hosted by Lex Friedman:
“I’m not
a Trump supporter in any way, shape or form. I’ve had the opportunity to have
him on my show more than once — I’ve said no, every time. I don’t want to help
him,” Rogan revealed. “I’m not interested in helping him.”
*A few local Chicago radio
folks are celebrating birthdays this week. (The year I interviewed them in parenthesis, interview at the link.)
July 6—Nick Digilio (2022)
July 6—Steve Touhy (2008)
July 7—John Gehron (2009)
July 9—(the late) Dick Orkin (2012)
*For my old
Loop pals…
=Former WLUP
program director Jack Silver was in the news this week. He was one of the
victims of the Cumulus/Westwood One “reorganization”. The RAMP Newsletter had
the news:
Jack Silver joined
the company in July 2012, after programming Cumulus News-Talk KABC-AM and
Classic Rock KLOS/Los Angeles. Silver previously served as a
programming and air talent consultant, but is probably best known for his 11
years with CBS Radio Los Angeles, where he was VP of FM Talk Programming and PD
of KLSX until it flipped to Top 40 as KAMP (97.1
AMP) in Feb. 2009. He can be reached at JackSilver36@gmail.com.
=15 years ago…July 8, 2007—my Dave Benson interview
=3 years ago…our memorial for Chet Coppock in Arlington Heights
Television/Streaming
*I don’t quite understand this move, but TV Newser reported it this week: ABC News correspondent Kaylee Hartung is reportedly leaving the news outlet to join Amazon as the streamer’s first-ever Thursday Night Football sideline reporter.
*Attention soccer fans. The Associated Press reported this news for those of us who can’t get enough soccer on television/streaming: Streaming service Amazon will broadcast some live Champions League games in Britain for the first time when the competition expands in 2024. Amazon said Friday it secured rights to the top pick of the Tuesday games each week from the new expanded league stage through to the semifinals — a total of 16 each season — for the three years from 2024-27.
*The billion dollar lawsuit against Fox News for its reporting during the election aftermath now has a local Chicago angle. The LA Times reports: Fox News has hired veteran trial attorney Dan Webb to lead its defense against a defamation suit by Dominion Voting Systems over false claims made during the channel’s coverage of the 2020 presidential election…Webb, co-chairman of the Chicago-based firm Winston & Strawn, replaces Chip Babcock, a Houston-based litigator who specializes in First Amendment cases. Webb‘s appointment is an indication that Fox News expects to go to trial in the Dominion case, in which the voting systems company is seeking $1.6 billion in damages.
*If you have any media news to share, e-mail rick@eckhartzpress.com. Rick Kaempfer
is the media critic/writer for Illinois Entertainer and has written three books
about the media, The Radio Producer’s Handbook (co-written with John Swanson),
$everance (a satirical novel about broadcasting), and Records Truly Is My
Middle Name (co-written with John Records Landecker). Rick also worked in radio
for 20+ years at the Loop (WLUP AM/FM) and WJMK (Oldies 104.3)