Publishing Portal--1-20-25

The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.

The Book of the Year Awards

=The award ceremony was on Saturday night at the Tip Top Tap in the Allerton Hotel. Congrats to Mark Taylor for winning in the Non-Fiction Book of the Year category. Mark's book "Hospital Heal Thyself" came out this week in 2024. An international publisher bought the book later in the year, but not before Mark's Eckhartz Press version won the award. Congrats to him!

=A few other Eckhartz Press authors were on hand for the ceremony too. That's Bob Boone (City U) and Richard Reeder (1001 Train Rides in Chicago) with publisher Rick Kaempfer in the first photo. Last Comiskey author Ken Smoller (a finalist himself) in the second photo with Rick. 

  

Coming soon to Eckhartz Press...The Kiss of Night by Mark Wukas

=What is it about? The death of a retired Chicago homicide detective forces Will Moore, an assistant city editor for the Chicago Tribune, to revisit life-and-death events from his first days as a police reporter for City News Bureau. As he becomes immersed in the dark river of despair coursing through the streets at night, Will comes to understand the humanity lying beneath Chicago crime statistics. Will himself becomes part of the story when his next-door neighbor, a young Latino gang member, is murdered, and Will is asked to help take revenge. 

=It's a page turner, and will be available for pre-order very soon.

Last Comiskey

=Book of the Year finalist author Ken Smoller is making the rounds this week. Tomorrow morning (January 21) he will be appearing on the WGN-TV morning show.

=Ken will be also be doing a presentation (“A SoxFest ‘Tailgate’ presentation by Last Comiskey author, Ken Smoller, about the lessons of Comiskey Park’s destruction and impact on Chicago’s current debate about new stadiums for the Sox, Bears, Northwestern and Fire”) at a Sox fan event hosted by Sox Fans 479 at Paterno’s Pizza & Bar (located at the corner of Milwaukee/Central on the northwest side) beginning at noon this Saturday, January 25. 

=Then he'll do another signing the same day, Saturday January 25th at AU Sports at 6006 Dempster in Morton Grove from 2:00-3:30pm.

=This week is also Ozzie Guillen's birthday (January 20). Ozzie wrote the foreword to Ken's book.

I Bear Witness

=Dan McNeil was out and about this past week. You may have caught him at Blue Island Beer Company on Tuesday night, or the Sports Collector Show in Orland Park on Sunday (photo below). 

=Next up: A Super Bowl party. We'll give you that location next week.

Worth A Second Look

=Another Eckhartz Press author was out there hustling this past week. Eric Litt brought his two Eckhartz Press books, Worth a Second Look and Oscars Biggest Mistakes, out to a book fair in Skokie  hosted by New Book Joy. Thanks to everyone who came out to say hello!

The Flip Side

=As of last week, The Flip Side is now also available in the Kindle format. Click here if you'd like to pick up a copy for your kindle.

=This week in 1982 the #1 album in the country was "Great White North" by Bob & Doug McKenzie (from SCTV). Naturally the boys made an appearance at a Flip Side store with the Rosenbaums...

Hugh Hefner's First Funeral

=Pat Colander passed away this week in 2019. Publisher Rick Kaempfer wrote this tribute to her when he heard the news.

The Loop Files

=This week last year Rick Kaempfer appeared at the Chicagoland Record Show (1/21/24). Here are a few photos from that signing...

=A bonus photo from the book for this week's birthday boy (1/24/49) John Belushi.

=The Loop Files is dedicated to two special ladies, Sandy Stahl and Cindy Gatziolis. Cindy's birthday would have been this week (January 25). That's her on the left (with fellow Looper Tricia Mladic)

Records Truly Is My Middle Name

=Here's a free excerpt from John Landecker's book about Wolfman Jack (born 1/21/38), and two photos from the book from additional famous birthdays this week, John Belushi & Ernie Harwell (1/25/18).

Everything I Know I Learned from Rock Stars

=Rock journalist Bill Paige got the opportunity to interview some of the biggest rock stars during rock and roll's heyday. Among them, Steve Perry, who turns 75 this week (1/22). He rates his own chapter in Bill's great 2017 Eckhartz Press book. 

Chasing the Lost City

=Tom Weinberg was a WTTW producer for years, and wrote a book about his greatest adventure, looking for a lost city in the jungles of Honduras. The photos alone, like the one below, are worth the price of admission. This week in 2018 he had a book signing at The Book Stall in Winnetka.

Chili Dog MVP

 =This week in 2023 the Chicago Writers Association honored Dr. David Fletcher and John Owens, writers of Chili Dog MVP at the Book of the Year awards. It was a great year for the book. It helped influence the Hall of Fame voters, who finally voted Dick Allen into the Hall of Fame in December of 2024.

Cubsessions

=He may be the White Sox radio announcer now, but back in 2016, Len Kasper was the TV play-by-play man for the Cubs. In the book Cubsessions this week's birthday boy tells the story of that magical night in Cleveland.

Doin the Cruise & Brandwidth

=This week in 2018 there was a colliding of two Eckhartz Press authors. The author of Brandwidth, Kipper McGee, interviewed the author of Doin the Cruise, Mitch Michaels. You can listen to the podcast here. 

A Man A Mission A Miracle

=This week in 2020, Eckhartz Press author Andrew C. Langert released his biography of Lewis University's Brother James Gafney. This photo is Andy holding the very first copy of the book.

Your Dime My Dance Floor

=This week in 2019, Eckhartz Press author Chet Coppock made his final public appearance for a charity. He grabbed the mic and entertained the Bowling for Veterans event. That's a photo of him at the event below, along with a shot of Chet with his lifelong friend Jack Brickhouse. Jack was born this week (January 24), 109 years ago.

Cheeseland

=Randy Richardson is not just the president of the Chicago Writer's Association, he's also a three-times published Eckhartz Press author. His first book for us was the coming of age novel Cheeseland. This week in 2013, Randy recapped the many stops on his media tour. 

Truffle Hunt

=Eckhartz Press Author Brent Petersen is now a famous podcaster. How famous? His Destination Eat Drink podcast was recommended by the AARP.

The Living Wills

=This week in 2012, The Living Wills was featured on Rick Kogan's show on WGN. Both authors (Rick Kaempfer & Brendan Sullivan) gave Kogan credit for encouraging them to write this book. 

Monkey in the Middle

=This week in 2021 comedian (and Eckhartz Press author) Dobie Maxwell appeared on the Comedians Over 50 podcast. 

 Behind the Glass

=The great thing about Randy Merkin's book Behind the Glass is that there are stories about Hall of Fame legends everywhere you turn, including three stars celebrating birthdays this week, Jack Nicklaus, Wayne Gretzky, and Chris Chelios (photo with Randy).

The Daly News

=For years Joel Daly delivered a nightly commentary on the Channel 7 News in Chicago. This week in 1978 he delivered his last one. Would you like to read it? It's featured in his Eckhartz Press book The Daly News.

Always a Pleasure

=Chuck Swirsky has some great photos in his book, including these two with this week's birthday boys Vince Carter and Pat Tomasulo.

Father Knows Nothing

=This week in 2015 Rick Kaempfer was wrapping up his Father Knows Nothing Publicity Tour. 

 

Media Notebook--5-31-24

MEDIA NOTEBOOK

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

RADIO/PODCASTS

 

*Format Change for Alpha Media

=As I speculated last week, Alpha Media is changing the format of two of their stations. WCCQ-Joliet (98.3FM) and WXLC-Waukegan (102.3FM) are now known as Free Country 98.3 and 102.3.

=Drew Walker, who stepped down from US-99 recently, is joining the team as the Asst. Brand Manager and afternoon drive host. Hannah B, who co-hosts afternoons on two of the other stations in the cluster (WSSR and WZSR with Eddie Volkman) will add midday host duties at Free Country. The rest of the lineup looks like they are going with nationally syndicated hosts. Bobby Bones in the morning slot. B-Dub Radio in the evening slot.

 

 

*DeNiro Award Rescinded

=Robert DeNiro made the news this week when he appeared outside of the NY courtroom where Donald Trump was being tried to make several political (anti-Trump) statements. DeNiro had been scheduled to receive a special award from the National Association of Broadcasters on June 4^th. After his speech in New York, they rescinded the award. More details are here.

 *Wolfman Jack show coming to WGN

=Yes, he’s been gone for many years now, but the Wolfman recorded a ton of great radio shows in his day. According to an on-air announcement on the John Landecker show this week, the Wolfman show is coming to WGN soon. It will air from 2-5am on Sunday mornings.

*Media Jobs Report

=A new service for people looking for jobs in the media, including radio. Here’s the link for the radio openings.

 

*Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame

=The induction ceremony will take place in September of this year. One of the inductees is WMAQ-AM veteran Scott Herman, who is now the chairman of the Broadcasters Foundation of America. Full list of inductees is here.

*Worst Decade of Radio Ever?

=According to this recently released poll, we’re currently living in it. The same poll says that the 1990s were the best. See the results here.

MEDIA BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES

 

*May 26—Brent Musburger birthday

=Brent has had one of the most successful sports television careers of all-time, and it all began right here in Chicago. Brent turns 85 years old this week.

 

*May 26—Candace Jordan birthday

=The former Playboy model writes the weekly “Candid Candace” column in the Chicago Tribune.

 

*May 27—Misty Callahan birthday

=Misty is a radio producer in Chicago (Salem Media) and is married to fellow radio producer (and Eckhartz Press author) Keith Conrad.

 

*May 27—George Castle birthday

=For decades George covered the Chicago Cubs for the Northwest Indiana Times. He has also written quite a few Cubs books, and in 2022 contributed to the Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year finalist “Chili Dog MVP” (about Dick Allen)

 

*May 27—Pat Hughes birthday

=The baseball Hall of Famer is the reason I still listen to the Cubs on the radio whenever I can. I got a chance to interview him for Chicago Radio Spotlight back in 2010. 

 

*May 28--Lisa Fielding birthday

=Afternoon news anchor/reporter/host at NewsRadio 780.

*May 29—Felicia Middlebrooks birthday

=The former morning co-anchor at WBBM NewsRadio is also an author and an award-winning filmmaker 

 

*May 30—Dave Eanet birthday

=Dave is the sports director at WGN and can heard daily on Bob Sirott’s morning show. He has also been the radio play-by-play man for Northwestern University football and basketball for decades. (Photo: Dave on WGN-TV for Cubs World Series postgame. Far left)

*May 31—Jerry Agar birthday

=Jerry had stints at both WLS and WGN in Chicago. I got a chance to interview him during that time. He’s currently working north of the border in his native Canada.

 

*May 31, 2005—Watergate source Deep Throat revealed

=Did you watch The Plumbers on HBO? Mark Felt, the deputy director the FBI, is one of the characters. A minor one in the series. A major one in real life. He was 91 when he revealed the news to Vanity Fair.

 

*June 1, 1974—WCFL Chart

=50 years ago this week. The Watergate scandal dominated the news. Larry Lujack was the star DJ on the station. And this is the list of songs WCFL was playing (courtesy of Chicago Radio Timeline)

*June 1, 1980—CNN Debuts as First All-News Network

=This was Ted Turner’s brainchild, and it was widely mocked at the time. (Who is going to want news 24 hours a day?). The husband/wife team of Dave Walker and Lois Hart were the first anchors. The headquarters was in Atlanta, but the network also had bureaus in Washington, New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.

 

TV/STREAMING

 

*Premier League Scores Record Ratings at NBC

=For years I felt like the only soccer fan in America. The ratings for this past season’s Premier League broadcasts show that I’m not alone. The numbers are here.

*MeTV Toons

=The network starts on June 25^th, but the schedule was released this week. All times are Eastern.

 *Jimmy Kimmel’s Son Undergoes Open-Heart Surgery

=It’s the 7-year-old boy’s third open heart surgery. ABC-7 has the story.

 

*Cable News Corner

=Smartmatic accuses NewsMax of destroying evidence in lawsuit. NBC reports

=Former Tucker Carlson producer fired by Fox News hired by NewsNation. Find out more in the Daily Beast.

 

*Rest In Peace

We lost quite a few notable entertainment legends this week…

=Bill Walton

Basketball legend. Long-time broadcaster. Dead head. He was 71. Former WMAQ-AM broadcaster Dave Pasch worked with Walton the past dozen years on Pac-12 games. He remembers his broadcasting partner.

=Albert Ruddy

The Oscar-winning producer of “The Godfather” and the subject of the TV series The Offer

=Richard Sherman

One-half of the Disney songwriting team who wrote the songs for “Mary Poppins”, “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and more. He was 95.

=Johnny Wactor

General Hospital Star. Shot while trying to defend his catalytic converter. He was 37.

=Morgan Spurlock

The documentary director of “Supersize Me”. He was 53.

 PRINT/DIGITAL

 

*Farewell Freedom Center

=This tweet says it all…

The last group shot of those available to gather for the goodbye picture at the Chicago Tribune's Freedom Center, which will be knocked down for a land-based casino--if Bally's can pull it off. The wall of Pulitzers the paper won over the years is in the background pic.twitter.com/t1ztgVPX8H

— Ray Long (@RayLong) May 29, 2024

 *New York Sets Aside Money to Help Journalism

=The state of New York passed a bill to give tax credits to struggling local news outlets to help keep them afloat. The Chicago Tribune has the story.

 *AI Companies Bypassing Partisan Media

=Semafor has the story of the AI agreements made recently, and how they are not including partisan outlets like Breitbart and the Daily Caller.

=But they did sign deals this week with The Atlantic and Vox Media. That story is here.

*Ramaswamy Making Waves at Buzzfeed

=To say his suggestions to hire people like Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, and Aaron Rogers didn’t go over well would be an understatement. New York Magazine reports.

*Did the British Tabloid News of the World Pay Women to Sleep with Celebrities?

=That’s the charge made by James Blunt. The Guardian has the scoop on this one. 

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.

Eckhartz Everyday

 

*Today would have been Wolfman Jack's birthday. The Wolfman has the distinction of being featured in two different Eckhartz Press books. John Landecker told the story of the day he met Wolfman Jack in his book Records Truly Is My Middle Name. If you'd like to read that particular excerpt, you can read it here.

Wolfman Jack is also featured in Bob Shannon's book Turn It Up. Both books are still available at Eckhartz Press.

*Today is Len Kasper's birthday as well. Len is also featured in two Eckhartz Press books. He gets his own entry in EveryCubEver for his many years in the Cubs broadcast booth, but he gets his own chapter in the book Cubsessions, written by Randy Richardson and Becky Sarwate Maxwell. In that book, Len tells the story of the Cubs 2016 World Series Championship and what it means to him. Get your copy of Cubsessions today.

*On this day in 2018, Eckhartz Press author Tom Weinberg had a book signing at the Book Stall in Winnetka. 

 A good time was had by one and all as Tom talked about his Eckhartz Press book "Chasing the Lost City"