Friday, May 26, 2023

Media Notebook--5-26-23















MEDIA NOTEBOOK

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

(By Rick Kaempfer)



RADIO/PODCASTS

 

 

*Ford Agrees to Keep AM Radio in Cars

=The first automaker to buckle is Ford. The pressure campaign appears to be working. Inside Radio has the full story.


 

*Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for Radio

=What are the Edward R. Murrow Awards? They recognize local and national news stories that uphold the RTDNA (Radio Television Digital News Association) Code of Ethics, demonstrate technical expertise and exemplify the importance and impact of journalism as a service to the public. Chicago is in Region 7. Full list of our regional winners are here. 

=Two Chicago radio stations were recognized, NewsRadio WBBM and WBEZ. WBBM brought home awards for Breaking News Coverage and Overall Excellence. WBEZ was recognized for Excellence in Innovation, Excellence in Sound, Feature Reporting and Investigative reporting. Congratulations to both stations.

 

 

*Kendra G Leaves WGCI

=She had been part of the WGCI morning show since 2015, but it appears that Chicago is now in her rearview mirror. This is her farewell message.



An interview with John Gehron

=The legendary radio programmer did an interview with Loyd Ford that’s definitely worth a listen. You can find it here.


  

*Next Generation Radio

 

*Illinois Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

=The Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66 will hold their 3rd Annual Hall of Fame Induction Award Ceremony on Sunday, September 17th, 2023 at the Rialto Square Theatre in downtown Joliet. In a release, the museum’s Chairman Ron Romero said: “This year’s exceptional list of inductees showcases the depth of home-grown talent Illinois has provided to all genres of music. It will be another incredible star-studded evening for all music lovers.”

=The Class of 2023 Hall of Fame

Band or Solo Artists: Earth, Wind & Fire, The Cryan’ Shames, The Shadows of Knight, Nat King Cole and Miles Davis.

Songwriter: John Prine

DJ: Bob Sirott (Sirott will also serve as emcee of the event).

Radio Station: WLUP-FM “The Loop”

 

 

*iHeart Access Day

=On June 1, all the iHeart stations across America will be having what the company is calling Access Day. 700+ prizes will be given out to things like concert events and celebrity meet and greets. Radio Ink has more. The iHeart stations in Chicago are Lite-FM, Kiss-FM, V103, WGCI, Rock 95.5, Inspiration 1390, and BIN 640.




*Priscilla Presley Interview

=I'd have to say this is a great "get" for Lisa Dent at WGN. I haven't heard too many Priscilla radio interviews. Lisa got one this week.



*Voice of America Abuses

=An inquiry into the Trump administration’s Voice of America CEO has found multiple instances of abuse of power and violations of federal civil service law. Michael Peck removed employees for not being Republican or not being loyal enough to Trump. None of them had done anything wrong in their jobs. Full details are here. 

 

 

*Who Killed George Polk?

=If you haven’t heard this story about a giant in radio history, it’s a wild one. Polk was murdered covering the Greek Civil War for CBS News in 1948. The Polk Awards in Journalism are named after George.


 

 

*Podcast Corner

=Edison Research has the ratings for the top podcasts in the country.  The Top Ten are…

Joe Rogan Show

Crime Junkie

The Daily (New York Times)

This American Life

Morbid: A True Crime Story

Stuff You Should Know

Call Her Daddy

Ben Shapiro Show

Dateline NBC

Smartless

=From the “Everybody Has a Podcast” department, add another name. Would you believe Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon?


 

*The Loop Files

=This week profile is with former Kevin Matthews producer Jack Landreth.


 

 

MEDIA MILESTONES/BIRTHDAYS

 

 

*May 20—Lorelei Shark birthday

=Who is Lorelei, you ask? This young lady…


 

*May 21—Spike O’Dell birthday

=Spike had an incredible career in Chicago at WGN Radio, holding down the afternoon and morning shifts for years. I interviewed him about that in 2008. He posted this poem on his Facebook page to commemorate this most recent birthday, and is allowing me to reprint it here…

I woke up today,

Six decades completed

Still feel pretty well,

Grim reaper defeated!

I’m 70 now,

and officially old!

I checked while I showered

For moss and for mold.

My long blonde hair

Has long gone away,

And now what is left

Is thinner and gray.

I can’t run as fast

with the aches and pain.

And I’m driving much slower too,

In the left lane.

I don’t hit the the golf balls

as far as I could.

They all now go left

and deep in the woods.

It’s hard to believe

How fast my life goes.

My brain feels much younger,

But my body knows.

Statistics will show

I don’t have many years.

But I’m not losing sleep

controlled by those fears.

So please, if you’re young,

or now in your prime,

Live life to your fullest

‘Cause you’ll never stop time.

Thanks for the wishes, the cards

And the rest.

It touches my heart.

You guys are the best!

 

*May 21, 2008—WNUA Signs Off


 

*May 22—Leslie Harris birthday

=Leslie does middays at The River in Aurora these days, but she has also worked at the Blaze, Rock 103.5, WCKG, and CD 94.7. I interviewed her for Chicago Radio Spotlight in 2011. 

 

*May 22, 1846—Associated Press founded

=Perhaps the last source of news that everyone considers to be factual and unbiased, the Associated Press, was founded this week 177 years ago.

 

*May 23--Tom Ricketts birthday

=Say what you will about Mr. Ricketts, but he did bring us a World Series, and he does have great taste in literature. 



 

*May 24, 1844--Samuel Morse sends first commercial telegraph message

=That’s how it all began. Just two years later the AP was founded, (Item above) and made extensive use of the new technology to deliver news to newspapers around the country.

 

*May 24—Mike Toomey birthday

=Toomey is the booth announcer for the 9am hour of the WGN-TV Morning News, but he also writes and participates in many of the bits in the other hours of the show. A great standup comedian. I interviewed him on my podcast a few years ago. 

 

*May 25—Linda MacLennan birthday

=Linda was the co-anchor of the 10:00 News on Channel 2 for years during the Lester Holt era.

 

*May 25—Steve Seaver birthday

=Seaver signed off at the Drive last year after a long and fruitful run at the station. Back in 2018 I interviewed him for Illinois Entertainer.  This photo was taken at the station. (L-R: Bob Stroud, Fina Rodriguez, me, Steve Seaver)



 

*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 84 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 last year 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. 

 


 

TV/STREAMING

 

 

*Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for Television

=What are the Edward R. Murrow Awards? They recognize local and national news stories that uphold the RTDNA (Radio Television Digital News Association) Code of Ethics, demonstrate technical expertise and exemplify the importance and impact of journalism as a service to the public. Chicago is in Region 7. Full list of our regional winners are here.

=The big winner was WBBM-Channel 2. They won for Hard News, Investigative Reporting, News Series, Newscast, and Overall Excellence. Congratulations to the WBBM news team.

=WGN-TV also brought home a regional Murrow award for News Documentary.

 

 

*The Story of Jeff Hoover

=This is the latest episode of Tom Barnas’ Stories from the 78. He interviews his former WGN-TV colleague, Jeff Hoover…


 

 

*44th Annual Sports Emmy Awards

=Bryant Gumbel was awarded a lifetime achievement award. As for this year’s awards, the various different arms of ESPN brought home 13 awards. The Fox networks won 9. NBC-affiliated networks and streamers won 8.  The full list is here. 

 

 

*A’s Announcer Fired After Racial Slur

=It happened a few weeks ago, but he wasn’t fired until this week.  As soon as I saw the video, I knew this day was inevitable. The Washington Post has the full story if you’d like to get caught up on the details.


 

*Warner Brothers CEO Booed at Boston University Commencement Address

=The kids were chanting “Pay your writers”. 



*Game Show Corner

=He was a Family Feud contestant from Illinois who made a joke on the show about wishing he had never married his wife. Then she turned up dead. His trial is an obvious made-for-local-TV moment.

=9-game Jeopardy winning streak ends because champ misspelled a name from a Shakespeare play in Final Jeopardy. He spelled it Benedict. It was actually spelled Benedick. Not good enough.  Details here.

 

 

*Streaming Corner

=The Netflix Crackdown officially began this week. Netflix is coming after people sharing their accounts with others. College students across the country are bracing for more study time in the fall. (That’s a shot at my youngest son.) 

=HBO Max became Max this week, and immediately ran into a problem with writers, directors, and producers.

 

 

*Cable News Corner

=The Looming Existential Crisis for Cable News

The numbers are declining at an alarming rate as cord-cutters all over the country make that move away from cable. The Washington Post analyzes what’s in store for Cable News future. 

=Fox News aired another completely fabricated story

Remember the scandal about migrants replacing homeless veterans in New York? It was in the New York Post and reported on Fox News (and Newsmax) incessantly for days. Turns out, it wasn’t true. It was a made-up story. Laura Ingraham even had to issue an on-air apology. 

=Fox News also staged a story in Naperville

This one was on Fox & Friends and it was about new Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. 

=Meanwhile, that much maligned CNN Town Hall with Donald Trump may actually bring more money to E. Jean Carroll. Just hours after the jury said Trump maligned her and awarded her $5 million, Trump maligned her again…using almost the exact same words. Now Carroll is asking for an additional $10 million. 

=And finally, another CNN Town Hall was announced this week. Nikki Haley will be on with moderator Jake Tapper on June 4. This one will take place in Iowa.


 

*Tucker Starts Over


 

 

PRINT/DIGITAL MEDIA

 

 

*Update on Wall Street Journal Reporter Detained by Russians

=Reuters: U.S. Calls For Immediate Release of Gershkovich After Russia Seeks Extended Detention.


 

 

*New York Times Reaches Agreement with Newsroom Union

=This negotiation has been contentious and lasted a long time, but it appears the two sides have come to an agreement. More information is available here.




*R.I.P. Rick Hummel


 

*The Latest on Book Banning

=This is how ridiculous book-banning has gotten in Florida. After only one parent complained that the poem "contained indirect hate messages" and would "indoctrinate students," this happened...

=Even my little publishing company has a book considered “inappropriate” by three school districts in Florida because they fear it teaches CRT. It’s a biography about football star/civil rights leader (and prominent Thornton HS alum) LaMarr Thomas.

=There may be a flood of objections about books with LGBTQ content, but according to this report in the Washington Post, a large number of those objections were made by the same 11 people. 

 

 

SOCIAL MEDIA

 

 

*DeSantis Announces Presidential Campaign on Twitter

=He became the first presidential candidate to ever announce his candidacy on Twitter Spaces via an audio-only livestream. It didn’t exactly go as planned. You can listen to it here.


 

*Instagram Readies Twitter Competitor for Summer Release

=I agree Twitter needs a competitor. We’ll see if Instagram is the right one to do it. Bloomberg has the details.



 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 from this week...

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.

Minutia Men: Rudolf the Red Nosed Mayor

Minutia Men Celebrity Interview: Mrs. America

Minutia Men Celebrity Interview Classic: Midnight Express author Billy Hayes

Free Kicks with Adam & Rick: Winding Down the Season

Meet the Eckhartz Press Author: John Landecker

From the Eckhartz Book Shelf: Father Knows Nothing by Rick Kaempfer

My latest novel: Back in the D.D.R

Windy City Reviews Back in the D.D.R.

Podcast Interview about Back in the D.D.R: Military Family Museum Podcast


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Thursday, May 25, 2023

From the Eckhartz Bookshelf: Father Knows Nothing

 With over 80 books in our library, this year we're taking some time every week to highlight one of the books on the Eckhartz bookshelf. This week's book is Father Knows Nothing. 



During his 20s and 30s, Rick Kaempfer worked in radio, producing legendary shows by Hall of Famers John Records Landecker and Steve Dahl & Garry Meier.

During his 40s, Kaempfer became a full-time writer. He wrote or co-wrote four books during that time (“The Living Wills”, “Records Truly Is My Middle Name”, “$everance”, and “The Radio Producer’s Handbook”), while also serving as the primary caregiver and stay-at-home dad for three growing boys (ages 10, 8, and 3). Care to guess which half of his job was a bigger challenge?

As a means of making sense of it all, Rick wrote a column about his parenting adventures at the end of every week. He posted those humorous stories on his daily blog (rickkaempfer.blogspot.com), and before he knew it, Rick had developed a following.

The Northwest Indiana Times came calling, and for the next eight years Rick wrote his weekly column under the title “Father Knows Nothing” for various different properties at nwi.com. With the help of this added exposure, and the explosion of social media, Rick’s following grew. He may not have gotten any better at the hard part of his job (hence the title of the column and the book), but he began to be recognized for his writing. The Chicago Headline Club twice nominated Kaempfer for a prestigious Peter Lisagor Award for best newspaper-affiliated blog in Chicago. (And though Roger Ebert at the Sun Times came home with the award, Rick did get to put on a suit and drink ten dollar cocktails with the journalistic glitterati for a couple of evenings.)

In 2013, just after he turned 50 years old, Rick reluctantly bid a fond farewell to Father Knows Nothing. He wanted to turn his decade of writing into a book. For the next eight months, Kaempfer waded through 400 old columns, wrote some new material, and wove these memorable stories into the narrative form you can purchase today.

To his readers his message is clear: “This is definitely NOT a how-to-book. More like a how-not-to-book.”

To his sons: “When it’s time for therapy, just hand this book to your shrink. It will save you a lot of time and money.”

It’s certainly not their fault that Father Knows Nothing.

  • Kaempfer’s triumphant achievement is also his greatest success. The most famous, hilarious, suburban stay-at-home dad of all-time!

    Pat Colander, Associate Publisher & Editor/Shore Magazine

  • Father Knows Nothing is a loving, humorous, insightful and abundantly entertaining tale of a dad and his sons.

    John Records Landecker, WLS-Radio

  • His funny and insightful perspective on fatherhood made me realize again why I don’t want to have any kids.

    Jeff Hoover, WGN-TV Morning News

  • It doesn’t matter whether you’re the father of sons or daughters, the stories in Father Knows Nothing will hit close to home. I laughed out loud picturing Rick breaking up fights between his sons, flinging the top layer of a pizza across the kitchen and scaring his son out of lawn maintenance. The frequent laughs are balanced with emotionally touching stories and insights. This book is a wonderful record of an exciting, tumultuous time that all parents will relate to.

    Brian Noonan, WGN Radio
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Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Minutia Men Celebrity Classic: Billy Hayes

 



 We have now done over 200 interviews on our various Minutia Men podcasts, and this year we're going to revisit some of the best. A few years ago we interviewed Billy Hayes, author of the best selling book "Midnight Express", which later was turned into a hugely popular movie. We talked to him about the book, his disagreements with the scriptwriter Oliver Stone, and a few secrets that he can only now talk about without getting sent back to a Turkish prison. Great interview. 

You can listen to it here.




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Tuesday, May 23, 2023

The Loop Files: Jack Landreth

 


 I'm working on a special project this year about a certain radio station, so I've been going back into my files and pulling out some old interviews with former Loop colleagues and pals. I'll feature one a week here on the blog. This week, it's Jack Landreth. Jack had a long producing career before joining the Loop. He was Don & Roma's producer at WLS and Paul Harvey's producer. Needless to say, those jobs might not have sufficiently prepared him for what happened at the Loop. His job at the Loop was producer of Kevin Matthews Show. It might not have been the perfect fit, as this interview from 2008 shows. Jack produced Kevin's show in 1992-1993. He has gone on to a long radio career in markets outside of Chicago.


Rick: What was your role when you worked with Paul Harvey, and can you give us an insight into how he put his newscast together?

Jack: I would go through every newspaper from every town in the country. Again, this was before internet, so all of the “For What it’s Worth” stories came from the small town print papers. Besides working on those stories, I would help out where I could from mail to phones. In Paul Harvey’s office, no one had titles, no one was better than anyone else. Most of the time, Paul changed the ribbons on the news wire machines, simply because he was the first one in.

He would get in early, 4am or so, and put on his blue smock. It was one of those smocks that doctors wear, complete with an ABC logo patch, and the name “Paul” stitched on the right pocket. All of the wire machines had spit out stories all night, and he would scour each and every fiber of those paper rolls. He would then go into his office with the stack of stories, and start typing his scripts, large type and double spaced. He would then take the daily stories, add his famous live reads (Page two!), stack the stories and include whatever we had for him. Then off to the studio where he did Paul Harvey News for the world to hear. After that newscast, it was off to Rest of the Story land, and whatever else needed to be done. When the morning was over, he would walk down to the garage and drive off in his Buick. Yes, he drove a Buick every day. And yes, it took his assistant June Westgaard years and years to convince him NOT to park on Lower Wacker!

Rick: After Paul Harvey, you made another leap...this time going to work for Kevin Matthews at the Loop. I can't even imagine that transition. Can you give us a few examples pointing out just how different those two experiences were?

Jack: One of the first things I did with Kevin was to write a faux “Rest of the Story” (because Kevin did a great Paul Harvey impression) with the subject being anyone from Kevin Butler of the Bears to Steve Dahl. I thought it was a fun thing to do, but Mr. Harvey was not amused. It was the first time that I didn’t think of how my actions could hurt someone else. I of course apologized to Mr. Harvey and realized that the Loop was a VERY different animal.

Both talents had similar traits. Both Paul and Kevin (photo) were unbelievably talented in what they did. Both had egos the size of Lake Michigan, and both were somewhat strange ducks. My experience with Kevin was however, much more difficult. He was one of those hosts that no matter what you did, it was wrong. Yes I knew a lot of that was the bit, but I wondered if I had made the right choice. After some time, I would come to learn that Matthews, along with Brandmeier, Steve & Garry, and later on, Bonaduce were talents that would help me focus on what mattered the most….entertaining the audience with compelling content. That’s what mattered most. Years later, I talked to Steve, and thanked him for those years. Every now and then I run into Danny, and love to talk those old “Loop” days. I sent Kevin an e-mail when he moved back to Grand Rapids.

Rick: In the mid-90s you made that leap out of the market, away from your home town, and it's obviously worked out for you. I don't think a lot of radio people realize that the transition from executive producer of a big time show to program director is a logical move. You're going from essentially being the program director of a show, to a program director of a station. What have been some of the biggest challenges for you in that transition?

Jack: Honestly, there really weren’t any BIG challenges. The most difficult transition was all of the suit stuff like budgets, quarterlies, and meetings. But the core of the job, creating content, was easy. Whether it was San Diego, Nashville, Arizona, San Antonio or Vegas…there is always a need for great audio content. A producer has to think of the show and direct it to garner ratings and revenue. A PD has to do the same with all of the shows. And if you take the sales equation out of your job description, you won’t have a job. One of the most important things I learned as a PD as opposed to a producer is that this is a business, and must be successful as a business or the fun won’t happen. Another challenge was to never take anything personally in this business. I love people that are into what we do, and whether a competitor or a co-worker, we are all in this small broadcast world together.


Next week: Jack Silver
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Monday, May 22, 2023

Thanks Lou

Last night on WFLD-TV, Eckhartz Press author Chuck Swirsky...
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Did NOT see this coming

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Meet the Eckhartz Press Author: John Landecker

  Now that we have such a big stable of talented authors, we're going to take some time this year to re-introduce them to you. This week it's John Records Landecker. John helped put our little boutique publishing company on the map when his book Records Truly Is My Middle Name came out ten years ago. It was only the 4th one we published.


John Records Landecker

Modern-Day-John-175

John Records Landecker was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2017 after a legendary 50-year radio career. His contributions to music radio were so widely respected, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland saw fit to feature him in their radio exhibit. Landecker was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and that’s where his radio career began. John has gone on to entertain radio audiences in Michigan (WOIA, WERX, WTRX, WILS), Philadelphia (WIBG), Chicago (WLS–multiple times, WLUP, G-106, WCKG, WJMK), Toronto (CFTR) and Cleveland (Power 108). When he was working at WLS in the 1970s, John was named Billboard Magazine’s Radio Personality of the year. In the 1990s, his WJMK morning show was named the best morning show in Chicago, and in the early 2000s it was recognized as the best Oldies radio show in America by Radio and Records. Landecker is the author of “Records Truly Is My Middle Name” (Eckhartz Press 2013), and has released six CDs of his work; “Landecker & The Legends” (’94), “Landecker & The Legends, Volume 2″ (’95), “Baby Boomers” (’96), “Live Long & Perspire” (’97), “Landecker & The Legends, Volume 5″ (’98), and “20th Century Hits and Bits” (’99). For the past few years John has been doing the evening shift on WGN Radio in Chicago. He lives in Indiana with his wife Nika. And yes, Records truly still is his middle name.



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