Our latest episode is a fun one. You can listen to it here.
Naming a Uranus probe, Hamilton in German, Tales about Oliver Stone, Cheating chess master, and riding away in a beautiful balloon. [Ep285]
Sunday, September 18, 2022
Minutia Men Celebrity Interview--Dan Frischman
The man who played the king of the nerds, Arvid Engen on Head of the Class, joins Rick and Dave to discuss his career. Fun tales about Howard Hesseman, Brad Pitt, Mike Tyson, and more. [Ep105]
Free Kicks--Champion's League Takes Center Stage
Our latest episode has dropped. You can listen to it here.
The Premier League was paused in honor of the Queen’s passing, but the Champions League carried on. Adam and Rick go through the brackets and discuss. [Ep162]
Friday, September 16, 2022
Media Notebook--9-16-22
MEDIA NOTEBOOK
A curation of news items about the media from this past week, with a particular emphasis on Chicago…
RADIO/PODCASTS
*Rest in Peace
Lost a few broadcasting icons this week...
=Ramsey Lewis
The all-time jazz great leaves behind a tremendous
legacy. His biggest hit (The “In” Crowd), three Grammys, and 80 albums will
always be remembered, but in Chicago we were also lucky enough to have him as a
daily companion during his days as the morning host at WNUA. He also hosted a nationally
syndicated show called “Legends of Jazz.” Jazz was obviously his life, and Chicago
played an important role. This is a quote he gave to Neal Samors in an
interview from many years ago…
”In
Chicago, unlike New York City, a jazz musician could allow himself to be influenced
by a wide variety of music and play whatever appealed to him, including gospel
music, which has always been important to me. So, growing up in that atmosphere
and then, coming from a family that encouraged me to be whoever I was,
musically, I enjoyed that freedom as I still do. The environment in Chicago is
still one of quite a bit of musical freedom.”
=Jim Russell
Russell was an NPR staple. He created the show Marketplace. Talking Biz News has more information about Russell’s impressive life.
=Lowry Mays
He was definitely a broadcasting pioneer. Radio Ink has a very positive obituary about him. Inside Radio does as well. Pieces like these focus on him as a “tough competitor” or “shrewd businessman”. He was that. On the other hand, one thing they gloss over, or even put a positive spin on, is something that was definitely not a positive for the radio business. It was Mays who led the consolidation charge after the 1996 telecom deregulation as the CEO of Clear Channel. Mays was insatiable when it came to acquisitions. He bought Jacor and AMFM, both of whom were big companies who had gobbled up hundreds of radio stations themselves. At one point Clear Channel owned over 1200 radio stations. In some smaller markets, they owned every single station in town. Jobs were cut, formats were genericized, and an unprecedented number of commercials flooded the airwaves. Mays and a handful of others acquired massive personal wealth in the process, but they left wreckage in their wake. The entire industy was hollowed out and hasn't remotely recovered. It wasn't just Lowry Mays. But he was one of the main architects.
*Chicago Rock Radio Documentary
=This film is an interesting find. It’s called “Static”
and it tells the tale of rock radio in Chicago, mostly focused on the hard rock
world (The old Loop, WMET, Z-Rock, etc). Former Loop jock Pat Capone is one of
the people interviewed on camera.
*Rush Limbaugh book
=A new book about Rush is coming out in October. It
will be called Radio’s Greatest of All-Time, a title that Rush himself
could have proclaimed. It’s a compilation of radio commentary by Rush. His widow
and brother are involved in curating the info. .
*Smashing Pumpkins on Q-101
=If you’ve been listening to Q-101 this week you might
have noticed a bit of a Smashing Pumpkins motif. The station is all in on a big
promotion with Smashing Pumpkins and the Metro, which is celebrating its 40th
anniversary with a live Pumpkins show. The brand new Smashing Pumpkins single
will debut on Q-101 the same day. The station will also be selling t-shirts at
the event (September 20) which will raise money for Highland Park Community
Foundation’s 4th of July Highland Park Shooting Response Fund.
*Podcast Corner
=Edison Research came out with the list of the top ten
most listened to podcast networks this week. Not a lot of surprises here:
Spotify, SXM Media, iHeartRadio, Audioboom, NPR, New York Times, Audacy,
Wondery, Cumulus Podcast Network, and PRX.
=Charlie Meyerson from Chicago Public Square posted a
great podcast this week, interviewing Axios Chicago’s Justin Kaufman and
Monica Eng. The audio is here. The unedited YouTube video is here. There’s even
a transcript.
=Anderson Cooper has a new podcast out, and it deals
with the subject of grieving. He starts the recording while he is packing up
the belongings of his late mother, Gloria Vanderbilt.
=The New York Times posted a recommendation of their Top 6 TV Recap podcasts. These are podcasts that focus on a single television
series and hyper analyze the shows.
=Sportswriter Jeff Pearlman has a great podcast called
Two Writers Slinging Yang. Pearlman made news this week when he disavowed his
book about Bret Favre after hearing the news that Favre knowingly accepted
money from a Mississippi welfare fund to help out his daughter’s college
volleyball team. Pearlman’s tweet-storm is worth a read.
MEDIA MILESTONES/BIRTHDAYS
Lots of them this week…
*Former Chicago radio and television sportscaster Bruce
Wolf’s birthday was September 11. I interviewed Bruce for Illinois Entertainerback in 2014.
*Maura Myles’ birthday was also September 11. I chatted with Maura back in 2009 for Chicago Radio Spotlight.
*September 12, 2014, Tommy Edwards announced
his retirement from radio. I interviewed Tommy a few times over the years, most recently in 2011.
*The Drive’s Janda Lane celebrated a birthday
on September 12. The Marconi-nominated broadcaster/podcaster was my featured interview in this summer’s June issue of Illinois Entertainer.
*The great Rick Kogan’s birthday was September
13th. It’s always a pleasure speaking to Mr. Chicago. I last interviewed him for Illinois Entertainer in 2019.
*The legendary Dick Biondi turned 90 years old September
13. I worked with Dick for ten years at WJMK and I’ve done a few radio shows
and podcasts with him over the years (the photo here is from 2014—on Lossano
& Friends). Nobody in the world has better stories than Dick Biondi. I have tried many times to talk Dick into
writing his memoirs, but I could never convince him.
*Brian “Whip” Paruch shares a birthday with
Kogan and Biondi. I interviewed the WTMX morning show team member during the pandemic in 2020. None of the news about Eric had broken yet.
*He may be officially retired these days, but former
WLS Newsman John Dempsey is still beloved by his former co-workers in
the business. I got a chance to speak with him for Illinois Entertainer in 2015.
John’s birthday was September 14.
*September 14, 1993, Steve & Garry broke
up. Nobody believed the break up would last, but it obviously did. Except for one glorious day on the beach more
than a decade later when Garry showed up unannounced to a live Steve Dahl
remote.
*September 17 is Bobby Skafish’s 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 is also Score co-host Matt Spiegel’s
birthday. Spiegel got the Chicago Radio Spotlight treatment back in 2010.
*September 17 is Randy Merkin’s birthday as
well. The ESPN producer is also an author now, having published Behind The Glass for Eckhartz Press in 2021.
TV/STREAMING
*Svengoolie Interview Tease
=My next interview for Illinois Entertainer will be
posted on October 1st. This month I spoke to Rich Koz, the great
Svengoolie. Here’s a little bonus quote from Rich that didn’t make the final
cut of the article…
I
went to WCIU when Neal Sabin made Channel 26 a true independent, and then it
just progressed from there. They got the national Me-TV network and decided to
put me on there, and now it’s become this pretty amazing thing. We basically
have our own studio. It’s a permanent set up now. We used to have to fold up
the set so that other things could go in front of it, but now we have the
lights set up permanently, and our set is there permanently, so every time we
need to go in there, everything is ready. For a national show we do have a
pretty small staff. There’s me, and I’m writing and playing Sven and helping
out with various production elements, and we have Chris Faulkner who is our
director and also our chief editor, and Jim Roche is the executive producer and
helps out in all sorts of ways, and then there’s our audio guy Chris DeQuick,
and that’s our main group. We also have a floor director and somebody to run
teleprompter, but other than that, it’s just us. That’s a small number of
people to be putting out a national show.
*Sean Compton interview
=The man leading NexStar (owner of WGN in Chicago, among
other media outlets) sat down for an interview with Media Village. Among the
many topics of conversation, NewsNation.
*Franmil & Whitney
=A fun moment from Sunday night’s Cubs telecast on
ESPN-TV. Who knew that Cubs DH Franmil Reyes could sing?
*High School Football Returns to WCIU
=The High School Game of the Week, a staple over the
past few years at WCIU, returns Friday September 23rd. "Once again this season, our
viewers will get best of prep football, boys soccer and boys and girls
basketball on The U and CW26, with the ‘Game of the Week’ and IHSA Championship
broadcasts,” said Steven Farber, Weigel Broadcasting Senior Vice President of
Operations.
*The Emmy Awards
There are a few stories
coming out of Sunday night’s Emmy Awards broadcast.
=The ratings were the lowest of all-time.
=A bit that Jimmy
Kimmel did during the broadcast caused him to apologize and invite Quinta Brunson on his show.
*TV Ratings
=Why is the NFL
considered a goldmine? In an age when there is no such thing as appointment
television, football is the only thing that unites us as a nation. Of the top ten shows in the ratings last week, nine of them were football related.
*Cable-News corner
=A Q&A with the new
host of Fox News Sunday, Shannon Bream.
=CNN’s new direction
continues to get attention and scrutiny. Slate.com examines “the poisonous side effects of false balance.”
=CNN is moving Don Lemon to the morning show, along with Kaitlin Collins
and Poppy Harlow.
*Gayle King
=Oprah’s best friend gets recognized for her journalism…
Congratulations to our @GayleKing, who is being honored with @ASU’s prestigious Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism! pic.twitter.com/6CsPcjQR12
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) September 13, 2022
OTHER MEDIA NEWS
*Second City Names a New CEO
=And he comes from Sesame Street. Details in the Hollywood Reporter.
*Victory Gardens Theater
=The Chicago institution is no more. They announced this
week they will no longer produce shows, and they dismissed their staff. The
theater itself will be rented out.
*Was there a Chinese spy working at Twitter?
=That appears to be the testimony from the Twitter whistleblower to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Seems like kind of big deal to
me.
*Jan Wenner profile
=This is a pretty great New York Times piece about the
founder of Rolling Stone magazine.
*MEDIA NOTEBOOK site
I have moved all of the previous Media Notebook columns to it's own site, and will continue to post each of them here. If you'd like to bookmark this page, you can find them all in one place.
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
Eckhartz Everyday
*Today is the anniversary of B.B. King's birth. He is featured in Bill Paige's book Everything I Know I Learned From Rock Stars.
*Today is also the birthday of former 1972 White Sox player Chuck Brinkman. Chuck is featured in the book Chili Dog MVP
Thursday, September 15, 2022
From the Writing Archives--My House is a Crime Scene
Agatha Christie was born on this day in 1890. She is probably the best-known mystery writer of all-time, famous her elaborate murder plots. That inspired me to pull out this old Father Knows Nothing column. It didn't quite make the final cut for my Father Knows Nothing book, but I thought you might still get a kick out of it...
I really try my best to keep the house
from becoming living-in-squalor-y, but if a team of forensic scientists ever came
to my house with swabs, they would find a thousand blood samples. Right now
there’s a pool of dried blood on my front steps that I can’t wash away. We’ve
got blood stains on nearly every sheet and pillowcase in the house. Blood
stains on shirts and pants. Blood stains on gloves (paging OJ). Blood drops on
the floor, the walls, and probably the ceiling.
There are days it looks like Freddy
Krueger lives here.
But we’re not a family of killers,
cutters, or slashers. We’re just a family that gets a ridiculous number of
bloody noses. My two oldest boys don’t just get those slow-leaking bloody
noses. There are days they walk in the door covered with blood from the waist
up.
One day I was in the basement when
Tommy came home. I heard the front door open violently, followed by an urgent
thump, thump, thump, and another door slamming. When I went to investigate, I
saw the trail of blood. It was all over the living room floor, the hallway
floor, on two doors, and every wall in between.
I knocked on the bathroom door.
“Everything OK in there?” I asked.
“Yup,” he replied. “No problem. Just a
bloody nose.”
We’re very ho-hum about those now.
We’ve had so many bloody noses, the boys are able to stop the bleeding themselves.
Usually the only way I find out they had one is by finding the trail of blood
they neglected to clean up. Sometimes I find the trail while it’s still wet.
Other times I don’t see it for a few days. Still other days the gigantic pile
of bloody Kleenex in the bathroom garbage can is the only clue.
That’s the main reason I can’t invite
any cops over to the house.
They know a crime scene when they see
one.
Eckhartz Everyday
*On this day in 1964, Joel Daly met and hung out with the Beatles. Here is the excerpt from his book The Daly News...
It was September 15, 1964. I went to Public Square after the 11:00 News, to watch the screaming crowd, awaiting the group’s arrival at the Sheraton Cleveland Hotel. Somehow another reporter and I got swept up by the security detail guarding the rear entrance, and wound up in the Beatles’ suite. I spent most of the night in casual conversation with the Fab Four. I didn’t realize until years later what a big deal it was! The Beatles were on the last stop of a month-long tour and were bone-tired. Acknowledging the “groupies” who besieged them everywhere they went, Ringo complained: “My ‘peter’ hurts”.
While I was there an 11-year old girl arrived with a stolen key for a room; a young boy hid in a packing case being delivered; another tried to get into the Kon Tiki bar, pretending to have a reservation; and another pretended to faint outside, only to request that she be given first aid inside the hotel.
The police asked that the Beatles stay on the same floor where the press conference was held, rather than the Presidential suite, to throw fans off the scent. The press conference provided little news. The Beatles were fidgety, twisting the microphone cords and lighting cigarettes. Someone asked John Lennon: “How did you find America?” He replied “We turned left at Greenland.” It was downhill from there. “How many rings does Ringo wear?” “When was your last haircut?” “Don’t you trust American barbers?”
Later, the Beatles were spirited by the police to the Public Auditorium for their show. During the third song, “All My Loving”, about a hundred fans stormed the stage. Police stopped the show and forced the Beatles to take refuge in their trailer. When peace was restored, it became a “Long Day’s Night.”
*On this day in 2013, WLS morning host Don Wade passed away. The following stories about Don made it into the final version of Records Truly Is My Middle Name.
This first one is about their time together at WIBG in Philadelphia…
“When I worked with John in Philly at WIBG, I was doing mornings and John was doing evenings. Our schedules were opposite, but we saw each other at weekly meetings that were a complete waste of time. We’d eat pizza and try to be serious, but nobody was. Before or after the meetings a bunch of us would go to this par-three golf course and drink beer, and hit balls. We didn’t fit in at all at the golf course — we didn’t know how to golf, we all had long hair, and got dirty looks from the real golfers, the business executives. When we weren’t “golfing,” we were playing softball. Rick Buckley, the son of the owner, would get a keg, and would show up wearing sweats, and we would go out and bat the ball around. We all loved working for Rick. All he wanted to do was have drinks and have a good time. He was one of the guys.”
The second story is about the final days of the music format on WLS in the late 1980s…
“In those days we were only playing about four records an hour because John Gehron, who was running the place — and really is a radio genius, recognized that the future of music on AM radio was pretty grim. It was great working with John again. I’ve always considered him to be a great guy — always smiling and always positive. He was genuinely supportive of everyone else on the air. He would go out of his way to let you know when he heard things that he liked on the air. The other thing I’ve always admired about him is that he really works at his craft. He may come off like he’s goofing off, but trust me, he really works at it. He takes it very seriously.”
This is the way John recalled Don during the writing of the book…
Although there weren’t many highlights from that second WLS era, I did get to work with my old friend Don Wade, who I had worked with in Philadelphia at WIBG. He’s known as Mr. Conservative now, but when we worked together at WIBG he was a long haired hippie with bellbottoms. He did a scripted bit show there, the same kind of show he was doing at WLS in the 80s in the midday slot. When WLS changed formats to news/talk a few years later, Don was the one they asked to stay.
Wednesday, September 14, 2022
Cubs Tweet of the Week
September 13, 2004. Greg Maddux pitches seven shutout innings for his 14th win of the season, and the Cubs beat the Pirates 7-2. In the news: Oprah gives away 300 cars to her audience in Chicago. "You get a car, and you get a car, and you get a car!" #EveryCubEver pic.twitter.com/Y7aBzZMbei
— Rick Kaempfer (@RickKaempfer) September 13, 2022
Eckhartz Everyday
*On this day in 2017, Joel Daly made his final public appearance at Frisbie Senior Center in Mt. Prospect. I interviewed him on stage, and Joel took questions from the audience. He was already in deteriorating health, but when he told those old stories he lit up.
*Today is famous baskeball coach Larry Brown's birthday. He is featured in the pages of Randy Merkin's book Behind the Glass.
Tuesday, September 13, 2022
Studio Walls
Every week I send my Minutia Men Co-Host Dave Stern a list from our audio archives for this week's Studio Walls feature. These are the possibilities for this week. Which one will he choose?
*September 12, 1927, the Cubs broke the 1-million mark in attendance the first time. We had a man on our show who is attempting to collect one million baseball cards. (Full interview here)
*September 12, 1969, the Plastic Ono Band performed their first concert. Yes drummer Alan White was part of that band, and he told us the story of how that came to be. (Listen to it here)
*September 12, 1981, the Smurfs debuted on American television. We talked to the world's biggest smurf collector last year. For real. (Full interview here)
*September 13, 2016, my Cubs parody song collaborator Tom Latourette debuted his parody song about the eventual World Champion Cubs. The song is I'm Not Betting Against My Cubs. (Video is here)
*September 13 is Roger Bennett's birthday. We talked to the Men in Blazers star last year in one of our most popular episodes of the show. (Full interview here)
*September 14, 1949, the Lone Ranger debuted on television. Of course, it inspired the Rick and Dave written bit, The Lone Rogainger, which was played on the John Landecker show. (AUDIO)
*September 15 is Oliver Stone's birthday. We talked to the author of Midnight Express Billy Hayes about how crazy it was working with Stone on the screenplay for the Midnight Express movie. (Listen to it here)
*September 16, 1857, the song Jingle Bells was published. Johnny Kaempfer performed a ridiculously cute version of that song on the John Landecker show (AUDIO)
*September 16, 1993, the show Frasier debuted on NBC. We had one of the stars of the show, Dan Butler (Bulldog) on our show, and he told us all about it. (Full interview here)
*September 17 is Fee Waybill's birthday. The lead singer of the Tubes appeared on Minutia Men Celebrity Interview during the pandemic. (Listen to it here)
Eckhartz Everyday
*On this day in 2014 we released I Like Big Books and I Cannot Lie by Lori Oster (photo). The book is used as a textbook at Oakton College.
*Dick Biondi is 90 years old today. The Wild Itralian is featured in the pages of Bob Shannon's book Turn it Up.
*Today is also Chicago Tribune columnist/WGN Radio host Rick Kogan's birthday. Rick has been kind enough to blurb a few of our books. Here are a few of his obversations...
Rollicking and real on so many levels, The Living Wills is a captivating collaboration by two immensely talented writers. I hope this team keeps at it for keeps.
Monday, September 12, 2022
Minnie!
This day in 1976: the Legendary Minnie Miñoso collects a hit at age 52 (or so). pic.twitter.com/pSILY5LZnp
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) September 12, 2022
Minutia Men--Kids Love Poop
This is a pretty good episode of Minutia Men. Available now! Listen to it here.
The rudest cities in America, a news anchor who swallowed a fly, a chat about prison with a famous ex-con, an earthquake meeting, and a fun celebrity story from a listener. [Ep284]
Eckhartz Everyday
*Happy birthday to Eckhartz Press co-publisher David Stern. He's 70 years old today.
*Wicker Park Wishes author Margaret Larkin is also celebrating a birthday today. Happy birthday Margaret!
Friday, September 09, 2022
Free Kicks--Season predictions
The Premier League has canceled all games this week to honor the Queen's passing. We recorded this episode earlier in the week, but the predictions stand. Free Kicks – Top 4 and Bottom 3 predictions . Listen to it here.
Now that the transfer window has closed, Adam and Rick are prepared to predict which Premier league teams will finish in the Top 4 and go to the Champions League, and which teams will finish in the bottom 3 and be relegated. See if you agree with their choices. God Save The Queen! [Ep161]
Media Notebook--9-9-22
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
=Radio Insight has the full listings of Chicago radio’s Nielson ratings. Just to give you a quick update, the Top Five
stations (6+) in this past month’s ratings are The Drive & The Lite (tied
for first), followed by WBEZ (NPR), WVAZ, and WBBM-AM (NewsRadio).
*Melissa McGurren drops her appeal
=It looks like this is the end of the line for Melissa’s appeal of her defamation lawsuit against her former employer WTMX. Her attorney filed a motion to withdraw the case, and on August 16th, it was officially dismissed. Cynthia DiNicola’s case against the company, however, continues.
*Audacy has lost a billion dollars since 2018
=When I worked at CBS Radio about 20 years ago, they were so cheap they kept a lid on who could use the good stationery. It inspired an amusing chapter in my novel $everance. Well, that was a company that was making money hand over fist. I can’t even imagine what is happening now. Those same stations that were once owned by CBS Radio are now owned by Audacy, and they are in the midst of an honest to goodness financial crisis. Over the last four years, they’ve lost a billion dollars. That’s billion with a B. The Philadelphia Inquirer did a deep dive on that story this week.
*Health Updates
Two Chicago treasures are battling pretty serious health issues.
In case you missed the updates posted via social media this week, here’s the
latest news about Lin Brehmer and Hub Arkush…
=Lin Brehmer posted this on Facebook: Hi there. Remember me? Just taking in a view of
the city I love. There are two issues I'm dealing with right now. I am
recovering from the surgery to put a rod in my femur after it fractured. Using
a walker and wheelchair to get around. By the way, never fracture your femur.
It is very painful. And then there's my ongoing treatment for prostate cancer.
Rolling with the punches. At least a couple more months of chemotherapy.
Putting on a brave face. Miss you all.
=Arthur
Arkush posted this on Twitter about Hub: Thank you
all for Hub's well wishes. I'm woefully behind in responding to many of them,
but please know your support means the world to all of us. It's NFL Week 1, but
Hub is in Week 3 of his battle — with incredible strides coming nearly every
day. Excited to share more asap.
*Award Winners/Nominees
=The
INBA Crystal Mic Award winners were announced this week. Congrats to WBBM NewsRadio
for winning Best Large Market Radio Station, and to Lisa Fielding for winning
Best Reporter, and Jeff Joniak for winning Best Sports Report. The full list of winners is here.
=The College Broadcaster Awards were also announced this week, and a few of our local universities were recognized. Glad to see that college radio is still alive and well. Congratulations to ISU’s radio station WZND. They brought home quite a few awards. Eastern Illinois’ station WEIU also snagged an award in the sports reporting category.
=Sam Alex is a local boy who has made a big name for himself
nationally. This week he was nominated for a Country Music Award for the Sam
Alex show. Sam grew up in the Chicago area, and still donates a lot of time in
the area but is now hosting a national show based out of Nashville.
*RIP Anne Garrels
=The NPR correspondent passed away this week at the age of 71. The New York Times has her obituary.
*Podcast Corner
=At one time Call Me Daddy was one of the highest rated podcasts in the world. Then the co-hosts had a feud. It’s a tale as old as time. You can read about here.
=One of the biggest news stories this week concerned the escape of the conman Fat Leonard. I’m sure you read about it, but did you know that he recently did a podcast?
=George Ofman’s podcast features interviews and conversations with Chicago sports media celebrities. This week’s episode is about native Chicagoan Greg Gumbel, from Hyde Park to broadcast fame. Listen to it here.
MEDIA BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES
*Bobby Skafish goes to the Loop (September 1983)
*John Howell’s birthday/September 4
=I interviewed the WLS night talker in 2007 when he was
co-hosting a morning show with Cisco Cotto at WIND.
*Roy Leonard death anniversary/September 4, 2014
=I was lucky enough to have a lengthy chat with Roy back in 2010 and we covered his entire career. After
I posted the interview he e-mailed me and said: “Did you actually post every
word of our conversation? Nobody wants to hear that much about me.” I disagreed
then, and I’m even more glad I did it now. Here's a little taste...
Marcel Marceau was one of my first guests—and we really hit it off. Ironically, he wouldn’t shut up (laughs). We even had him out to the house. That’s one thing I never really talked about on the air—that I spent a lot of time with some of these people off the air—many of them came out to the house. I remember another time we had Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits over. He ended up in the bedroom upstairs playing guitar with my boys.
*Johnnie Putman birthday/September 5
=The better half of WGN’s long-time overnight team Steve & Johnnie (that’s Steve description) talked to me for Illinois Entertainer back in 2016
.
*WGN-TV Morning Show anniversary/September 6
=On September 6, 1994, the WGN-TV morning show as we
know it today debuted. I don’t think they could have possibly foreseen the
ratings juggernaut it would become. I’ve written about the show a few times,
including for Shore Magazine ten years ago. Here’s a short excerpt from that
article…
Of
course it’s one thing to have a guest do something crazy, or to have your evil
genius segment producer (Hoover) appear on camera and perform his dead-on Jerry
Lewis, Christopher Walken or Neil Diamond impersonations, or to have a regular
contributor like gifted comedian Mike Toomey do a wacky character on the show,
but it’s another thing altogether for the anchors to do something like that
themselves.
Is there anything they’ve ever refused to do?
“I won’t dress like a woman,” Potash admits, drawing the
line.
“I won’t dance,” Konrad adds.
“Um,” Robin says, thinking about it. “Wow, well, let’s
see. I’m trying to think if I’ve ever said no to anything before. Maybe that’s
part of my problem.”
*Jonathan Hood birthday/September 7
=I interviewed the ESPN Radio morning co-host (with David Kaplan) in 2010.
*Steve Scott birthday/September 7
=The former WLS Newsman is now a radio star in the big Apple (WCBS), but he hasn’t forgotten his Chicago roots. At least he still hadn’t forgotten them when I chatted with him in 2008.
*Marc Silverman birthday/September 10
=2020 was a rough year for the ESPN radio afternoon
co-host (with Tom Waddle). I talked to Silvy in the midst of his medical difficulties. So happy to see he has
recovered since.
*Norman Lear is 100!
=The legendary television
producer/writer turned 100 over the summer, and the Hollywood Reporter talked to him about that milestone. Among
the topics discussed, his thoughts about the abortion debate, 50 years after
the controversial Maude episode.
*RIP Queen Elizabeth
=The Queen made it to 96 years old before passing away
yesterday. She famously visited Chicago in 1959. Found this video on YouTube…
TV/STREAMING
*Award Winners
=The INBA Crystal Mic Award winners
were announced this week, and a few Chicago TV stations brought home the
honors. WGN-TV won for Best Breaking News for covering the Oak Brook Mall
Shooting, and WLS-TV won for Best Digital Presence and for Best Weather Operation.
The full list of winners is here.
*YouTube vs. Traditional Television
Anyone with kids knows the power YouTube has over the
younger generation. It’s hard to overstate it. Here are a few pieces written
this week that further illustrate the current situation.
=8 numbers that show how big YouTube has become for younger viewers (Bloomberg).
=Why millions are watching YouTube recaps instead of the actual TV shows (Daily Beast)
*The
Grass is Not Always Greener
=Local and network television is clearly struggling, but would you believe that streaming services are already facing an existential crisis? According to the Washington Post, that’s what’s happening, and the viewers are noticing.
*RIP Bernard Shaw
=The former CNN Anchor passed away this week at the
age of 82. Shaw was the first chief-anchor at the network. The AP has his obituary. He was known for his stellar work at CNN, but
Shaw was a native Chicagoan. He attended University of Illinois Chicago, got
his broadcasting start here (at WNUS, which is now WGRB), and in 2002 was awarded
the Order of Lincoln (the state’s highest honor) by Governor George Ryan.
*Kyle Long Lands at CBS
=The former Chicago Bears offensive lineman is now a part of the CBS Sports Network. More details on his new gig are here.
*Cable News
=Is there a purge going on at CNN? The Washington Post tackled that issue this week.
=Is there a smoking gun e-mail at Fox News regarding the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit? NPR reported this week that there was.
*What
Real Censorship Looks Like
=Both sides of the political divide in this country at one time or another are claiming they are being censored. If you’d like to know what real censorship looks like, take a look at this analysis of what China does to the show The Big Bang Theory. It’s fascinating to see what they clip out of the show.
*New Streaming News Shows
=John Dickerson will be doing a nightly show M-Thursday for CBS News Streaming service.
*The Creative Arts Emmys
=The full list of winners is here,
and it’s a star-studded list, including the Beatles, Barack Obama, Adele,
RuPaul, and Chadwick Boseman.
OTHER MEDIA NEWS
*The Salt Shed is a Hit but Nearby Businesses are not
Happy
=The Salt Shed has become a very popular concert destination in Chicago, but for everything good it seems there is an unintended consequence. Two local recording studios are nearby, and they can no longer operate during the hours concerts are taking place because of the noise level. Block Club Chicago has the story.
*Politico’s New German Owner
=Sounds like a real peach. Read this recent profile and see if you agree.
*Social Media Corner
=Instagram is being punished for the way they handled teen users information in Ireland. The fine is a measely $400 million. Read more about that here.
=Truth Social is on the verge of collapse. The Washington Post headline describes the situation pretty well: Truth Social in Limbo as Merger Partner Grapples with Another Failed Vote.
*Photography Corner
=Paul Natkin is not only the go-to-photographer for every media person in Chicago, he’s also one of the greatest rock photographers of all time. Now he has a book out. Find out more about that here.
=Everyone is a photographer these days thanks to the phone in our pocket, but some people are better than others at creating memorable iPhone photographs. Take a look at these 20 photos that are winners of the 2022 iPhone photography awards.
*Printer’s Row Litfest
=Chicago’s premiere literary festival is taking place
this weekend in Printer’s Row. Hundreds of authors will be out there, including
me, and about a dozen authors from my company Eckhartz Press. It runs on
Saturday and Sunday from 10am-6pm. My co-publisher David Stern will be there with Randy Merkin (Behind the Glass) and Paul M. Banks (Transatlantic Passage) on Saturday. I’ll be there on Sunday along with fellow
authors John Owens (Chili Dog MVP), William Wagner (Talking Bout My
Generation), Margaret Larkin (Wicker Park Wishes), and Ken Korber (the Grace
book series). Come on out and say hello!
*MEDIA NOTEBOOK site
I have moved all of the previous Media Notebook columns to it's own site, and will continue to post each of them here. If you'd like to bookmark this page, you can find them all in one place.
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
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