MEDIA NOTEBOOK
A curation of news items
about the media from this past week, with a particular emphasis on Chicago.
RADIO/PODCASTS
*You Didn’t
See Nothin
=What a week
for the Invisible Institute and USG Audio. On Monday they won a Pulitzer Prize
for their You Didn’t See Nothin podcast. Yesterday they added a Peabody Award to their shelves. The series is about crime in Chicago, and
features the formerly incarcerated journalist Yohance Lacour.
*WSHE
Changes Formats
=Something
needed to be done with the market’s 24th rated radio station, so on
some level, this wasn’t a huge shock. On the other hand, this is the first “new
format” to hit town in quite a while. The on-air staff remains, but WSHE is changing their music. They are going with a “millennial hits” format; hits from
the 90s through the 10s. It’s now referred to as Throwback 100.3.
*Radio
Mercury Award Finalists
=Congrats to the
Drive (WDRV) for being named finalists for three Radio Mercury Awards (for commercial
radio production). Named in the credits for all three of them, of course, is
production guru Matt Bisbee. They are finalists in the Broadcast Radio
Single Promotional Spot category. Several Chicago advertising agencies were
also recognized. You can listen to the spots here.
*Drew
Walker exits
=The 20-year
US-99 veteran made the announcement this past weekend. Here’s what he posted on
his Facebook page…
What
can I say after 20 years? Simply, THANK YOU. Yesterday was my last day on the
air at US*99. Why now? It's time for a change. What's next? I'm not allowed to
say just yet but I am very, very excited about my future right here in Chicago.
I promise that when I get the green light to talk about it, you'll be the first
to know and it is GOOD! For US*99, it's been one of the great joys of my life
to spend time with you there every day.
=Here’s
another post from Drew…
*Dr. Fauci
and WBEZ
=WBEZ is
hosting an Evening with Dr. Anthony Fauci on June 26 at the Athenaeum
Center. WBEZ’s Sasha Ann Simons will moderate the discussion. Tickets are available here.
*WLS-FM
Becomes ProductionVault Station
=What does this mean exactly? Well, it’s
a creative service that provides “extra sizzle” to a station through things like
jingles and imaging. ProductionVault is the company that provides it, and
WLS-FM is the pilot station for their Classic Hits format package.
*Podcast
Corner
=From the “Everybody has a podcast”
department, add former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
*Rest in
Peace
=Steve Albini
Chicago’s very
own. This is a tough one. The acclaimed music producer (Nirvana, the Pixies, Jesus
Lizard) was only 61 years old. Heart attack.
=Stuart Rosenberg
One of the
founders of SPACE in Evanston. He was 68.
=Joe Thomas
*The Loop
Files
=Thanks to
Axios for this nice piece about the book.
=I’ll be on
WGN Radio tonight at 7pm talking about the book with Dave Plier.
=One last big
signing this Saturday (3-7pm) at Pollyanna Brewing Company in Roselle, IL. I’ve
been hearing that several other fellow Loopers are planning on attending. Come
on out if you can.
MEDIA BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES
*May 5—Mark Caro birthday
=The long-time Chicago
Tribune writer is now the host of a great podcast called Caro-pop. I wrote about the show for Illinois
Entertainer last year.
May 5—Jimmy
Caranne birthday
=Jimmy was a contributor
at WBEZ for several years but is mainly known as an improv
artist/actor/writer/comedian/teacher. Caranne is a Second City veteran.
May 5—Rafer Weigel birthday
=The son of legendary
sports anchor Tim Weigel had a run here in Chicago as an anchor at WFLD-TV.
What is he doing now?
*May 7—John “Swany”
Swanson birthday
=Swany is the dean of
Chicago radio producers. He got his start as a technical producer for Jonathon
Brandmeier, but later produced shows by Steve Cochran and Kevin
Matthews, and most famously was the executive producer of the
long-running Eric and Kathy Show. He still produces the show
that emerged from that, the Mix Morning Show. (And, oh yeah, he also
co-wrote The Radio Producer’s Handbook with me).
*May 7—Dina Bair birthday
=Dina has been with WGN-TV
since the mid-90s. She currently co-hosts the WGN Midday News and serves as the
station’s medical reporter.
*May 7—Jack Miller
birthday
=I worked with Jack at
WJMK, but he also worked at WCLR, WFYR, and WCFL. Jack passed away a few years
ago.
*May 8—Ron Onesti
birthday
=The popular local
promoter brought back the Arcada Theater in St. Charles and the Des Plaines
Theater in Des Plaines.
*May 10—Andy Masur birthday
=WGN Radio
sportscaster Andy Masur has been part of the Chicago Cubs
broadcasts (I interviewed him about that in 2010), part of the Chicago White Sox broadcasts (I interviewed him about that in
2020), and part of the San Diego Padres
broadcasts. He also writes for Barrett Sports Media.
*May 11—Larry Hawley birthday
=Larry was a sports
reporter/producer at WGN-TV. At the end of 2023 he announced that he is leaving
the media business.
*May 11—Kevin Powell
birthday
=Kevin is the afternoon
sports anchor on WGN Radio.
TV/STREAMING
*New Sox Play-by-Play Man Not Getting Great Reviews
=It’s not easy
being the new guy, but White Sox TV play-by-play man John Schriffen is
getting savaged on sports talk radio. Here are a few examples.
*Seinfeld’s
New Netflix Movie Also Getting Panned
=It’s called
“Frosted” and Richard Roeper reviewed it this week for the Sun Times. He calls
it “one of the worst films of the decade.”
*The
Bear Wins a Peabody Award
=Our current favorite show set in
Chicago has added more hardware to their award shelf. PBS won 7 of them too. John
Oliver also won one. The full list of winners is here.
*ABC News President Steps Down Suddenly
=Kim Godwin
stepped down this weekend as president of ABC News. She was hailed three years
ago after becoming the first Black woman to run a broadcast
television news division, but it didn’t end well. Not only is
she retiring from ABC; she is leaving the news business altogether. The Washington Post has more.
*Chicago
Sky on WCIU
=After scoring two of the biggest names
in the recent WNBA draft (Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese), interest is high for
Chicago’s WNBA team this year. The Sky season begins next Wednesday (May 15) at
7PM, and WCIU (Channel 26) will be airing the game.
*Coming
Soon: Me-TV Toons
=Shortly after my column posted last
Friday, Me-TV made a big announcement about a new classic cartoon network. They
are partnering with Warner Brothers Discovery, which of course, has a nearly
unlimited supply of classic cartoons. The Sun-Times has the details.
*Also
Coming Soon: A spinoff of “The Office”
=It won’t feature any of the characters
from the original NBC show, but it will have the same format and style, and
will be co-produced by the man who created the American version of “The
Office”, Greg Daniels. You’ll love the setting for this one: “a dying historic Midwestern newspaper.”
*Girls on the Bus
=How about yet one more show about journalism. HBO Max's new show "Girls on the Bus" is written by a former New York Times reporter, and it's all about following Hillary Clinton's ten years of campaigns. Poynter did a Q&A with the show's creator.
*Cable News
Corner
=Want to buy Sean
Hannity’s house? He’s moving out of New York and selling his little Long Island home. If you need space, don’t bother. It’s only 11,000 square feet and
only has nine bathrooms.
*Q&A
with Michael Steele
=The former
RNC Chairman (and current MSNBC contributor) was interviewed this week by the
media school at the University of Illinois (my alma mater). You can watch ithere.
*Rest in
Peace
=Bernard Hill
Actor from Titanic
and the Lord of the Rings sequel. He was 79.
=Susan Buckner
Actress from
the film Grease. She was 72.
PRINT/DIGITAL
*Pulitzer
Prize Winners
=Congrats to Sarah
Conway of City News and Trina Reynolds Tyler of the
Invisible Institute for winning the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting for their
series “Missing in Chicago Parts 1-7”. Very impressive. Chicago author Jonathan
Eig also won a Pulitzer Prize for his biography of Martin Luther King Jr. (King,
a Life).
=Full list of Pulitzer winners can be found here.
*The Reader
Returns to Once-a-Week Publishing
=Since COVID
the Reader had moved back to bi-monthly publishing, but this week they announced June marks the return of once-a-week publishing.
*Chicago’s
First Murder
=Interesting piece in Chicago magazine about
the first murder in Chicago. It was committed by John Kinzie, the man they
named the street after.
*Q&A
with NY Times Executive Editor
=His name is
Joe Kahn. The Q&A was published in Semafor.
SOCIAL MEDIA
*TikTok
Sues the US
=Saw this one
coming…
As always, if you have any media story you’d like to share or think that I might be interested in sharing, drop me a line at rick@eckhartzpress.com or amishrick@yahoo.com. If you're in Chicago media and wondering why I didn't mention your birthday, it's probably because I don't know it. Drop me a line and let me know and I'll put you on my calendar.
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