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
=The October numbers are in, and here are the top ten rated radio stations in Chicago (6+, M-Sun,
6am-Mid)
WBBM-AM (6.3)
WDRV (6.0)
WVAZ (5.4)
WLIT (4.8)
WLS-FM (4.5)
WXRT (4.5)
WOJO (3.8)
WUSN (3.8)
WRME (3.5)
WKSC (3.0)
=The three stations who had
the biggest jump this month were WTMX, which rebounded to just outside the top
ten (+0.6), Spanish Language WPPM (+0.3), and news/talk WGN (+0.6). They find
themselves in 11th, 12th and 16th place
respectively.
=The biggest drops belong
to WXRT (-0.5) and WVAZ (-0.4), but both stations still performed well.
*Dan McNeil
=What has former Sports-talker (The Score, ESPN, WDRV, The Loop) Dan McNeil been working on lately? Turns out Danny Mac has been hard at work writing a book about his beloved Bears. That's why Dan and the Bears are the subject of my latest Illinois Entertainer column. You can read it here. (Dan’s book is an Eckhartz Press release)
*It’s Christmas Music Time
=Halloween was yesterday.
You know what means at WLIT. It’s Christmas time in the city. Ring a ling. The tunes begin at 1pm today.
=My tribute to Teri Garr is later in this column, but do you remember her ties to WLIT in Chicago? She did this commercial…
*Steve Bertrand Announces
Parkinson’s Diagnosis
=He discussed his
diagnosis with John Williams on WGN Radio this week. You can listen to their discussion about it here.
*Lou Manfredini Re-Signs
with WGN
=His three decade run at 720AM will continue. Lou’s Fix-It show airs Saturday mornings from 6am—10am. He also
does weekly appearances on the air with Bob Sirott, Lisa Dent, and
John Williams.
*Mitch Rosen’s Letter to the Editor
=Gotta give Mitch credit for this one. With all the uncertainty surrounding the Bulls TV broadcasts, he sent The Chicago Sun Times a letter to the editor, reminding everyone that the Bulls games are easily found on the radio. Mitch is VP at the Score. Here’s a small excerpt…
Play-by-play on the
radio has been a choice for fans for generations. By listening to the call of
the game, fans develop a bond with their favorite team and its announcers,
taking advantage of the intimacy offered by radio that can be heard at home,
the office, the car or anywhere else fans want to tune in. Fans can literally
take the games anywhere in this modern age using a cellphone, free apps such as
the Audacy app, smart speakers, smart televisions and other devices…Chuck
Swirsky, our Bulls play-by-play voice, is one of the best in the business. Next
to him is analyst Bill Wennington, a member of three of the ‘90s championship
teams. Postgame host Alyssa Bergamini, who hails from Chicago’s South Side,
offers sharp insight, as she knows the game very well.
*Faith Rock and Roll
=Hosted by former WXRT
General Manager Paul Agase…
*Podcast Corner
=The Signal Award winners
for podcasts were announced this week. Among the winners: Kara Swisher,
George Clinton, Anderson Cooper, Abby Wambach, Trevor Noah, and Jon
Lovett. See the full list here.
=Hoping to revive his career after some very weird #MeToo stories derailed it, Armie Hammer is launching a podcast.
=See WBEZ’s The Moth live on stage December 13. Tickets are here.
=Joe Rogan’s Trump episode gets over 40 million listeners.
*Music News
=A 200-year-old unknown Chopin Waltz discovered.
*Rest in Peace
Bassist from the Grateful
Dead. He was 84.
Hip Hop legend. He was 58.
Philadelphia Hall of Fame
broadcaster. Originally from Wilmette (Loyola Academy/Columbia College). He was
76.
Detroit radio legend. Inspired
future Chicago jocks like Joel Sebastian, John Landecker, and more. He was 90.
MEDIA
BIRTHDAYS/MILESTONES
*October 27-- Liz
Wilde birthday
=She worked at the Loop in
Chicago in the mid-90s, but has also been on the air in Miami, Boston,
Cleveland, Dallas and more. Liz passed away a few weeks ago. She was only 52.
*October 28--Bill
Zehme birthday
=The great media writer
passed away in March of 2023.
*October 30, 1938
=Orson Welles broadcasts "The War of the Worlds" radio hoax, causing mass panic in US.
*October
30—Jim Volkman birthday
=Best
known for his spot-on Harry Caray impersonation.
*October 31—Jim Shorts birthday
=The (totally real) sportscaster was born on Halloween. (I've
interviewed him in English, and German, The German one is here, if you'd like to hear it.)
*October 31-- Jane Pauley birthday
=She obviously went on to bigger and better things, but she did a stint here locally at WMAQ-TV, Channel 5.
*October 31--Bill Gamble birthday
=Former Chicago radio program director (Q-101, CD-94.7, et al). I interviewed him for
Chicago Radio Spotlight back in 2009.
*October 31—John Candy birthday
=The late great comic actor also hosted a radio show that aired on AM 1000 back in the day. It was called Radio Candy.
*November 1-- Tom Sochowski birthday
=Former radio producer/host (WJMK, WCKG, ESPN, The Fish).
*November 1-- Judy Pielach birthday
=Former WGN & WLS newscaster
*November 2—Ron
Gleason birthday
=Former
program director of The Score and NewsRadio WBBM.
TV/STREAMING
*Brad
Edwards Leaves Journalism
=A few months
ago I reported that Brad had left Channel 2. The station never made an official
announcement, and neither did Brad. Until this week. He talked to Justin
Kaufmann at Axios about his new plans.
=This is my interview with Brad from 2020, just after he began as the main anchor at Channel 2.
*The
Chicago Ghoul Who Would Not Die
=Nice piece on
Chicago favorite Svengoolie in the Chicago Tribune last weekend.
Tis the Svengoolie season.
=I’ve interviewed Sven many times over the years. This is the most recent piece from the Illinois Entertainer.
*Channel 7
Anchor Judy Hsu Hit By a Foul Ball at World Series Game in LA
=It happened
on Friday night during Game 1. Don’t worry, she’s fine. The story is here.
*Chicagoan
in Final 3 for Golden Bachelorette
=His name is Pascal
Ibgui, and he owns a salon in Glencoe.
*Bob Costas Retiring
=The 72-year-old made the announcement yesterday that he will be retiring as a play-by-play man. He'll still be working in television, and most likely in sports, but his play-by-play days are over. Remember his days with the Bulls?
*WCIU
Celebrates its Independence
=Axios spoke
with Neal Sabin at WCIU about the newly independent local television
station, the U.
*Late Night
= Jon
Stewart signs for another year. He made the announcement on The Daily
Show Monday night. That was his last Daily Show before the election,
but he’ll be on board now through the end of 2025.
=Jimmy Kimmel’s special monologue for Republicans.
*Cable News
Corner
=Brian Williams
is hosting election night for Amazon. Obviously this is a slightly different
direction for Amazon. Will it be a one-off?
=I hope your beeper doesn’t go off? A pretty low moment on CNN. The guest has been permanently banned.
Girdusky to Hasan: I hope your beeper doesn’t go off pic.twitter.com/YmHhYnkDZ3
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 29, 2024
=Tucker Carlson was mauled by a demon. Yup, you read that right. Here’s the video of him talking about it.
=Who may have the hardest job in television? Jessica Tarlov, the resident liberal on the Fox News show The Five.
=Andrea Mitchell’s MSNBC show Mitchell Reports will end its 16-year run after the election.
=Sean Hannity vs. Stephen A. Smith. Memorable interview.
=I don’t think
Geraldo Rivera (self-proclaimed JewRican) is on board with his good
friend Donald Trump this time around. Just a feeling I get…
Latino men, for the love of your parents and children, for your pride and your honor tell this little gringo shit to go fuck himself. https://t.co/ClpvYzsGQU
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) October 28, 2024
*Disney
Pays $500 Million to Air Grammys
=CBS had the
Grammy broadcasts for decades. No longer. The Wall Street Journal has the details.
*A Little
Less Wrexham
=Ryan
Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are selling a minority stake of Wrexham
Football Club to the Allyn family. With that money, they are buying one of the oldest
breweries in the UK, Wrexham Lager.
*Rest in
Peace
Former ABC
News correspondent. He was 89.
Star of “Naked
and Afraid” on Discovery Channel. She was 34.
STAGE/SCREEN
*Jeremy
Allen White as The Boss
=The first
photos of White portraying Bruce Springsteen for a biopic were released this
week. Variety has the story.
*What ended
the Seth Rogen-James Franco Friendship?
=It all comes
down to the MeToo charges against Franco. People Magazine has more.
*Rest In
Peace
One of my
all-time favorite comic actresses. She was 79. I will always remember her
fondly for her performance in the classic Young Frankenstein.
DIGITAL/PRINT
*Continued
Fallout at Washington Post
=A day after
receiving a Pulitzer Prize, David Hoffman stepped down from the
editorial board of the Washington Post. The reason is Jeff Bezos’s
decision not to endorse a presidential candidate.
=Jeff Bezos
wrote an op-ed on Tuesday explaining his decision. It didn’t exactly calm down
his staff or his readers. Over 250,000 readers have cancelled their
subscriptions.
=Robert Kagan, who quit the Post last week, announced that he will be joining the Atlantic.
*America’s
Largest Newspaper Chain Also Won’t Endorse
=Gannett owns
the USA Today and 200 more publications. None will endorse this year.
*The
Economist and Bloomberg Endorses Harris
=The Economist argues that Trump is simply too risky. It’s the third presidential election in a row
that The Economist argued against Trump. In previous years they did endorse
Reagan and George W. Bush.
=Michael Bloomberg laid out his reasons in an op-ed.
*News
Deserts
=How bad has
local news coverage gotten? Most US counties no longer have any local news at all.
*Rest in
Peace
Former media
writer, long-time business editor and writer. He was 60.
Long-time
music critic for the Boston Globe. He was 76.
Author of 20
books. Expert fly-fisherman. He was 77.
SOCIAL MEDIA
*YouTube
Made $50 Billion This Year
=That’s billion with a B. $6 billion more than Musk paid for Twitter. In one year.
*TikTok introduces Access Hollywood Tape to Generation Z
=They were too young to be aware of it when it came out eight years ago, but after Trump's comments this week about protecting women "if they want it or not", his Access Hollywood tape re-emerged on Tiktok, and has gone viral. The Washington Post has more.
*On Elon
Musk’s X, Republicans go Viral while Democrats Disappear
=That’s the
headline in the Washington Post this week after analyzing tweets on the social
media platform. Full analysis is here.
=Here’s the analysis from CNN.com. Misinformation is pumping out on X at a level that can’t be counteracted by election officials.
