Last month's long-awaited TV digital transition, which interrupted service to some Chicago area homes, didn't massively alter the rankings among the major local players in the flagship 10 p.m. news ratings race. The June Nielsen ratings book released Wednesday shows ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7 still sitting comfortably atop the pack with an 8.7 share, a dip from an 8.9 rating Monday through Friday a year ago.
Informed sources say the NBA has chosen Taco Bell as its lead quick service restaurant sponsor, replacing Oak Brook-based McDonald's after 20 years.
Urban contemporary WGCI-FM (107.5) is adding two new hosts to its talent lineup, effective July 6. Loni Swain will host mid-days from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays. Originally from New Orleans, Swain most recently hosted “Loni’s Love Lounge” on WFUN-FM (95.5) in St. Louis, known familiarly as Foxy 95.5. Swain replaces Bionce Foxx, who has left the station after more than five years.
Lewis Lazare: Sources say hot adult contemporary WTMX-FM (101.9) soon will sign its super hot morning drive duo Eric Ferguson and Kathy Hart to new multiyear, multimillion-dollar contracts. The payout easily makes Hart the highest-paid female radio star in Chicago, and Ferguson certainly remains one of, if not the most, handsomely paid men in local radio.
Veteran broadcaster John Callaway died Tuesday night at the age of 72, after suffering a heart attack while in a store in Racine, Wis., where he had resided for the past several years. Mr. Callaway's death came within minutes of the 10th anniversary of his final sign-off as host of "Chicago Tonight."
Disappointment. Disgust. Shock. These are some of the emotions felt by the dozen or so staffers left without jobs when ChicagoSportsWebio.com shut down last week. The abrupt end for the online sports talk venture came just three months after it was launched by veteran sports talker Mike North and his business partner David Hernandez. Hernandez faces federal charges he ran a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of $11 million.
As if WGN-AM (720) wasn't going through enough with the upheaval in its talent and program lineup, the May Arbitron ratings book out on Wednesday gave the station more issues to worry about.
The deepening scandal involving fugitive financier David Hernandez, sports broadcasting legend Mike North and the now- defunct ChicagoSportsWebio .com has rapidly turned into hot fodder for local sports talk broadcasts.
David J. Hernandez, the principal backer of the defunct ChicagoSportsWebio.com, was charged with mail fraud Wednesday in a federal criminal complaint alleging he ran a Ponzi scheme. A warrant for Hernandez’s arrest was also issued, and the FBI has launched a manhunt for him. He went missing Monday after he was last seen at the ChicagoSportsWebio offices in Morton Grove.
The increasingly frantic makeover of news/talk WGN-AM (720) continued apace with another complete revamp this week of the station's morning lineup.
Local sports talker Mike North's brainchild Chicago SportsWebio.com signed off for the last time at 5 p.m. Tuesday, even as Downers Grove police said its principal backer and North's former business partner, David Hernandez, had gone missing. Hernandez's disappearance came after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit Monday alleging that Hernandez had bilked about 100 investors out of $11 million to fund NextStep Financial Services in a Ponzi scheme.
Lewis Lazare: For many years, the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau has been hard at work drumming up interest in our fair city among out-of-towners. The organization's name suggests it courts both conventioneers and tourists, but truth be told, the bureau always has been much more about the convention end of things than it has tourists.
When we broke the news last winter that Kevin Lynch was leaving Zig/Chicago, we frankly were afraid the city's ad industry might lose one of its most talented creatives for good. Those fears were underscored when we heard several weeks later that Lynch was on the West Coast checking out the scene.
Lewis Lazare: Veteran Chicago broadcaster Bob Sirott exited NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 and his anchor role there Thursday with a classy absence of theatrics and his head held high. It fell to WMAQ station manager Frank Whittaker to inform the staff Thursday morning of Sirott's abrupt exit in a brief memo. Sirott was expected to be the 10 p.m. news anchor alongside Allison Rosati, but talks hit a snag.
If you can't get your digital converter box to work, Weigel Broadcasting Co. is throwing a lifeline: It will show programming from WCIU-Channel 26 and newscasts from other stations for at least 30 days over its low-power, analog WWME-CA, Channel 23.
Respected veteran Chicago broadcaster Bob Sirott is out at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5. WMAQ honcho Larry Wert informed the station's staff this morning of Sirott's exit. Sirott was expected to be a 10 p.m. news anchor alongside Allison Rosati.
Lewis Lazare: Chris Rongey, the host of the White Sox' pregame and postgame shows on WSCR-AM (670), is one of the lucky few who got his big break in broadcasting in Chicago early in his career. But Rongey, 32, has talent, too. Just listen sometime to how deftly he commands the mic and handles the often-testy callers who try to test his composure.
It's only early June. But the iconic Sharpie marker pen, a unit of the Oak Brook-based Newell Rubbermaid Office Products Group, already is launching a back-to-school marketing initiative.
Within 30 days, sports-talk WSCR-AM (670) expects to be simulcasting on one of adult hits WJMK-FM's (104.3) three HD frequencies, according to CBS Radio Market Manager Rod Zimmerman. Both WSCR, the radio home of the White Sox, and WJMK are CBS Radio properties. The simulcast means WSCR fans who have access to an HD radio receiver will be able to hear the station's programming with a much higher quality sound than that now available on the AM frequency.
Sure, a lot of people are stressed out nowadays. Which may make it more difficult for some folks to fully appreciate the very laid-back aura that has almost always been the hallmark of Corona beer advertising from Cramer-Krasselt/Chicago. Still, the agency and Crown Imports, which distributes Corona in the United States, are debuting two new TV commercials this month that continue to do a nice job of conveying that special Corona mood.
Lewis Lazare: So the question is still out there. Why hasn't NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 officially announced that presumed heir apparent Bob Sirott and Allison Rosati will co-anchor the station's flagship 10 p.m. newscast? According to one source familiar with developments, the answer is: "corporate economics." Or, more simply, "money." As previously reported, Sirott has in his current contract a clause that promises him an anchor role in WMAQ's 10 p.m. newscast.
Lewis Lazare: On Wednesday, loyalists of the axed "Kathy & Judy Show" did what they had promised to do. Upward of 100 or so of the show's devoted fans -- some traveling from as far as 200 miles away -- gathered in front of news/talk WGN-AM's (720) showcase street-level studio at Tribune Tower on North Michigan Avenue on Wednesday morning.
Actor Frank Vincent from the former HBO mobster hit "The Sopranos" thinks his fellow Italian-Americans need to lighten up. The same, in his opinion, goes for brewing giant MillerCoors. Vincent found out that the Miller Lite “Protection” ad campaign in which he stars was being pulled because of complaints from the Italian-American community when he received a Google alert about Wednesday’s exclusive Sun-Times story.
Miller Lite beer's new "Protection" campaign, prominently featuring actor Frank Vincent from the HBO mobster hit "The Sopranos," is being pulled after Chicago representatives of the Italian-American community lashed out over the stereotypical mafia depiction of Italian Americans in the ads.
Lewis Lazare: Dan McNeil, considered by many to be one of Chicago's -- and the nation's -- best radio sports talkers, is returning to WSCR-AM (670). Starting June 15, McNeil will be the solo host of the new ''Danny Mac Show'' from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday.
