Robservations on the media beat:

• Anyone who devotes his life to the welfare of animals is a good guy in my book. So it’s nice to know that Chicago’s ambassador to the dog and cat world, Steve Dale, just signed on for five more years as nationally syndicated pet columnist with Tribune Media Services. In addition, Dale’s weekly radio show, which ran for 12 years on Tribune Co.-owned news/talk WGN-AM (720), moved last June to Citadel Broadcasting news/talk WLS-AM (890). “Steve Dale’s Pet World” now airs at 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturdays. He’s also a certified animal behavior consultant and a blogger for ChicagoNow.com. In an updated Chicago Radio Spotlight profile, Dale told Rick Kaempfer:

“My favorite moments are always when a listener calls and says, ‘You helped me and made my day. That’s why I didn’t give up the dog or cat to the shelter.’ Those are always my favorite moments.”

• Another sign that all’s right with the world is when Rick O’Dell is playing smooth jazz. Since January, the Chicago radio veteran has been back in his familiar midday slot — from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. — on Venture Technologies Group’s WLFM-FM (87.7). “Those who know I’m here have made it a wonderfully soft landing back on the midday show,” he said. “Now it’s up to us to give them what they expect musically while throwing them a few surprises along the way.” In his additional role as program director, O’Dell announced the debut of “Paul Wertico’s Wild World of Jazz,” a locally produced traditional jazz show hosted by the Grammy-winning drummer and Chicago native. It’ll air at 9 p.m. Sundays, starting this weekend. Read the rest of this entry →

Maybe it’s because I hadn’t eaten lunch yet. But I could hardly believe my eyes this afternoon as I videotaped Chicago health inspectors throwing out about 200 servings of fine-looking beef ravioli at a state-of-the-art kitchen in West Town. About a minute and a half in to the tape, check out how fast they dumped the fresh salad that was supposed to go with the ravioli.

Since Thursday, the inspectors have trashed hundreds of pounds of food at Kitchen Chicago, a facility shared by 11 small businesses, including caterers, candymakers and artisan bakers. Read the rest of this entry →

Ron Magers

Great news for fans of Chicago’s No. 1 anchorman: Ron Magers is returning to Roe Conn’s afternoon show on Citadel Broadcasting news/talk WLS-AM (890). Starting Tuesday, the principal news anchor for ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7 will be back as a daily contributor during the 3 p.m. hour of Conn’s show (which he now co-hosts with Cisco Cotto).

“I could not be happier to bring you that [news],” Conn told his listeners Monday.

The announcement of Magers’ return comes seven weeks after he was dropped in a budget cut at the station. For almost 12 years, Magers’ role as a commentator and raconteur often was the highlight of Conn’s show — and the best half-hour of conversation in all of Chicago radio. Read the rest of this entry →

Scott Lee Cohen has left a vacancy that’s going to be filled, officially, by the Democratic Party’s State Central Committee. House Speaker Mike Madigan chairs the party, and his spokesman says the speaker will seek input from Governor Pat Quinn and Senate President John Cullerton, neither of whom serve on the committee.

But how is the committee picked? Let’s see what the law says:

In each congressional district at the primary election, the male candidate receiving the highest number of votes of the party’s male candidates for State Central Committeeman, and the female candidates receiving the highest number of votes of the party’s female candidate for State Central Committeewoman, shall be declared elected State Central Committeeman, and State Central Committeewoman from the district. (10ILCS 5/7-8 via Illinois State Board of Elections)

That’s right. You pick them, Democratic voters of Illinois. Here’s the current roster of the Democratic State Central Committee: Read the rest of this entry →

I love my trayf as much as the next guy, but when I saw this scene on Wentworth Ave. today, I realized, wow, they really do love their pigs in Chinatown…

can you squeal like a pig for me?

Sushi not from SushiSamba Rio (Photo by tschörda)

On Tuesday, Feb. 9, SushiSamba Rio will host SUSHI + SAKE101, a two hour interactive teaching and tasting event where you can learn what it takes to become a “master sushi chef.”  Well, maybe not a master – that would require years of washing rice, sharpening knives and studying fish.  But they’ll at least show you some basic differences between types of sushi, and will outfit you with the building blocks of assembling your own maki and nigiri at home. Read the rest of this entry →

(photo by Lee Bey)

The Cabrini Green public housing building at 660 W. Division is coming down.  As demolition workers pound the 15-story concrete slab into oblivion, take note of something beside the spectacle of crumbling concrete and the hair-like strands of  exposed rebar:

There is color. Read the rest of this entry →

This week we feature a guest-blogger while I am away on my book tour. Ladies and gentlemen, Rebecca Kavanagh.

Grand gestures were on my mind while driving to dinner yesterday. With a week to go before Valentine’s Day, what could I do to show my husband how much I adore him? As we passed the airport, I toyed with the idea of hiring a skywriter. And then I saw this:

I wonder how this down-to-earth version of my idea went over? Did Bellababy notice the sign and smile all the way to work that morning? Or did Brad position it to delight her as she made her weary way home? Was it Bellababy’s birthday? The couple’s anniversary? Or was this, in fact, an early Valentine?

In any event, it was a grand gesture. And I want all of us to follow suit. Read the rest of this entry →

There won’t be any ball drops on Saturday night, and thankfully, no one trying to decipher what Dick Clark is saying.  Yet more than a billion people on the planet will be celebrating and partying as another year begins anew.  The Year of the Tiger, 4708, begins this weekend (and no, it’s not sponsored by Accenture).  As cocktail waitresses around the country raise a glass, serious Chinese restaurants will be serving special meals for at least a week.  In Chicago, it seems as if there are at least one or two new restaurants each year that are willing to go the extra mile – both within and beyond Chinatown – and provide at least a starter’s guide to savoring the holiday like an ex-pat. Read the rest of this entry →

Top Story: So the counter-punch at the media is complete! Yesterday, I wrote if Scott Lee Cohen wanted to get back at the media for hijacking his political career, he should make the highly-anticipated withdrawal-from-the-race speech during the Super Bowl. So the political beat reporters would have to leave their nachos and skip their third beer to cover this sideshow. And he did it! He did exactly what I wrote. Now the question the peanut gallery has is whether or not I am psychic or if Scott Lee Cohen got the idea from me. So, either way, the press corps is probably pretty mad at me. Deal.

B Story: Now this story gets so, so exciting. Does Pat Quinn get to pick a running-mate? Does Michael Madigan step in and make the call? Are voters who voted against the IL Democratic machine going to lose it now that the people they didn’t want to make the decision are making the decision? I will give Scott Lee Cohen credit on one thing. He knows how the IL political game is played. The gameplan? Give the ball to Madigan. He’s the Randy Moss of IL politics.

C Story: So is your bus canceled today? Read the rest of this entry →