Robservations on the media beat:

• Big changes are in the works at WFLD-Channel 32 — but don’t expect to see them happen overnight. In meetings with staffers this week, Mike Renda, vice president and general manager of the Fox-owned station, and Carol Fowler, vice president and news director, declared the current model for local news broken, and outlined plans for an overhaul to be rolled out over the coming months. Insiders say the new format of the 9 p.m. newscast is evolving into one with longer, more in-depth stories, including conversations with guest newsmakers and reporters. (I know. I know. We’ve heard it before.) Anchors Robin Robinson, Jeff Goldblatt and Anna Davlantes will interact as an “ensemble,” I’m told. Will any of this make a difference? Let’s put it this way: With Channel 32’s 9 p.m. ratings averaging a measly 3.4 in February, what do they have to lose?
• Look for another former Channel 32 news anchor to follow Nancy Loo out the door. Lauren Cohn, who co-anchored the Fox station’s short-lived 10 p.m. newscast and more recently has been working as a reporter, has been told her contract will not be renewed. Read the rest of this entry →

When Amy Jacobson signs on Wednesday as Big John Howell’s partner at Salem Communications news/talk WIND-AM (560), she’ll be joining one of Chicago’s most exclusive clubs: Women in morning-drive radio. And though her hiring addresses a glaring gender deficiency on the air at WIND, it’s hardly cause for celebration.

That’s because women remain pitifully underrepresented among all top on-air jobs in radio. By my measure, they’ve actually lost ground in the past 25 years.

Felicia Middlebrooks

Read the rest of this entry →

Ash-har Quaraishi

Three months after WTTW-Channel 11 cut veteran correspondent Rich Samuels from the staff of “Chicago Tonight” because of a “seven-figure shortfall” in the public television station’s budget, there’s a new reporter coming on-board. But in this case, the newcomer’s duties (and presumably his salary) will be split between Channel 11 and the nonprofit Chicago News Cooperative.

Ash‐har Quraishi has been hired as a multimedia correspondent and content producer who will alternate working for Channel 11 and CNC each week, according to a joint announcement Tuesday. His duties will include reporting for “Chicago Tonight” and its website, writing for CNC’s Chicago news pages in the New York Times and CNC’s website, and helping other employees “broaden their talents for video‐based reporting.” Read the rest of this entry →

Robservations on the media beat:

Dave Hoekstra

• A hearty high five to my old pal Dave Hoekstra, one of the great unsung writers, columnists, storytellers and journalism treasures in town, on his 25th anniversary at the Chicago Sun-Times. The pride of Naperville Central High School (Class of 1973), Hoekstra, 54, brings the heart of a newspaperman and the soul of a poet to everything he covers — from his odysseys on Route 66 and around the world to his definitive profiles of Chicago legends. On his Sun-Times blog last week, Hoekstra posted a beautiful reflection on his career. (Here is the link.) Asked how he continues to do such great work after so many years and so many miles, Hoekstra told me:

“Basically what keeps me going is the ability to make the unknown known. I love the sense of adventure and discovery that comes in our jobs. Read the rest of this entry →

Robservations on the media beat:

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  Randy Michaels

  Some who were there said it was an attempt to intimidate employees and identify a scapegoat. Others described it as an effort to assert authority and move beyond an embarrassing episode. But all agreed it was classic Randy Michaels: For close to 30 minutes Friday, the Tribune Co. CEO addressed a closed-door meeting of news staffers at news/talk WGN-AM (720) about the now-infamous memo banning 119 words and phrases from the airwaves. On the subject of leaks, Michaels asked individual staffers: “What do you think should happen to people who do that?” He directed much of his ire at Charlie Meyerson, the WGN news director who circulated the memo, blaming Meyerson for mishandling his directive. Also present were Jerry Kersting, chief operating officer of Tribune Broadcasting, Tom Langmyer, vice president and general manager of WGN, and Kevin “Pig Virus” Metheny, program director of WGN. Earlier the same day, Michaels issued a detailed explanation of the original memo to the Tribune’s Eric Zorn. (This time, Michaels referred to me inaccurately as “an out of work blogger.”) Here’s what Michaels wrote: Read the rest of this entry →

Randy Michaels

After what I wrote about Randy Michaels earlier this week, it’s no wonder the Tribune Co. CEO doesn’t care much for me. But who knew of his low regard for the whole business of bloggers?

The piece here about his edict banning 119 words and phrases from newscasts on news/talk WGN-AM (720) drew more than 100,000 hits and more than 325 comments to this site in just two days. It also got picked up by countless other bloggers (including the Chicago Tribune’s own Eric Zorn and Phil Rosenthal) and by most broadcast industry trade publications. One of them, Radio Business Report, reached out to Michaels for comment. Here’s what Michaels said:

“I feel sorry for Bob. If he thinks it’s wrong for the CEO of a content company to focus on content, that could help explain why he is no longer paid to be in media.” Read the rest of this entry →

Richard Roeper

Richard Roeper, star columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, author and nationally known movie critic, is about to add another title to his credits: Chicago radio talk host. He’s joining news/talk WLS-AM (890) as Roe Conn’s afternoon show partner.

Roeper, 50, will start on the Citadel Broadcasting station April 12. Airing from 2 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, the program will officially be called “The Roe Conn Show with Richard Roeper,” but Michael Damsky, president and general manager of WLS, said: “I anticipate that we’ll hear a lot of the shorthand ‘Roe and Roeper.’ ”
Read the rest of this entry →

Robservations on the media beat:

John Records Landecker

• After seeing a funny comment from him on this blog the other day, it was great to catch up with John Records Landecker, the Chicago radio legend and the man credited with inspiring more American teenagers to become disc jockeys than anyone else in the business. Nearly 40 years after he debuted as a Top 40 radio star here, Landecker, 62, is still at it — hosting a daily talk show with partner Paula Griffin from 9 a.m. to noon on WIMS-AM (1420) in Michigan City, Ind. (and online at wimsradio.com). His syndicated music show, “Into the 70s,” airs from 7 p.m. to midnight Sundays on Citadel Broadcasting oldies WLS-FM (94.7). But he’s most proud of the success of his youngest daughter, Amy, who starred in the Coen Brothers’ movie “A Serious Man” and appears in the season’s first two episodes of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.”  She also just shot a comedy pilot with Adam Corolla for NBC. “She is no longer the daughter of John Records Landecker,” he quipped. “I am Amy Landecker’s father!” Boogie Check, anyone?
• WBBM-AM (780) suburban bureau chief Julie Mann was promoted Wednesday to managing editor of the CBS Radio all-news station. But that doesn’t mean we won’t hear her anymore. Ron Gleason, director of news and programming, said Mann will continue to do some air work, although she won’t be reporting on a daily basis. A 13-year veteran of Newsradio 780, Mann fills the vacancy left by operations director Drew Hayes, who exited in January for the same position at Citadel Broadcasting news/talk WLS-AM (890). Read the rest of this entry →

Sure, you’d think the chief executive officer of a company struggling to emerge from bankruptcy and desperate to salvage an $8 billion buyout-gone-bad would have better things to do than pester his underlings with crazy proclamations. But in the case of Tribune Co. CEO Randy Michaels, you’d be wrong.

Randy Michaels (photo from Los Angeles Times)

The man at the top of the troubled media empire took time out of his real job this week to issue a list of words and phrases — 119 of them, to be exact — that must never, ever be uttered by anchors or reporters on WGN-AM (720), the news/talk radio station located five floors below his office in Tribune Tower.

Believe me, I’m not making this up. Read the rest of this entry →

An assortment of news items (updated and annotated) from my Chicago Sun-Times column 20 years ago this week:

• “The hottest tickets in town — 125,000 free passes to ‘The Bozo Show’ — will be up for grabs. For the first time since the waiting list was frozen with a 10-year backlog in 1980, WGN-Channel 9 will accept requests for ‘Bozo’ audience tickets, covering tapings from this fall through 1995. . . . All available tickets will be allotted on one day only — next Saturday — via a special 900 telephone line.” [Tribune Co. canceled “The Bozo Show” in 2001 after 40 years on the air. I’m still mad at them for it.]
• “It’s anchors away at WMAQ-Channel 5, with Ysabel Duron and Mary Murnane preparing to move on from the NBC-owned station to advance their careers. And poised to take over where Duron and Murnane leave off is newcomer Jackie Bange, described by her bosses as Channel 5’s ‘next big star.’ ” Read the rest of this entry →