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 →

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 →

Robservations on the media beat:

Sam Zell

• Scoring a live, in-studio interview with billionaire mogul Sam Zell seemed like quite a coup for WBBM-Channel 2’s “Monsters and Money in the Morning” last Friday. Unfortunately, the four hosts of the CBS-owned station’s fledgling morning show — Mike North, Dan Jiggetts, Terry Savage and Mike Hegedus — blew it. While Zell sat around the table with them for more than 40 minutes, none of the hosts asked a single question about his troubled stewardship of the bankrupt Tribune Co. or about how the Chicago Tribune has fared since he took over. Not one. Had Zell put the subject off limits? Absolutely not, insisted North, who took full blame for the lapse. “It was my fault,” he later told me. “I was supposed to ask about the Cubs and Tribune, and I didn’t. . . . I called an audible and screwed it up.” Read the rest of this entry →

Chicago television news icon Walter Jacobson, whose feisty commentaries were a staple of WBBM-Channel 2’s 10 p.m. newscast for 20 years, is bringing them back to the CBS-owned station. He debuted Thursday with a piece about negative campaign commercials by candidates in last Tuesday’s Democratic gubernatorial primary. (Here’s the link.)

“I sure am glad to be back to give it a try,” said Jacobson, who’ll deliver his trademark “Perspective” pieces every Tuesday and Thursday night on a trial basis for the next month or so. He’s expected to tape his commentaries earlier in the evening for airing on the 10 p.m. news. Each will run about 75 seconds, which is roughly half the length of his old ones.

Skippy’s reemergence comes days after Channel 2 replaced its traditional morning newscast with “Monsters and Money in the Morning,” a news-deficient two-hour talk show, and opted out of extended coverage of the Illinois primary. The moves are part of a strategy by Channel 2 general manager Bruno Cohen and news director Jeff Kiernan to differentiate the station from its competitors while dealing with dwindling revenues and resources. Channel 2’s 10 p.m. newscast has been running second in overall household ratings lately (behind ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7), thanks largely to diminished lead-ins for WMAQ-Channel 5 from NBC’s lame duck “Jay Leno Show.”

Jacobson, 72, made headlines in November when he and longtime anchor partner Bill Kurtis returned to Channel 2 for one night only to substitute for solo anchor Rob Johnson. Read the rest of this entry →

On the coattails of a giant lead-in for the season premiere of ABC’s “Lost,” WLS-Channel 7 won the ratings Tuesday night for its coverage of the Illinois primary. But the big surprise was the close second-place finish for WBBM-Channel 2, which opted out of extended coverage and stuck with its regular news format at 10 p.m. What seemed like a shameful abrogation of Channel 2’s duty appears in hindsight to have been a calculated business decision that paid off.

Jay Levine

Now that North Shore voters have turned down Tuesday’s referendum on $174 million in renovations to New Trier Township High School, some people are bound to blame Jay Levine. Ever since WBBM-Channel 2’s chief correspondent delivered a controversial report about the issue last week, he’s come under fire for his attitude — if not his facts.

Levine’s report was no straightforward news story. In keeping with his latest persona on the CBS-owned station as a cocky advocate for the little guy (a role created and once played to perfection by Walter Jacobson), Levine is being encouraged by his bosses to embellish the facts with his opinion. But unlike Jacobson, whose commentaries were always labeled “Walter’s Perspective,” Levine’s editorializing carries no such disclaimer.

Even before his report on New Trier aired, it was clear the intent was to provoke an emotional reaction. In teasing the piece hours earlier, Levine’s producer, Ed Marshall, tweeted: “Top high school in US fears falling behind. New Trier faces backlash for $200M taj mahal plan. Bad timing award? Jay Levine at 10p on cbs2.”

If labeling it a “Taj Mahal plan” weren’t enough of a signal, Channel 2 abandoned any pretense of objectivity when 10 p.m. news anchor Rob Johnson introduced Levine’s piece with these words: Read the rest of this entry →

Terry Savage, Dan Jiggetts, Mike Hegedus and Mike North

There’s not much to add to Phil Rosenthal’s exhaustive deconstruction of “Monsters and Money in the Morning,” which debuted Monday, or to Ed Sherman’s Q&A with host Mike North. The four hosts of the new morning show on CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2 — North, Dan Jiggetts, Terry Savage and Mike Hegedus — proved themselves to be sufficiently caffeinated and articulate to pull off the two-hour gabfest without committing any major gaffes.

Conceived as a low-budget alternative to traditional local morning news shows (airing from 5 to 7 a.m. weekdays), I’d call it a work in progress worth keeping an eye on.

The biggest surprise was the dominant role played by Jiggetts, who emerged first among equals as he occupied center screen, introduced each topic and steered every discussion. He may have been an offensive tackle for the Bears, but on this show, he’s definitely the quarterback.

Susan Carlson, the show’s perky news anchor, came off a tad too perky with lead-ins to her headlines such as: “Here’s what’s happening as you’re starting to turn on your coffee maker this morning,” and “As you’re munchin’ on your toast, here’s what’s going on . . .” (Whoa! Can she see me scratching myself, too?) Read the rest of this entry →

Dave Fogel

Dave Fogel, who hosted afternoons in Chicago for more than seven years, is returning to become morning personality at “True Oldies” WLS-FM (94.7). Starting March 1, he’ll replace Brant Miller, who signed off from the Citadel Broadcasting station Jan. 5.

Handling news, traffic and weather duties on Fogel’s show (airing from 6 to 10 a.m. weekdays) will be Maura Myles, who’ll segue from news/talk sister station WLS-AM (890). Myles is currently on maternity leave.

Fogel, who most recently has been hosting mornings at KCKC-FM in Kansas City, was a mainstay of Bonneville International hot adult-contemporary WTMX-FM (101.9) from 1997 to 2004. Before that, he briefly worked at classic rock WLUP-FM (97.9), then under Bonneville ownership.

In confirming Fogel’s appointment Monday, Michael LaCrosse, operations director of WLS-FM, said: Read the rest of this entry →

Robservations on the media beat:

• Vincent Cordero has resigned after five years as vice president and general manager of Univision WGBO-Channel 66 and TeleFutura WXFT-Channel 60, the leading Spanish-language combo in the market. A 1999 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Cordero previously served as vice president of business development and labor affairs for Univision Communications. At the time of his appointment here, Cordero was 33 — and one of the youngest general managers in the market’s history. No replacement for him has been named.

• Natalie Moore, public affairs reporter for Chicago Public Radio WBEZ-FM (91.5) is among winners of the Studs Terkel Community Media Awards for 2010. Moore is being cited for her work as South Side bureau reporter covering “real issues to the people in these communities.” Read the rest of this entry →

Robservations on the media beat:

• It didn’t have quite the impact of Conan O’Brien’s farewell, but with strains of Jim Morrison’s “This Is the End, My Only Friend” playing them out, Roseanne Tellez and Ed Curran signed off Friday from WBBM-Channel 2’s little-watched morning show.

Don Schwenneker and Roseanne Tellez

The CBS-owned station stalwarts graciously plugged Monday’s debut of “Monsters and Money in the Morning,” the new gabfest starring Mike North, Dan Jiggetts, Terry Savage and Mike Hegedus, from 5 to 7 a.m. weekdays. Already gone before Friday’s low-key finale was Don Schwenneker, the weatherman-turned-anchorman, who tweeted earlier in the week that he’s “thankful for his time on the CBS2 morning show and for working alongside one of the best anchors in the country. Now back to weather . . .” He returns to weekend weather duties Sunday.

Read the rest of this entry →