Walter Cronkite

Each year just before his birthday on Nov. 4, I would send Walter Cronkite a tie. And each year on that day, the anchorman of "The CBS Evening News" would wear the tie on the air before his audience of millions.

Walter and I kept up that tradition all through my high school years and well into college. It was his personal signal to the fan club I had started in his honor when I was 14 years old.

"Cronkite had good reasons for embracing Feder's club," historian Douglas Brinkley wrote in Cronkite, his 2012 biography of the anchorman. "The mimeographed newsletter was an excellent way to build a loyal fan base in those pre-Internet days. It was like a Facebook page or a Twitter account before its time. It was one more confirmation that by 1972, Cronkite had become part of the popular culture."

The Walter Cronkite Fan Club ran its course, but we maintained our friendship for the rest of his life. Today would have been his 97th birthday. Continue reading →

Carol Cooling-Kopp, longtime special events director at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 who died last week, will be inducted posthumously into the Silver Circle of the Chicago chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Also named Silver Circle honorees for 2014 were: Jerry Bryant, founder and producer of "JBTV," the longest running music television show in the country; Carole B. Cartwright, former manager of community programs at NBC 5 and former general manager of Chicago City Colleges' WYCC-Channel 20; Rich King, sports anchor at Tribune Broadcasting WGN-Channel 9; Mike Leonard, former Chicago-based reporter for NBC's "Today"; and Larry Yellen, news anchor and reporter at Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32. Continue reading →

Steve Dale

Did you hear the one about the radio host who got stuck in an elevator?

That's what happened to Steve Dale on his way to hosting his Sunday morning "Pet World" show on Tribune Broadcasting news/talk WGN AM 720.

With the help of "Sunday Spin" host Rick Pearson and engineer Bob Ferguson, Dale wound up hosting his full 30-minute show via cell phone while trapped inside his Wrigleyville apartment building elevator. "This is as live and local as it gets," he said.  Continue reading →

Robert Murphy

It's showtime again for Chicago radio veteran Robert Murphy.

The man who defined hip adult-contemporary radio in the 1980s at the former Q101 is about to sign on as afternoon personality at WLS FM 94.7, the Cumulus Media classic hits station. Continue reading →

Even as the Sun-Times is touting "double digit gains" in digital circulation, the newspaper's bosses are gearing up for another round of layoffs early next year, according to insiders.

No specific goals have been set, but sources said staff reductions will target departments throughout Sun-Times Media, including editorial. Continue reading →