Erin Kennedy

One year after WBBM-Channel 2 abruptly cut Susan Carlson, the CBS-owned station finally has hired her replacement as weekday morning news anchor.

Erin Kennedy, who’s been a reporter and morning news anchor at WKYC-TV, the NBC affiliate in Cleveland, is joining CBS 2 alongside co-anchor Kris Gutierrez from 4:30 to 7 a.m. Monday through Friday, starting May 19. Continue reading →

Newsweb Radio plans to drop its progressive talk simulcast from two of its FM signals while continuing the format on WCPT AM 820 and WCPY FM 92.5.

Starting June 2, WCPT FM 92.7 and WCPQ FM 99.9 will switch to Polski.FM, a time-brokered format of Polish-language news, talk and music, airing from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Continue reading →

Readers of the Sun-Times who thought they were experiencing deja vu Monday were just getting a second dose of the same comics.

Monday’s edition of the paper carried the same comics as Saturday’s. Both sets were dated May 5. Continue reading →

Greg Caputo (Photo: Slawek Chrzaszcz)

Greg Caputo, a widely admired and respected television news executive who headed three Chicago news operations over more than three decades, is retiring as news director of Tribune Broadcasting WGN-Channel 9.

Caputo announced Monday that he plans to step down in June — one month before he turns 65. “I think the time is right for me to pay more attention to my personal, family life after 30-plus years as a news director at this level,” he told me. Continue reading →

Joan Esposito

Fifteen years after she left Chicago television, former news anchor Joan Esposito is getting back on the air.

Esposito, 60, has been hired part-time at Chicago Public Media WBEZ FM 91.5, where she will serve as a backup and vacation-relief news anchor during mornings, middays and afternoons.

Now that her two children (son Ben, 20, and daughter Thomasina, 16) are older, Esposito expressed interest in returning to broadcasting on a limited basis, according to Sally Eisele, managing editor at WBEZ. “What we’re doing is developing a relationship with someone who can help us out and get to know the public radio side of the business,” Eisele said. Continue reading →

Toni Ginnetti

Veteran Chicago sportswriter Toni Ginnetti, who was among the first women to cover a wide range of professional and college sports beats — including both the White Sox and the Cubs — retired Friday after 33 years at the Sun-Times.

Although she’ll continue to write occasionally for the paper on a freelance basis, her retirement caps a Chicago journalism career of outstanding work and groundbreaking achievement. Continue reading →

Jane Hirt

Three years ago this week I published a list of 21 women I considered to be the most powerful in Chicago journalism. It was purely subjective — and highly debatable.

As expected, it touched off a spirited conversation among readers about women in media, and prompted three other male bloggers — Chicago magazine’s Whet Moser, the Reader’s Michael Miner and Our Man in Chicago’s Scott Smith — to propose alternate candidates. Continue reading →

Jonathan Abarbanel and Kelly Kleiman

Looking forward to “crackling on the airwaves once more,” Chicago theater reviewers Kelly Kleiman and Jonathan Abarbanel are returning to public radio.

Starting this weekend, their “Dueling Critics” segment will air every other week on “The Arts Section,” a new Sunday morning newsmagazine show on the College of DuPage’s WDCB FM 90.9. Gary Zidek will host the 30-minute show, airing at 8 a.m. Sundays. Continue reading →

Jim Richards

Leaving Chicago will be “really bittersweet” for veteran radio programmer Jim Richards, who guided two of Chicago’s legendary rock stations to the top of the ratings among their respective audiences.

After two years as operations manager of classic rock WLUP FM 97.9 and alternative rock WKQX FM 101.1, Richards, 47, is headed to San Francisco to become operations manager/program director of Cumulus Media’s KFOG FM and KSAN FM.

In the latest Nielsen Audio survey, the Loop ranks No. 1 in its target demographic of men between 25 and 54, while WKQX ranks No. 1 among men between 18 and 34 and men between 18 and 49. Continue reading →