Jimmy deCastro, Bob Sirott, Marianne Murciano and Todd Manley (2014)

Even as WGN AM 720 was bidding farewell to Bob Sirott, Marianne Murciano and David Kaplan last week, the Tribune Media news/talk station was reaffirming its place in the market and its commitment to drive-time stars Steve Cochran and Roe Conn.

Cochran just started the second year of a four-year deal as morning host, and Conn just agreed to a contract extension through January 2017 to continue as afternoon host. Continue reading →

David Kaplan

Robservations on the media beat:

Look for Sarah Spain, Jeff Dickerson, Jonathan Hood and Ben Finfer to turn up with David Kaplan when “Kap & Co.” debuts September 16 on ESPN Radio sports/talk WMVP AM 1000. The new show will air from noon to 2 p.m. weekdays, shifting John “Jurko” Jurkovic and Carmen DeFalco to 9 a.m. to noon. After 20 years at Tribune Media news/talk WGN AM 720, Kaplan last week secured an early release from his contract to join ESPN 1000. “Kap is by far one of the most recognizable voices in Chicago, and few in the city have the breadth of knowledge and passion for sports and relationships with the people here that he has,” said program director Adam Delevitt, who first worked with Kaplan as an intern at WGN in 1998. Friday marks the final broadcast of Kaplan’s morning show on WGNplus.com and Comcast SportsNet Chicago with David Haugh, who continues as Chicago Tribune sports columnist. Continue reading →

Daily Herald

Officials of the Daily Herald won’t say how many jobs will be cut when the company shifts its home-delivery operation to the Chicago Tribune.

Starting September 15, the Daily Herald will turn over delivery to home subscribers in the north, northwest and west suburbs to Chicago Tribune Media Group under a joint newspaper circulation agreement announced last week. Terms were not disclosed. Continue reading →

Robin Robinson and Lauren Cohn

Former Chicago news anchors Robin Robinson and Lauren Cohn have been named co-hosts and contributing correspondents for “In The Loop,” the flagship weekly news program of public television station WYCC-Channel 20.

Starting with this week’s season premiere, Robinson and Cohn will join Chris Bury and Barbara Pinto as rotating hosts of the show, which airs at 7 p.m. Thursdays (with repeats at 1 a.m. Saturdays and 6:30 p.m. Sundays). All four co-hosts will report news and investigative stories and moderate roundtable discussions with newsmakers, journalists and others. Continue reading →

Kathy Hart and Eric Ferguson

For only the second time in recent years, WTMX FM 101.9 was the top-rated radio station in Chicago, according to Nielsen Audio figures released last week.

The Hubbard Radio hot adult-contemporary station, which routinely dominates the market in the key demographic of adults between 25 and 54, hadn’t finished first among all listeners across the board since since May 2012. Continue reading →

Chicago newspapers

The Chicago area’s No. 2 and No. 3 daily newspapers are teaming up to share content covering the city and suburbs.

The suburban Daily Herald, owned by Paddock Publications, and the Sun-Times, owned by Wrapports LLC, announced the editorial alliance Friday in a newsroom memo. The move was prompted in part by the sale of Sun-Times Media Group’s six suburban dailies and 32 Pioneer Press suburban weeklies to Chicago Tribune Media Group last fall. Continue reading →

Norm Winer

Norm Winer marked his 36th anniversary Thursday as program director of WXRT FM 93.1, an astonishing achievement in Chicago radio — or practically anywhere else for that matter.

Not bad for a guy who was hoping to last two or three years when he first showed up at the seminal adult album alternative station in August 1979. Continue reading →

Sarah Jindra

Sarah Jindra, the airborne traffic ace for Tribune Media WGN-Channel 9, will double as radio traffic reporter for Roe Conn’s afternoon show on news/talk WGN AM 720.

Todd Manley, vice president of programming and content at WGN, announced Wednesday that Jindra will deliver traffic reports from Skycam 9 twice each hour from 3 to 7 p.m. weekdays, starting next week. She’ll continue to report breaking news and traffic for Channel 9’s 4 and 5 p.m. weekdays newscasts. Continue reading →

Lionel Moise and Erin Kennedy

A morning news anchor from the CBS affiliate in Columbia, South Carolina, is the latest warm body to turn up on the anchor desk at CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2.

Lionel Moise, incoming from WLTX-TV in Columbia, will join Erin Kennedy as morning news co-anchor on CBS 2, starting September 21. Airing from 4:30 to 7 a.m. weekdays, it’s Chicago's lowest-rated newscast, averaging a 0.2 rating among viewers between 25 and 54. Continue reading →

Paula Faris

When fan favorite Paula Faris left NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 to join ABC News in New York, she vowed she’d have “a forever connection to Chicago.”

Now she’s bringing that connection to “The View.” On Tuesday the former NBC 5 sports anchor/reporter was named co-host of ABC’s long-running daytime talk show. Continue reading →