Tony Sculfield replaces Ramonski Luv at 106.3 FM

Tony Sculfield

Tony Sculfield

The latest round of musical chairs among Chicago’s urban radio stations played out Monday with the hiring of Tony Sculfield to host evenings at Crawford Broadcasting urban adult-contemporary WSRB FM 106.3.

Starting June 15, Sculfield will be heard from 6 to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday. Until he was released last December, he had been morning personality for more than five years at iHeartMedia urban contemporary WGCI FM 107.5. Continue reading

Mob hit on JFK goes from theory to theater at museum

November 22, 1963

November 22, 1963

Among the most fascinating and enduring suspicions of the Kennedy assassination is that organized crime bosses from Chicago somehow played a role in the murder of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963.

Fifty-two years later that theory is coming to the stage as “Assassination Theater: Chicago’s Role in the Crime of The Century,” a dramatization based on the work of Hillel Levin, an investigative reporter, author and former editor of Chicago magazine. Continue reading

WGN Walk of Fame adds 10 today

WGN Radio Walk of Fame

WGN Radio Walk of Fame

Ten more broadcasting luminaries from the past and present of WGN AM 720 will be honored Friday with induction in the WGN Radio Walk of Fame.

This year’s honorees are late-night radio legends Eddie Schwartz, Franklyn MacCormack, Steve King and Johnnie Putman, newsmen Steve Bertrand and Lyle Dean, sportscaster Dave Eanet, Cubs broadcaster Ron Santo, host Lou Manfredini and executive Ward Quaal. Continue reading

Soul 106.3 cuts Ramonski Luv

Ramonski Luv

Ramonski Luv

Chicago radio veteran Ramonski Luv, once the city’s No. 1 nighttime host, is out after six months on WSRB FM 106.3, the Crawford Broadcasting urban adult-contemporary station.

It’s the second time in less than a year Luv has been dismissed for undisclosed personal reasons. Last July he was forced out after 14 years at iHeartMedia urban adult-contemporary WVAZ FM 102.7, where he hosted the top-rated evening show with Joe Soto. Continue reading

Jim Unrath 1937-2015

Jim Unrath

Jim Unrath

To generations of listeners, Jim Unrath was a familiar voice on classical music WFMT FM 98.7. To the legendary Studs Terkel, he was his right-hand man in the studio.

Unrath, whose career spanned 40 years at Chicago’s fine arts station, died Sunday in Stockton, California, at 78. He had been recovering from surgery to remove his spleen when he suffered heart failure, according to Lois Baum, a longtime friend and colleague at WFMT. Continue reading

Tribune won’t fill Steve Farber’s shoes

Steve Farber

Steve Farber

Tribune Broadcasting won’t be hiring a replacement for its senior vice president of operations after all, sources said Tuesday.

Others in the Tribune Media broadcasting unit are expected to divide the duties of Steve Farber, who resigned in April to become senior vice president of operations at Weigel Broadcasting, overseeing WCIU-Channel 26 and the Chicago-based company’s digital network operations.

Tribune Media spokesman Gary Weitman declined to comment. Continue reading

Decades opens ‘daily time capsule’ today

Bill Kurtis

Bill Kurtis

What better day to launch a television network that immerses viewers in the past than Memorial Day?

Monday marks the debut of Decades, the new digital subchannel from CBS Television Stations and Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting. Each day’s programming will focus on a different era or theme through vintage series, popular movies and historical news footage. Continue reading