Rick O'Dell

Chicago radio veteran Rick O’Dell has been named program director of Weigel Broadcasting’s WRME LP 87.7, the soft rock/oldies station branded as Me-TV FM.

It marks a return to the same frequency he once programmed as Chicago's Smooth 87.7 FM. Although O’Dell is best known as the city’s preeminent authority on smooth jazz programming, no change is expected in the current music format of Me-TV FM. Continue reading →

WGN (Photo: Museum of Broadcast Communications)

This means war: For the first time in 35 years, Chicago has a genuine four-way battle for nightly news viewers straight up at 10 o’clock.

Monday marked an auspicious debut for WGN-Channel 9’s half-hour newscast at 10 p.m., a return to competition the Tribune Media flagship station relinquished in 1980. Continue reading →

Timothy Knight

The future of the Sun-Times appeared more cloudy than ever Monday with the resignation of Timothy Knight as chief executive officer of parent company Wrapports LLC.

Knight, 50, is leaving to become president of the Cleveland-based Northeast Ohio Media Group, which operates cleveland.com and the Sun News, and is responsible for all advertising and marketing for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Continue reading →

Tom Skilling

Robservations on the media beat:

Demetrius Ivory

With superstar weatherman Tom Skilling adding a leading role on WGN-Channel 9’s new 10 p.m. newscast starting Monday, something had to give. In this case, it’s the Tribune Media station’s midday newscast. “We all know there’s only one Tom Skilling, and with his role at 10 p.m., we needed to shift his schedule a bit,” said Greg Easterly, president and general manager of WGN. “He’ll continue his weather reports on the 9 p.m. news, as well as the evening news at 4 p.m. and 5 p.m.” The incomparable Skilling, 63, has been WGN’s chief meteorologist since 1978. Replacing him on “WGN Midday News,” which airs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., will be meteorologist Demetrius Ivory, who’ll also continue to appear on “WGN Morning News” from 4 to 6 a.m. Continue reading →

Eric Ferguson and Kathy Hart

ATLANTA — For the second time in three years, Eric Ferguson and Kathy Hart won top honors Thursday in the National Association of Broadcasters’ Marconi Awards.

The immensely popular morning team on Hubbard Radio hot adult-contemporary WTMX FM 101.9 was named Major Market Personalities of the Year. Both were on hand to receive their industry’s highest honor at the culminating dinner of the NAB Radio Show at the Marriott Marquis Atlanta. Continue reading →

Lew Dickey

ATLANTA — On the opening day of the National Association of Broadcasters’ Radio Show Wednesday, all everyone was talking about was the misery at Cumulus Media.

If the Atlanta-based broadcaster wanted to inflict maximum damage on itself — and subject its founder and chief executive to the worst humiliation — it couldn’t have picked a better time and place. Continue reading →

Frankie Robinson

It took more than four months to pull off, but iHeart Media Chicago finally completed one of the biggest radio talent raids of the year Thursday.

At the stroke of midnight in a special live broadcast from Adrianna’s in Markham, urban contemporary WGCI FM 107.5 officially announced the hiring of Frankie Robinson to host middays and Tone Kapone to host afternoons, effective immediately. Continue reading →

Melissa Harris

Melissa Harris is leaving the Chicago Tribune after six years as a business columnist to join Origin Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, as vice president of marketing.

“This is an opportunity for me to be on the vanguard of the crowdfunding movement as I will be responsible for a new online platform, allowing investors like you and me to participate side-by-side with big pension funds and endowments in their real estate acquisitions,” she announced on her Facebook page Tuesday. Continue reading →

iHeart Media Chicago

Corporate radio behemoth iHeart Media again landed four of its seven Chicago stations in the top 10 rankings, including urban adult-contemporary WVAZ FM 102.7, which jumped back to the No. 1 spot overall.

Nielsen Audio ratings released Tuesday showed the company’s Top 40 WKSC FM 103.5, urban contemporary WGCI FM 107.5 and adult contemporary WLIT FM 93.9 also in the top 10 among all listeners for the period from August 13 to September 9. Continue reading →

Harry Volkman

Robservations on the media beat:

Tom Skilling

Legendary Chicago TV weatherman Harry Volkman was remembered Sunday as a larger-than-life personality, a generous mentor, and a man of faith. The beloved meteorologist for four local stations died August 20 at age 89 after a brief illness. Friends and family gathered at Glenview United Methodist Church to celebrate Volkman’s life. Among the speakers was an emotional Tom Skilling, who called Volkman “the broadcast meteorologist who literally set the bar for on-air meteorological integrity,” adding: “Through it all, Harry was a father who raised a lovely family, a devoted member of this church, and a paragon of class and dignity in his profession.” Fellow broadcasters at the memorial tribute included Steve Baskerville, Rick DiMaio, Chuck Schaden, Bob Sirott, Roger Triemstra, and Volkman’s son, Eddie Volkman. Continue reading →