Sirott & Murciano to host Illinois primary election night on WLS

Bob Sirott and Marianne Murciano

Bob Sirott and Marianne Murciano

The husband-and-wife team of Bob Sirott and Marianne Murciano will host Illinois primary election night coverage March 15 on WLS AM 890, the Cumulus Media news/talk station.

Starting at 6 p.m. and airing until at least 10 p.m., Sirott and Murciano will host a roundtable of newsmakers, analysts and journalists, including veteran City Hall reporter Bill Cameron. Continue reading

ABC 7 apologizes for McDonald’s mix-up

Terrell Brown (ABC 7, February 26, 2016)

Terrell Brown (ABC 7, February 26, 2016)

WLS-Channel 7 has apologized to its viewers for mistakenly using the logo of McDonald’s restaurants to illustrate a story about the Chicago police shooting of Laquan McDonald.

The error occurred during the ABC-owned station’s 6:30 a.m. newscast Friday when the graphic appeared over the shoulder of news anchor Terrell Brown. The station was bombarded with ridicule on social media after the image appeared on Facebook and Twitter. Continue reading

Robservations: WGN renews Wildcats, Dave Eanet for four years

Dave Eanet

Dave Eanet

Robservations on the media beat:

WGN AM 720 will continue to be the broadcast home of Northwestern University football and men’s basketball through the 2019-20 season, under a four-year renewal to be announced Friday. The Tribune Media news/talk station also just signed the great Dave Eanet to a new four-year contract to continue as WGN sports director and the voice of the Wildcats. “We’re proud to present Northwestern basketball and football, anchored by Dave ‘Mr. Cat’ Eanet,” Jimmy de Castro, president and general manager of WGN, said in a statement. “We look forward to bringing our listeners the excitement of Chicago’s Big Ten team in the years to come.” Eanet, a graduate of Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, has been the play-by-play voice of Wildcat Football since 1990 and Wildcat Basketball since 1996. He’s also sports anchor on Steve Cochran’s WGN morning show. Continue reading

Robservations: Chicago publishers on the hot seat

Tribune Tower

Tribune Tower

Robservations on the media beat:

Michael Ferro

Michael Ferro

“The Future of Print Media” will be the incredibly timely topic of Monday’s sold-out luncheon at the City Club of Chicago. Billed as headliners are Tony Hunter, publisher and CEO of Chicago Tribune Media Group, Jim Kirk, publisher and editor of the Sun-Times, and David Snyder, publisher of Crain’s Chicago Business. Undoubtedly the unseen elephant in the room will be Michael Ferro, who continues to upend Chicago’s newspaper world by the day. On Tuesday, Ferro replaced Tribune Publishing CEO Jack Griffin with longtime associate Justin Dearborn. Who knows who’ll still be around Tribune Tower by next week? Continue reading

Michael Ferro fires Tribune Publishing CEO Jack Griffin

Jack Griffin

Jack Griffin

Well that didn’t take long.

Nineteen days after Michael Ferro took over as board chairman and largest shareholder of Tribune Publishing, he has forced out Jack Griffin as chief executive officer of the Chicago-based parent company of the Chicago Tribune.

Justin Dearborn, a longtime associate of Ferro and former CEO of Merge Healthcare, has replaced Griffin, who held the job since April 2014. Sources said Ferro also is expected to replace most of the top executives who worked with Griffin. Continue reading

Walter Jacobson still taking bows for homeless act after 25 years

Walter Jacobson in disguise (1991)

Walter Jacobson in disguise (1991)

Twenty-five years ago this week, Walter Jacobson wandered the streets of Chicago disguised as a homeless man. Cold, hungry, sleep-deprived and depressed, the millionaire news anchor uttered the immortal words: “I’m miserable. I am really, really miserable.”

“Mean Street Diary,” which ran six successive nights on CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2 in February 1991, became a career-defining event for Jacobson. If not the most infamous local sweeps stunt of all time, it’s undoubtedly among the most widely remembered. Continue reading