John Williams

All hail “King John.” So long, Kathy & Judy.

John Williams, a mainstay of WGN AM 720 since 1997, will return to the Monday-through-Friday lineup with a new two-hour afternoon show, the Tribune Broadcasting news/talk station announced Monday.

Starting March 13, Williams will be on from 1 to 3 p.m. weekdays. The Saturday show he has hosted from 1 to 3 p.m. will move to a new time slot — from 10 a.m. to noon — replacing the team of Kathy O’Malley and Judy Markey. Williams also will continue his weekly podcast.
Continue reading →

Todd Cavanah

Todd Cavanah, longtime program director of Top 40 WBBM FM 96.3, is adding day-to-day programming responsibility over country WUSN FM 99.5, CBS Radio Chicago announced Friday.

The US99 position has been vacant since last December when Jeff Kapugi was forced out after five years as program director. At the time the company said it planned to hire a new program director for the station. Continue reading →

Roger Simon and Marcia Kramer

Robservations on the media beat:

The great Roger Simon, a Chicago original who became one of America’s best political columnists, is calling it a career. Simon, 68, is telling friends that he and his wife, Marcia Kramer, a free-lance editor and former copy desk chief of the Washington Post, are retiring from journalism at the end of the month to enjoy other pursuits. Since 2006 Simon has been chief political columnist for politico.com. The South Shore native and University of Illinois graduate spent 12 years as an investigative reporter and columnist for the Sun-Times, where Kramer worked as a copy editor. Simon also was a columnist for the Baltimore Sun, White House correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, political editor of U.S. News & World Report and chief political correspondent of Bloomberg News. In 1999 Simon and Kramer were inducted in the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame. Continue reading →

Richard Steele

“The Barbershop Show,” a weekly community conversation unlike any other on Chicago radio, has gone out of business.

Produced by Vocalo, Chicago Public Media’s alternative channel, the show originated from Carter’s Barber Shop in North Lawndale and aired live at noon Fridays on Vocalo. It repeated Sundays on WBEZ FM 91.5 and in podcast form. Continue reading →

Peter Liguori

Peter Liguori, who led the restructuring and transformation of Tribune Media and the spinoff of its newspaper division into the entity now known as tronc, is stepping down after four years as president and chief executive officer of the Chicago-based broadcast and entertainment-focused company.

His resignation, effective the first week in March, was announced Wednesday. Continue reading →

For as long as I can remember, it’s been my practice to report on the annual revenues of Chicago radio stations.

Around this time every year, I update readers on “Chicago radio’s cash register,” listing the annual revenues of the top 30 or so local stations and comparing their year-to-year sales figures.

It’s the best way I know of to gauge the strength of the market overall and the relative success of radio groups, stations and formats. Continue reading →

Mark Konkol (Photo: WTTW/Chicago Tonight)

Mark Konkol, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who helped put DNAinfo Chicago on the map, has parted ways with the hyperlocal digital news operation.

Konkol said Monday he was grateful for his four-year run as the website’s star columnist, but was ready for new challenges — including an upcoming cable documentary series. Continue reading →

Teri Arvesu

Teri Arvesu, the energetic and spirited news director of WGBO-Channel 66, has been promoted to vice president/director of content at the Univision Chicago Spanish-language station.

The move announced by Doug Levy, senior vice president and general manager of Univision Chicago, was one of several aimed at transforming the operation into what he called a “content creation machine.” Continue reading →

Chicago magazine

Robservations on the media beat:

Chicago magazine has been nominated for prestigious honors from the American Society of Magazine Editors. The revitalized monthly was named a finalist Thursday for the 2017 National Magazine Awards in the General Excellence – Special Interest category. “We pour a lot of energy and emotion into every issue, and we don’t do it to win awards but to serve our readers,” said Chicago editor and publisher Susanna Homan. “Even so, this particular category is special to us because everyone on the masthead contributed. In our industry, the National Magazine Awards are like the Oscars — being even a finalist is a very big deal." Sixty-four media organizations were nominated in 20 categories this year. Awards will be presented February 7 in New York. Continue reading →

Richard Roeper

Sun-Times film critic Richard Roeper will host a monthlong series of 40 Academy Award-winning movies on HDNet Movies, the digital cable and satellite network.

From January 29 to February 24, Roeper will introduce “And the Oscar Goes To: Presented by Richard Roeper,” a nightly lineup of some of Hollywood’s most honored films, culminating with a three-day marathon on Oscar weekend from February 24 to 26. Continue reading →