Robservations on the media beat:
With Chicago White Sox broadcasts moving to WGN AM 720, the Tribune Broadcasting news/talk station has designated Andy Masur to host its pregame shows, and Mark Carman and Adam Hoge to split hosting postgame shows. Just hired as executive producer for White Sox baseball is Dave Zaslowsky, who held the same position at Cumulus Media news/talk WLS AM 890, the team’s former radio home. Friday marks the opening of the 2018 Cactus League season, with announcers Ed Farmer and Darrin Jackson returning to the booth for their 10th season together.
Tom Weinberg, legendary Chicago documentary producer and founder of Media Burn Independent Video Archive, will headline a free seminar on media archiving Wednesday at the Museum of Broadcast Communications. Sponsored by the Chicago/Midwest chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the event from 6 to 8 p.m. will highlight the work of Chicago’s leading media archivists and their efforts to preserve vital film, video and audio artifacts. Other panelists include Sara Chapman of Media Burn Archive, Tony Macaluso and Alison Schein of Studs Terkel Radio Archive, and Michelle Puetz of Chicago Film Archives. John Owens, producer for Decades Network, will moderate. (Here is the link for reservations.)
Kimbriell Kelly, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter on the investigative unit at the Washington Post, and former editor and publisher of the Chicago Reporter, will be keynote speaker at FOIA Fest, the Chicago Headline Club’s sixth annual seminar Saturday on the Freedom of Information Act. The event at Loyola University’s Corboy Law Center also will feature a panel of eight candidates for Illinois attorney general, who’ll focus on Freedom of Information issues in the state. (Here is the link for tickets.)
Look for Evie Olson, former field reporter for Tony Lossano's “Nude Hippo” and co-host of “Lossano and Friends,” to turn up March 11 on “Chicago’s Best,” the weekly local food magazine show on Tribune Broadcasting WGN-Channel 9. She’s auditioning for the co-hosting role previously held by Brittney Payton. Payton signed off after eight years to join Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32’s “Good Day Chicago.” Elliott Bambrough continues as co-host of “Chicago’s Best,” which airs at 10 p.m. Sundays on WGN.
Sunday’s best comment: Scott Smith: This isn't about bowing to political pressure. As an editor, if you've lost the faith of your readers, the allegiance of your staff and the trust of your boss (a blackface cover?), you've lost all your constituencies.