Robservations: Radio traffic ace Bart Shore lands air shift at 93.9 Lite FM

Bart Shore

Robservations on the media beat:

Listeners know Bart Shore as one of Chicago radio's most familiar traffic voices. Now the Wilmette native is going back to his record-spinning roots. Starting this weekend, he'll host from 7 p.m. to midnight Saturdays on WLIT 93.9-FM, the iHeartMedia adult contemporary station. (They're playing all-Christmas music now.) "This is truly full circle for me," said Shore, who started on the station — then known as WLAK — in 1985. "My goal was always to be on the radio in Chicago." He continues as traffic reporter for Melissa Forman's weekday morning show on 93.9 Lite FM.

Tribune Publishing

Chicago Tribune employees were dispirited by an announcement Thursday that Tribune Publishing would begin paying a quarterly cash dividend to shareholders, with an initial payout of about $9 million. Leading shareholders Michael Ferro and Patrick Soon-Shiong are expected to pocket more than $2 million each quarter. The move closely follows the company's decision to cease publication of the Spanish-language newspaper Hoy. "Tribune Publishing’s executives and top editors need to get in touch with both their business sense and their consciences," the Chicago Tribune Guild said in a statement. "Our newsrooms consistently do great work, and we could do more if Tribune Publishing did the right thing and invested in our newsrooms instead of showering cash on people who are already rich."

Lourdes Duarte

Response was so strong to tonight's 80th anniversary awards dinner of the Chicago Journalists Association that it had to be moved to a larger ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, 151 East Wacker Drive. Lourdes Duarte, news anchor at Nexstar Media WGN-Channel 9, will emcee the event. Receiving the group’s Lifetime Achievement Award will be Cheryl Burton, news anchor at ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7. Keynote speaker will be Jim Kirk, publisher and executive editor of Crain’s Chicago Business. Vying for the coveted Dorothy Storck Award are columnists Barry Rozner of the Daily Herald, Mary Schmich of the Chicago Tribune, and Natalie Moore of the Sun-Times.

Los Angeles Magazine

Bryan Smith, longtime senior writer at Chicago magazine, has freelanced a timely and insightful cover story this month for Los Angeles Magazine. It's a profile of Adam Schiff, the California congressman who's chairing the House impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump. "It's hard to stay on top of the news as a monthly, so we pushed our deadlines to terrifying extremes and kept constantly updating the story," Los Angeles editor-in-chief Maer Rosh told CNN. (Here is the link.)

Tony Gill

Tony Gill who rose from intern to executive producer at Entercom sports/talk WSCR 670-AM, has been hired by NBC Sports Chicago as a podcast producer. He'll start in early December. Gill most recently has been producer of Laurence Holmes's midday show at The Score and numerous podcasts, including Julie DiCaro's "Behind the Headlines." "Beyond all of that, Tony is special person and I for one am going to miss his smile and terrific attitude every day I see him!" Mitch Rosen, program director of The Score, told staffers in an email.

Wednesday's comment of the day: James McKay: With Hoy Chicago going, I have to wonder how much longer the weekly Red Eye will be around.