Chicago Tribune

Robservations on the media beat:

Salary reductions were announced Thursday for employees at the Chicago Tribune as parent company Tribune Publishing seeks to offset "sharp declines" in advertising revenue due to the coronavirus shutdown. Effective April 19, the company will permanently reduce the base pay of non-unionized staffers on a sliding scale of up to 10 percent, with those earning more taking steeper cuts. Employees have until April 17 to decide whether to accept the salary reduction or leave the company and receive severance. Tribune Publishing CEO Terry Jimenez, who’ll take a 13.8 percent pay cut along with Tribune Publishing board members, said in a memo to employees: “We also will pursue cost savings within our unionized workforce with measures that will affect both employees covered by existing collective bargaining agreements and employees who are not.” In response, Megan Crepeau, president of the Chicago Tribune Guild (which represents newsroom employees), tweeted: “Has the gap between Tribune corporate and Tribune journalists — the difference in empathy, courage, perseverance — ever been so wide? We're risking our health to inform readers about a worldwide pandemic. In return they deny us sick leave and try to cut costs.” Continue reading →

Chicago magazine

Robservations on the media beat:

When the first case of coronavirus in a downtown office building was disclosed at another company in the Prudential Building, employees of Chicago magazine were sent home March 11 — and plans for the May issue were revised from top to bottom. The result is out this weekend with a dramatic cover on “Life in the Time of COVID-19.” It includes a photo essay on eerily vacant venues of events that didn’t happen and a shut-in’s guide to not losing your sanity, among other timely features. “We did it all in two weeks, working from home, and using Zoom meetings and Slack to stay in touch,” said Susanna Homan, editor-in-chief and publisher of Chicago. “The issue is something we are all so proud of because this is an important moment in history and to do anything less than address it immediately and thoroughly wouldn’t have served our readers.” Continue reading →

WLS 890 AM

Robservations on the media beat:

Cumulus Media

Tuesday was Cumulus Media’s day to share the financial pain of the coronavirus shutdown with its employees, following similar draconian moves by iHeartMedia and Entercom. Salaried employees will take three weeks of unpaid leave in one-week installments over the next 15 weeks. Others will take 90-day pay cuts, and a third group will be put on 90-day furloughs, starting April 16. Cumulus CEO Mary Berner, who’s reducing her salary 50 percent, told employees: “Even though these are intended to be temporary actions, I know they are going to land hard — really hard — and that is in the emotional and financial toll that a furlough or salary cut will take on each of you, but also in terms of the increased workload the vast majority of you will have to take on during your co-workers' furlough weeks. I am truly sorry and sad about this announcement. None of you deserves this.” Marv Nyren, vice president and market manager of Cumulus Chicago, said the moves will keep all workers employed without resorting to layoffs. But SAG-AFTRA, the union representing on-air employees, raised objections to the plan, saying Cumulus “cannot unilaterally implement changes upon union represented staff.” In Chicago the company includes news/talk WLS 890-AM, classic hits WLS 94.7-FM and alternative rock WKQX 101.1-FM. Continue reading →

Zach Boog

WGCI 107.5-FM has promoted part-timer Zach Boog to evening personality, the iHeartMedia urban contemporary station announced today.

“It is a dream and an absolute honor to take over nights at this legendary station,” said Boog, who grew up in Gary, Indiana, listening to WGCI. “I couldn’t be more excited for what the future holds.” Continue reading →

Kaitlin Sharkey

Robservations on the media beat:

With the world of sports at a standstill, this may seem like an inopportune time to hire a sportscaster. But Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32 has its eyes on the future with the addition of Kaitlin Sharkey. Just in from WITI, the Fox station in Milwaukee, Sharkey replaces Shae Peppler, who departed in January after two years as a sports reporter and weekend sports anchor. A Milwaukee native and graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Sharkey worked for two stations in Green Bay before joining WITI in 2017. “Milwaukee is home, will always be home, but my time here is done,” she wrote on Facebook. “I’m excited about a new opportunity.” Sharkey starts on the air at Fox 32 next week. Continue reading →

NBC Tower

Robservations on the media beat:

Rob Stafford and Allison Rosati

As local TV stations grapple with the coronavirus shutdown and stay-at-home orders, they're finding new ways to accommodate their employees. Starting today, NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 will begin an at-home rotation with principal news anchors Rob Stafford and Allison Rosati. One of them will anchor from the studio and one will anchor from home each day, according to Frank Whittaker, station manager and vice president of news at NBC 5. While meteorologists, traffic reporters and other on-air personnel already have been broadcasting from home, NBC 5 and co-owned Telemundo Chicago WSNS-Channel 44 are believed to be the first in Chicago to have their main news anchors do so as well. Continue reading →

Diana Steele

Robservations on the media beat:

Connor McKnight

At least eight on-air personalities and one program director were among dozens of staffers cut at Entercom Chicago radio stations Thursday. They included Elk Grove Village native Diana Steele, midday host at classic hip-hop WBMX 104.3-FM; Mike Kasper, afternoon host at country WUSN 99.5-FM; and Eric Tyler, afternoon host at Top 40 WBBM 96.3-FM. Sports/talk WSCR 670-AM took the biggest hit, losing midday co-host Connor McKnight, evening and weekend host Julie DiCaro, reporter David Schuster, producer and podcast host Rick Camp and freelance weekend host Maggie Hendricks. Also laid off was Kenny Jay, program director of US99. Many more positions in sales, promotions, digital and other areas also were eliminated or furloughed, sources said. Employees making more than $50,000 were given pay cuts of 10 to 20 percent. Entercom CEO David Field, who had his own salary reduced 30 percent, cited the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on advertising revenues. “We must take hard but necessary actions to ensure that we endure the crisis and emerge as a strong, healthy and competitive company,” Field said. “I am deeply saddened that we need to make these painful moves at this time, but they are necessary under the circumstances.” Continue reading →

iHeartMedia Chicago

Robservations on the media beat:

More than 30 full-time and part-time employees were placed on temporary unpaid leave this week at iHeartMedia Chicago in response to the economic downturn triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. Sources said staffers in every department were affected by 90-day furloughs ordered throughout the country’s biggest radio company. Officials of iHeartMedia Chicago did not respond to requests for comment. Earlier, the company’s top executives said in a statement: “To be clear, while this will involve a small total number of employees, they are valued colleagues and we did not take this step lightly. We look forward to welcoming them back as soon as we can.” The iHeartMedia cluster here includes urban contemporary WGCI 107.5-FM, urban adult-contemporary WVAZ 102.7-FM, Top 40 WKSC 103.5-FM, adult contemporary WLIT 93.9-FM, country WEBG 95.5-FM, and gospel WGRB 1390-AM. Continue reading →

Justin Kaufmann

The ill-timed removal of Justin Kaufmann as evening host at news/talk WGN 720-AM and the passing of Chicago radio legend Clark Weber led the top 10 most-read stories here in March.

To read the full posts, click on the headlines: Continue reading →

22nd Century Media

The coronavirus pandemic and its calamitous effect on advertising revenue has put a suburban Chicago news organization out of business after 15 years.

22nd Century Media, publisher of 14 community newspapers and websites covering the North Shore and southwest suburbs, abruptly shut down operations Tuesday, resulting in the loss of more than 40 jobs — including 20 newsroom positions. Continue reading →