Guaranteed Rate Field

Robservations on the media beat:

ESPN Chicago 1000

The headline here in August read: “White Sox appear headed to ESPN 1000.” Now it’s about to come true. Sources confirmed Tuesday that the Chicago White Sox have rejected a bid for the team's radio rights by Entercom, parent company of all-news WBBM 780-AM/WCFS 105.9-FM. With previous radio home Nexstar Media Group news/talk WGN 720-AM out of the picture, that leaves WMVP 1000-AM, the ESPN Radio sports/talk station managed by Good Karma Brands, as the winner. All signs point to an announcement in the coming days. Such a move would fulfill ESPN 1000’s strategy to compete on the local front with Entercom sports/talk WSCR 670-AM, home of Chicago Cubs baseball. ESPN Chicago market manager Mike Thomas declined to comment. In the latest Nielsen Audio survey ESPN 1000 tied for 18th place among men between 25 and 54. The Score ranked 15th in the target demo. Continue reading →

KDKA Radio

Robservations on the media beat:

“We'd appreciate it if anyone hearing this broadcast would communicate with us as we are very anxious to know how far the broadcast is reaching and how it is being received.” With those words — uttered by announcer Leo Rosenberg — Pittsburgh’s KDKA Radio began what historians consider the first commercial broadcast in the United States. On the night of November 2, 1920, the Westinghouse station carried results of the presidential election that day between Warren G. Harding and James M. Cox. Within two years more than 500 licensed stations were broadcasting across the country — including Zenith Radio Corporation’s WJAZ in Chicago. Continue reading →

Carol Marin

Robservations on the media beat:

As she has done before every election, Carol Marin spent the weekend at her kitchen table poring over pertinent facts and figures as if she were cramming for a final exam. "In this case, it sort of is our final exam on elections," she told me Sunday. That's because this election will mark the last hurrah for Marin after 48 years in the news business. The legendary broadcast journalist is stepping down as political editor of NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 and correspondent for “Chicago Tonight” at Window to the World Communications WTTW-Channel 11 at the end of the week. On Tuesday night Marin and longtime producer Don Moseley will work out of the main first-floor newsroom and studio at NBC 5 for the first time since March. "We'll all see how long we stay on the air as results come — or don't come — in," she said. So how is Marin feeling? "Excited. Nostalgic. Nervous always about getting things right. Glad that I have one more election night to report. Mindful of sharing it with people I love both in front of and behind the camera. Grateful for the viewers who have so loyally and generously watched for all these years." Marin and Moseley will continue to serve as co-directors of the Center for Journalism Integrity and Excellence at DePaul University, which they co-founded in 2016. Continue reading →

Vaughn McClure

News of the death of ESPN reporter and former Chicago sportswriter Vaughn McClure at 48 and the return of Stefan Holt as news anchor at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 led the top 10 most-read stories here in October.

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