Elliott Bambrough and Marley Kayden

Robservations on the media beat:

Chicago's Best

Say goodbye to "Chicago’s Best," the delicious Sunday night food show on WGN-Channel 9. Co-hosted by Elliott Bambrough and Marley Kayden, it's been a weekly treat on WGN (and the former CLTV) since its launch in 2010 with original co-hosts Brittney Payton and Ted Brunson. The cancellation, announced Thursday, coincides with the Nexstar Media station's expansion of "GN Sports" to Saturdays and Sundays starting August 14. With the weekend additions, the sports highlights show will air seven nights a week at 10:30 p.m. A statement from management acknowledged "Chicago's Best" won many awards and "brought viewers into some of the most interesting restaurants in Chicago," adding: "We’d like to thank Elliott, Marley and the team that has worked so passionately on the show for so many years." WGN also announced plans for "Daytime Chicago," a locally produced magazine show to air at 10 a.m. weekdays, starting this fall. The syndicated talk show "Rachael Ray" is expected to move to afternoons. Continue reading →

Robert Feder

Chicagoans are justifiably proud of their role in propelling Oprah Winfrey to national stardom and serving as hometown boosters of her phenomenally popular and socially conscious talk show for more than 25 years.

But many of us would prefer to forget a more shameful side of Chicago’s recent past as the daytime talk show capital of America. For the better part of a decade the city also was an incubator for the worst excesses of trash TV — from mindlessness to mayhem — culminating in an off-screen murder of one guest by another. Continue reading →

V103

For the 67th time since its launch in 1988 WVAZ 102.7-FM was the top-rated radio station in Chicago, according to the latest Nielsen Audio survey.

The iHeartMedia R&B powerhouse known as V103 finished first overall for the fourth consecutive month and led the market in afternoons with Joe Soto and evenings with the syndicated Keith Sweat in figures released Tuesday. Continue reading →

Marshall Harris

Nearly two years after WBBM-Channel 2 reassigned Ryan Baker to morning news anchor, the CBS-owned station finally got around to hiring his replacement as main sports anchor and sports director.

Marshall Harris, just in from CBS-owned KOVR in Sacramento, California, officially joined CBS 2 Monday. He's expected to start on the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. weekday newscasts sometime this week. Continue reading →

Tim McGill

Robservations on the media beat:

Veteran Chicago meteorologist Tim McGill debuted over the weekend on Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32 as a freelance forecaster. He’s expected to appear regularly over the coming months. Fox 32 parted company in February with Bill Bellis after 10 years as chief meteorologist. Mike Caplan, Kaitlin Cody and Mark Strehl continue on the station’s weather team. McGill, who holds degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northern Illinois University, had a 28-year run at CLTV and WGN-Channel 9 before Nexstar Media Group pulled the plug on CLTV at the end of 2019. For the past year he filled in at CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2. "Trust me when I say I'm not trying to set the record for appearing as a meteorologist on as many channels as possible in Chicago," McGill wrote on chicagoweathertalk.com. "I'm hoping this will be my last stop. I'm grateful they are giving me a chance to do what I love — and that is telling you all about the weather in a city that I love." The move reunites McGill with Fox 32 news director Matt Piacente, who earlier worked as a producer at CLTV. Continue reading →

César Rodríguez

Robservations on the media beat:

César Rodríguez, a former reporter for two Chicago TV stations, soon may have a new job at City Hall. Sources said Rodríguez is expected to join the press office of Mayor Lori Lightfoot under communications director Kate LeFurgy. The position of press secretary has been vacant since Anel Ruiz stepped down in December. For six years Rodríguez worked as a general-assignment news reporter and sports anchor at WSNS-Channel 44, the Telemundo Spanish-language station. He later served as a per diem reporter at CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2 for about a year. Most recently he was a freelance correspondent for The E.W. Scripps Company. The journalism graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign began his career in public relations with the Chicago firm of David Cordova and Associates.

Friday afternoon update: The mayor's office confirmed Rodríguez's appointment as press secretary.

Continue reading →

La Ley 107.9

Robservations on the media beat:

Employees of WLEY 107.9-FM, the Spanish-language regional Mexican station known as "La Ley," have voted to decertify Screen Actors Guild/American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) as their representative. Since 2018 Miami-based parent company Spanish Broadcasting System had been negotiating on an initial collective bargaining agreement with the union, but no agreement was reached. The decertification vote was confirmed June 28 by the National Labor Relations Board. "We greatly respect the important decision made by our employees to move forward without a union to act as intermediary between them and the company in the resolution of personnel matters at our Chicago facilities," said Richard Lara, general counsel for SBS. "The company looks forward to working more directly with our employees to build an even stronger presence in Chicago with our unique branded entertainment in this important market." Continue reading →

Joanna Hernandez (Photo: WTTW)

Joanna Hernandez, a Chicago native and Columbia College graduate, has returned home to join WTTW-Channel 11 as an on-air reporter for "Chicago Tonight."

Her first day at the Window to the World Communications public television station was Tuesday. Continue reading →

Akemi Harrison

NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 has hired Akemi Harrison as assistant news director. She currently holds the same position at WVIT, the NBC-owned station in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Frank Whittaker, station manager and vice president of news at NBC 5, announced the appointment, effective August 2, in an email to staff Tuesday. Continue reading →

Chicago Tribune

Robservations on the media beat:

Paul Sullivan

You don't replace a Phil Rosenthal, whose words and thoughts "shined like diamonds" before he gracefully bowed out last month as sports media columnist at the Chicago Tribune. But the beat goes on. Monday brought the debut of a "sports media week in review" column by Paul Sullivan, the veteran baseball writer and "In the Wake of News" sports columnist — including a couple of generous nods to previous Tribune sports media columnists Rosenthal and Teddy Greenstein. (Here is the link.) Sullivan told me he's not really covering the media beat, but he didn't say whether his media recap will become a regular weekly feature. Here's hoping it does. Continue reading →