Patty Martin
Patty Martin, a 34-year veteran of Chicago’s rock radio wars, is stepping down as program director of Hubbard Radio classic hits WDRV FM 97.1.
Martin, who helped launch the Drive in 2001 and guide it to spectacular success, announced her decision to resign Thursday in an email to staff. She cited health matters involving her husband, who soon may undergo a kidney transplant. Continue reading
Zach Finken
Zach Finken, a 20-year Chicago newspaperman who ran the copy desk and layout desk for the Sun-Times, has been hired as associate editor of Tribune Content Agency, the syndication and licensing arm of Tribune Publishing.
No word yet on Finken’s replacement as assistant managing editor for news at the Sun-Times, where he had worked since 2001.
Confirmation of Finken’s move Thursday followed the announcement that Tribune Publishing had acquired McClatchy Company’s 50 percent ownership stake in McClatchy-Tribune Information Services, which will be added to the products of Tribune Content Agency. With the addition of the wire service, the newly expanded Tribune Content Agency will provide content to 1,200 media clients and digital entities worldwide. Continue reading
Alan Kalter
Late-night viewers rarely take Alan Kalter seriously in his role as announcer and blowhard comedy foil on “Late Show with David Letterman.” But now Illinois broadcasters are hoping his words will be heeded.
Kalter is latest celebrity voice to record a series of public service announcements promoting disaster preparedness throughout the state.
Sponsored by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, Kalter’s 30-second and 60-second messages began airing this week on more than 200 radio stations affiliated with the Illinois Broadcasters Association. Past participants in the campaign include the former team of Larry Lujack and Tommy Edwards (reprising their "Animal Stories" routine), TV and radio personality Steve Harvey, and actress Marion Ross. Continue reading
Sixteen months into Larry Wert’s tenure as president of Tribune Broadcast Media, what’s the most important thing on his to-do list? Marketing and sales for his 41 stations across the country.
“Our current agenda is to put together a marketing and sales organization for all of our stations and all of our digital properties,” Wert told TVNewser at its show and job fair in New York last week. “We’re working on that right now as a priority.” Continue reading
Chicago-based startup Rivet News Radio, the mobile app designed to deliver personalized local, national and world news along with traffic and weather to smartphone users, just added content from the Sun-Times to its playlist.
The agreement between the Sun-Times and Rivet News Radio’s parent company, HearHere Radio Inc., marks the latest content partnership for the fledgling news service. Other contributors include Chicago Public Media WBEZ FM 91.5 (featuring Jerome McDonnell’s “Worldview”), Crain’s Chicago Business and the Associated Press. Continue reading
Erin Kennedy
One year after WBBM-Channel 2 abruptly cut Susan Carlson, the CBS-owned station finally has hired her replacement as weekday morning news anchor.
Erin Kennedy, who’s been a reporter and morning news anchor at WKYC-TV, the NBC affiliate in Cleveland, is joining CBS 2 alongside co-anchor Kris Gutierrez from 4:30 to 7 a.m. Monday through Friday, starting May 19. Continue reading
Newsweb Radio plans to drop its progressive talk simulcast from two of its FM signals while continuing the format on WCPT AM 820 and WCPY FM 92.5.
Starting June 2, WCPT FM 92.7 and WCPQ FM 99.9 will switch to Polski.FM, a time-brokered format of Polish-language news, talk and music, airing from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Continue reading
Readers of the Sun-Times who thought they were experiencing deja vu Monday were just getting a second dose of the same comics.
Monday’s edition of the paper carried the same comics as Saturday’s. Both sets were dated May 5. Continue reading
Greg Caputo (Photo: Slawek Chrzaszcz)
Greg Caputo, a widely admired and respected television news executive who headed three Chicago news operations over more than three decades, is retiring as news director of Tribune Broadcasting WGN-Channel 9.
Caputo announced Monday that he plans to step down in June — one month before he turns 65. “I think the time is right for me to pay more attention to my personal, family life after 30-plus years as a news director at this level,” he told me. Continue reading
Joan Esposito
Fifteen years after she left Chicago television, former news anchor Joan Esposito is getting back on the air.
Esposito, 60, has been hired part-time at Chicago Public Media WBEZ FM 91.5, where she will serve as a backup and vacation-relief news anchor during mornings, middays and afternoons.
Now that her two children (son Ben, 20, and daughter Thomasina, 16) are older, Esposito expressed interest in returning to broadcasting on a limited basis, according to Sally Eisele, managing editor at WBEZ. “What we’re doing is developing a relationship with someone who can help us out and get to know the public radio side of the business,” Eisele said. Continue reading
