Robin Robinson
With the elegance and class that have been her trademarks, Robin Robinson signed off Tuesday night after 26 years as principal news anchor at WFLD-Channel 32.
But she left no doubt that it wasn’t her decision to leave the anchor desk: “This is what I wanted to do, where I wanted to be,” she told viewers. Continue reading
Amara Walker
“The brightest new addition to Fox Chicago” was how I described reporter Amara Walker just before she was promoted to weekend news anchor at WFLD-Channel 32 last year.
So of course she’s on her way out now. Of course. Continue reading
Marcus Gilmer
After little more than a year as digital editor of the Sun-Times, Marcus Gilmer is leaving to become newsroom social media manager for the San Francisco Chronicle.
Gilmer, 34, previously was editor-in-chief of Chicagoist and associate editor of The A.V. Club, the pop culture sister publication of The Onion. He joined the Sun-Times in October 2012 from Chicago Public Media, where he wrote a daily news blog for wbez.org. Continue reading
Bob Ramsey
After two and half years as vice president and general manager of WCIU-Channel 26, Bob Ramsey was promoted Friday to executive vice president of local media for parent company Weigel Broadcasting.
The move puts Ramsey in charge of all local broadcast operations in Chicago, Milwaukee and South Bend.
In accepting the new role, sources said, Ramsey turned down an offer to become general manager of Tribune Broadcasting WGN-Channel 9, where he previously worked as station manager from 1998 to 2002. He joined Weigel Broadcasting in 2011 after stints as general manager at KSWB-TV in San Diego and KTXL-TV in Sacramento. Continue reading
A tentative contract settlement between the parent company of the Sun-Times and the union representing editorial employees could lead to the rehiring of some of the photographers who were laid off by the newspaper earlier this year, sources said.
Negotiators for Sun-Times Media and the Chicago Newspaper Guild reached agreement late Friday on a new three-year contract, insiders said, covering 130 reporters, copy editors and other editorial staff at the Sun-Times, Pioneer Press, Post-Tribune in Merrillville, Ind., Lake County News-Sun and Joliet Herald-News. Continue reading
Steve Baskerville, Rob Johnson, Kate Sullivan and Ryan Baker
Think it's too late to bring Bill & Walter back for a fourth time?
In hindsight, WBBM-Channel 2 bosses may be sorry they gave the heave-ho to Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson last February after two and half years as 6 o’clock news anchors. Continue reading
James Robert "Jim" Leavelle, Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby, Dallas City Jail, November 24, 1963
Reporter Ike Pappas, 11:21 a.m. “Now the prisoner, wearing a black sweater, he's changed from his T-shirt, is being moved out toward an armored car. Being led out by Captain Fritz. [Car horn sounds.] There's the prisoner. Do you have anything to say in your defense? [Ruby steps out of the crowd and fires into Oswald.]
“There’s a shot! Oswald has been shot! Oswald has been shot! A shot rang out. Mass confusion here, all the doors have been locked. Holy mackerel!" Continue reading
Walter Cronkite, CBS News headquarters in New York, November 22, 1963
12:40 p.m. “Here is a bulletin from CBS News. In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas. The first reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by this shooting. Continue reading
Eric Ferguson
Eric Ferguson, Chicago radio’s biggest star, will undergo elective surgery on his spine Friday to relieve numbness in his arms and hands.
One-half of the top-rated morning team of Eric & Kathy on WTMX FM 101.9, Ferguson, 46, said he’d been putting off the procedure for years. “It’s just gotten to a point from a comfort level that I want to get it done and get it over with,” he told me Thursday. Continue reading
Ryan Baker
Three Chicago sports anchors are teaming up on a River North restaurant to open in the shadow of the Sun-Times headquarters.
ChicagoRealEstateDaily.com reports Ryan Baker of CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2, Lou Canellis of Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32 and Kip Lewis of Comcast SportsNet Chicago are partners in a venture to launch “something between a sports bar and a fancier restaurant” in an 8,000-square-foot space at 414 North Orleans Street. Continue reading