David Kaplan and Jonathan Hood

David Kaplan and Jonathan Hood, two longtime Chicago sports/talk personalities, are teaming up to co-host a new local morning show on WMVP 1000-AM, the ESPN Radio station managed by Good Karma Brands.

Starting Monday, Kaplan and Hood will be heard together from 7 to 10 a.m. as part of a new Monday-through-Friday programming lineup announced today. Continue reading →

Tony Hunter

In a stunning announcement Friday, former Chicago Tribune publisher Tony Hunter was named CEO of McClatchy Co., the bankrupt newspaper chain acquired in a court-approved sale last week by New Jersey hedge fund Chatham Asset Management. Since 2019 Hunter has been chairman of Revolution Enterprises, a multi-state cannabis firm based in west suburban Elmhurst.

Hunter, 59, remains widely admired in Chicago media circles for his fabled 22-year run with the Tribune, where he rose from circulation manager to publisher of the newspaper and CEO of parent company Tribune Publishing. He left in 2016 after leading the company through a record four-year bankruptcy and reinventing its business model. Continue reading →

Chicago Tribune

Robservations on the media beat:

Could a virtual newsroom be in the offing for the Chicago Tribune? Speculation turned serious Thursday with news that Tribune Publishing was negotiating to break its lease at One Prudential Plaza just two years after moving from Tribune Tower, which had been the newspaper's home for 93 years. The company hasn't paid rent on the 137,000-square-foot space overlooking Millennium Park since March, citing losses attributed to the coronavirus pandemic. "It’s unclear where the Chicago Tribune’s newsroom and offices, as well as the corporate parent’s headquarters, would relocate," according to the Tribune's Ryan Ori, bolstering the idea that Alden Global Capital, the profit-squeezing hedge fund calling the shots these days, might do away with an actual newsroom altogether. After all, they’ve been putting out the paper virtually for more than four months. "In order to sustain ourselves for the long term, we’ve positioned the company as a smaller, more agile operation," Tribune Publishing CEO Terry Jimenez told industry analysts this week. "To do so, we have and are taking steps to reduce our primary expense drivers by focusing on our fixed cost infrastructure, reducing our real estate footprint, and reducing compensation expense.” Continue reading →

Bob Sirott and John Records Landecker

Robservations on the media beat:

When Radio Hall of Famer John Records Landecker fills in next week for morning host Bob Sirott on WGN 720-AM, there may be a lot riding on it for both Landecker and the Nexstar Media Group news/talk station. If all goes well, insiders said, Landecker could be in line to host Monday through Friday evenings and serve as Sirott’s regular substitute in mornings, starting this fall. The two Chicago radio legends have been friends since they worked together at WLS 890-AM during its Top 40 heyday in the 1970s. “Listeners are going to discover that John’s middle name truly is ‘talk,’” Sirott joked. Meanwhile, one familiar voice we won’t be hearing on WGN is Garry Meier. Management sources confirmed there were talks with Meier about replacing afternoon host Roe Conn (whose contract is up at year’s end). But serious negotiations never got off the ground, and WGN bosses quietly dropped the idea. Continue reading →

Fran Spielman

It takes more than a nasty fall and a fractured pelvis to slow down Chicago's hardest-working City Hall reporter.

Fran Spielman, the Chicago Journalism Hall of Famer who's been covering City Hall for the Sun-Times for more than 35 years, is on the mend from a recent injury that would have laid up most people for weeks or longer. Continue reading →

NBC Tower

On a day that Comcast-owned NBCUniversal reportedly cut up to 10 percent of its workforce nationwide, layoffs hit all three NBC broadcast properties in Chicago.

The company would not confirm the number of employees affected, but sources said seven jobs were cut today at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 and Telemundo WSNS-Channel 44, mostly in technical areas. More than a dozen were believed to have been fired from numerous departments at NBC Sports Chicago, which is in a separate division of the company. Continue reading →

WGN Radio

Robservations on the media beat:

Rich "Svengoolie" Koz

With Nexstar Media Group's "News Nation" primetime newscast set to debut September 1 on WGN America, anchors and correspondents from competing networks may no longer be welcome as guests on WGN 720-AM, the company's news/talk station. Sean Compton, the Nexstar executive vice president who oversees WGN, told staffers in a memo Monday: "Now, with News Nation launching, that will be our go-to for national news talent needs. No more CNN or Fox News personalities — let’s promote and encourage our own product." Also declared persona non grata on WGN Radio: Svengoolie, the iconic horror-movie host played for more than 40 years by Rich Koz. "As part of Nexstar Media, it’s frustrating to see our own talent promoting and encouraging competitive podcasts and media," Compton wrote. "This past weekend we had a talent promoting Svengoolie who works at Me-TV. Remember that we own Antenna TV, and Me-TV is a primary competitor." Continue reading →

Pat Cassidy

Pat Cassidy, who's been a warm and welcome fixture of morning drive radio in Chicago for more than 45 years, is now No. 1 all by himself.

In the first full ratings period since Felicia Middlebrooks retired as his co-anchor, Cassidy retained the top spot (and the same audience share as last month) as solo morning anchor at Entercom all-news WBBM 780-AM/WCFS 105.9-FM. Continue reading →

Brandis Friedman

One of the few bright spots in an otherwise bleak year for Chicago media has been watching Brandis Friedman's star continue to rise on "Chicago Tonight," the flagship news program of WTTW-Channel 11.

Friedman, who's been a correspondent for the Window to the World Communications station since 2013, has emerged in recent months as the face of public television in Chicago.

While continuing as co-anchor (with Paris Schutz) of "Chicago Tonight" at 7 p.m. weeknights, Friedman is about to expand her role as the station launches two new weekend editions of the show. Continue reading →

John Kass

The demotion of John Kass as "lead columnist" at the Chicago Tribune amid protests over his commentary about billionaire George Soros led the top 10 most-read stories here in July.

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