Greg Kot

Greg Kot, the nationally renowned authority on popular music for the Chicago Tribune, is leaving the newspaper after 40 years — including the last 30 as music critic.

Kot, 62, is the highest-profile personality so far to announce his departure from the Tribune under a voluntary buyout plan offered to employees of Tribune Publishing newspapers. His last day will be Friday. Continue reading →

CBS 2 Chicago

Robservations on the media beat:

Look for CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2 to roll out a 24/7 streaming news service this spring. Branded as CBSN Local, it will feature locally anchored programming, live breaking news coverage and archived, on-demand local news content. Already operating at CBS stations in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, Minneapolis and Philadelphia, it's an outgrowth of CBSN, the streaming video news channel originated by CBS News and CBS Interactive in 2014. Derek Dalton, president and general manager of CBS 2, said he expects to launch CBSN Local here by the end of March. Considering that the station's news operation is already stretched to the limit, I'd love to know how it will allocate resources for the new venture. Continue reading →

Bill Leff and Wendy Snyder

Robservations on the media beat:

Bill Leff and Wendy Snyder, who were forced out as midday co-hosts at Nexstar Media Group news/talk WGN 720-AM in November, just launched a podcast for Cumulus Media Chicago. There are no broadcast plans for "The Bill and Wendy Show" at this time, but it's a foot in the door for the duo at WLS 890-AM, the Cumulus news/talk station. On Monday Leff couldn’t resist taking a shot at WGN for its recently added Sunday morning showcase for Frank Sinatra tunes. "Wendy and I will do a podcast with new episodes coming several times a week,” Leff said. “Our listeners talked us into it. It's going to be crazy fun. Then, on the weekends, we'll play Sinatra music. But not Frank Sinatra. Frank JUNIOR. Maybe some Nancy too. That's still up in the air. Sinatra. All day Sunday." Continue reading →

Brian Hanley

Eighteen months after he was forced out as morning co-host at Entercom sports/talk WSCR 670-AM, Brian Hanley has landed a part-time gig at the competition — Good Karma Brands ESPN sports/talk WMVP 1000-AM.

As a weekend and fill-in host on ESPN 1000, Hanley will take on an initial role as co-host of the new "ESPN 1000 Hockey Show" from 9 to 10 a.m. Saturdays, starting this weekend. Continue reading →

Tim Knight

In a sign that the Chicago Tribune may be moving closer to the apocalypse, Tim Knight has stepped down as president and chief executive officer of parent company Tribune Publishing.

Terry Jimenez, the company’s chief financial officer, was appointed CEO, and Mike Lavey, chief accounting officer, was named interim CFO in the shakeup announced Monday. Continue reading →

Bill Murray

Robservations on the media beat:

Steve Dahl

In case you missed it, Chicago radio legend Steve Dahl made a brief cameo appearance in Jeep’s Super Bowl commercial starring Bill Murray Sunday night. Or at least Dahl’s voice did. In the parody of the 1993 movie “Groundhog Day” filmed on location in Woodstock, Dahl was the second voice on the radio heard uttering: “It’s Groundhog Day!” as Murray wakes up. (Here is the link.) “Proud to be part of such a great commercial,” Dahl said, promising to tell how it came about on his dahl.com podcast today. The version I heard is that Dahl had been asked to do the original voiceover in the movie but insisted on his partner, Garry Meier, being featured as well. The producers said no dice. A few months later, Steve & Garry broke up. Well, that’s show biz!
Continue reading →

Steve Sanders

Steve Sanders, a consummate professional and one of the all-time coolest guys on Chicago television, is retiring after more than 37 years as a news anchor at WGN-Channel 9.

Sanders, who turns 70 today, announced Friday that his last day on the Nexstar Media Group station will be February 28. Continue reading →

David Haugh (Photo: Brooke Collins)

The departure of sports columnist David Haugh from the Chicago Tribune and the abrupt cancellation of Crain's Chicago Business reports from Nexstar Media Group news/talk WGN 720-AM led the top 10 most-read stories here in January.

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

Richard Milne

Thirty-four years after Richard Milne joined WXRT 93.1-FM as weekend overnight host, he's about to become the face and the voice of morning drive at "Chicago's Finest Rock."

As dawn breaks on Monday, he'll follow Chicago radio icons Lin Brehmer and Terri Hemmert as only the third morning personality at the Entercom adult album alternative station since 1981. Continue reading →

Terrence Lee

Robservations on the media beat:

Brittany Garzillo

Look for two new hires to be announced today at Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32. Terrence Lee, morning news anchor at ABC affiliate WEWS in Cleveland, is expected to join Fox 32 as a news anchor and reporter, starting March 16. A Maryland native and Temple University graduate, Lee began his career at WMDT, the dual ABC/CW affiliate in Salisbury, Maryland. He joined WEWS in 2013. Also headed for Fox 32 as a reporter is Brittany Garzillo, who has been a traffic anchor and reporter for WGAL, the NBC affiliate in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, since 2018. The Lehigh Valley native and graduate of Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, previously worked for WLVT, the PBS station in Bethlehem. Fox 32 has not yet announced how it plans to replace the ousted anchor Rafer Weigel on "Good Day Chicago" from 4 to 6 a.m. Monday through Friday. Continue reading →