Chet Coppock

Chet Coppock was a giant of sports broadcasting in Chicago for nearly four decades.

From his first big job in town as the main sports anchor at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 to his latest gig as a weekly contributor to Mancow Muller’s morning show on Cumulus Media news/talk WLS 890-AM, he relished his role as a larger-than-life personality.

His death at 70 Wednesday from injuries sustained in a car accident near Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, elicited an outpouring of accolades and anecdotes from countless fans, friends and colleagues. Continue reading →

Weigel Broadcasting

One of Chicago’s last locally-owned independent television stations is going network.

In a surprising move, Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting announced plans today to turn its flagship WCIU-Channel 26 into an affiliate of The CW Network this fall. Continue reading →

Chet Coppock

(This story has been updated to include corrected information.)

Chet Coppock, the legendary Chicago sportscaster who was a flamboyant showman on television and radio for decades, died Wednesday of injuries in a car accident April 6 near Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

Coppock, 70, was a passenger in a 2004 Lexus traveling southbound on a highway in Okatie, South Carolina — 14 miles west of Hilton Head Island — when it crossed the median at 1:04 p.m. and struck a 2018 Land Rover traveling in the opposite direction, according to police reports. The Land Rover then stuck a 2019 Chevrolet traveling in the same direction. Coppock, all three drivers and a passenger in the Chevrolet were injured. Continue reading →

Kartemquin Films

Robservations on the media beat:

Kartemquin Films, the Chicago-based nonprofit collective behind such acclaimed documentaries as “Hoop Dreams” (1994) and “The Interrupters" (2011), was named winner of two Peabody Awards Tuesday. Founded in 1966 by Gordon Quinn and the late Jerry Blumenthal, the collaborative community was cited with an Institutional Award for its "commitment to unflinching documentary filmmaking and telling an American history rooted in social justice and the stories of the marginalized." It also won a Peabody for “Minding the Gap,” the 2018 documentary produced for POV on PBS and Hulu. The 78th annual Peabody Awards, hosted by the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, will be presented May 18 in New York. Continue reading →

Maggie Hendricks and Julie DiCaro

Julie DiCaro and Maggie Hendricks have been named recipients of a 2019 Gracie Award for their weekly sports show and podcast on Entercom sports/talk WSCR 670-AM.

"The Julie and Maggie Show,” which airs Saturdays on The Score, was cited in the local radio category by Alliance for Women in Media, which bestows the prestigious awards to recognize exemplary programming created by women, for women and about women in all facets of media and entertainment. Continue reading →

"Eric in the Morning" cast (from left): Melissa McGurren, Eric Ferguson, Brian "Whip" Paruch and Violeta Podrumedic

"Eric in the Morning" cruised to another easy victory in the latest Chicago radio ratings.

The long-running morning show on Hubbard Radio hot adult-contemporary WTMX 101.9-FM, starring Eric Ferguson with co-hosts Melissa McGurren and Brian "Whip" Paruch (along with recently added traffic reporter Violeta Podrumedic), again led the market in the Nielsen Audio survey for March released Monday. Continue reading →

Renee Ferguson

When Pete Buttigieg officially kicked off his 2020 presidential bid on Sunday, a former Chicago television news reporter was front and center.

Among those leading the cheers for the Democratic mayor of South Bend, Indiana, was Renee Ferguson, the longtime broadcast journalist who retired from NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 in 2008. Continue reading →

Eddie Volkman

Robservations on the media beat:

It didn't take long for Eddie Volkman to land on his feet. Just days after the sale of northwest suburban classic rocker WFXF 103.9-FM cost him his job as morning personality, the longtime Chicago radio star has been hired by WSSR 96.7-FM, the Alpha Media southwest suburban adult-contemporary station. Starting today, he'll program Star 96.7 as content manager and double as afternoon host from 2 to 7 p.m. weekdays. Volkman succeeds Scott Childers, who exited the station after 15 years last week. “It’s a shame I won’t be working with my longtime friend Scott Childers," he said. "We go all the way back to when he was 'Rich Scott' doing traffic for us on B96. He has built a solid station here, and it will be an honor to inject some new energy into the operation." In the latest Nielsen Audio survey, Star 96.7 tied for 36th place with a 0.3 percent share. Continue reading →

Crazy Howard McGee

It’s the biggest radio comeback of the year: Crazy Howard McGee, who was one of Chicago’s most popular morning stars before he lost his job to Steve Harvey, is about to join Chicago’s top-rated music station after a 12-year absence from the airwaves.

McGee has been hired as weekend and fill-in host at WVAZ 102.7-FM, the iHeartMedia urban adult-contemporary station known as V103. It’s the same company that owns urban contemporary WGCI 107.5-FM, where the irrepressible and charismatic personality spent 14 years, rising from part-time jock to middays, afternoons and then mornings. Continue reading →

WLS Radio engineers (1932)

Robservations on the media beat:

WLS 890 AM

On April 12, 1924, Sears, Roebuck and Company officially began broadcasting its new radio station from the Sherman House Hotel in Chicago, naming it WLS (for "World's Largest Store"). To mark its 95th year on the air, WLS 890-AM — now a conservative news/talk station owned by Cumulus Media — will host a daylong celebration on the air today. It will feature audio highlights from the station's illustrious past ("Oh, the humanity!") and interviews with former personalities and station bosses, including John Records Landecker and Roe Conn with morning host Mancow Muller, and John Gehron, Mick Kahler, Jeff Davis, Garry Meier, Tom Tradup, Phil Duncan, Tim Sabean and Landecker with late-afternoon host Big John Howell. Continue reading →