Brad Saul

Motivated by his own 25-year battle with multiple sclerosis, Brad Saul founded the Radio Center for People With Disabilities, Chicago Disability Transit and other socially conscious enterprises that combined his passions for media and new technology.

The innovative and ambitious broadcast entrepreneur, who also created and headed WebTalkRadio.net, a thriving podcasting platform, and Matrix Media, a wide-ranging radio programming distributor, died Friday at his home in Chicago. He was 55. Continue reading →

Oprah Winfrey

Another round of Robservations on the media beat:

Twenty-three years after she stopped the presses on her autobiography, Oprah Winfrey is ready to set things straight. Macmillan’s Flatiron Books announced this week it will publish her inspirational memoir, titled The Life You Want, in January 2017. “I hope my story inspires other people to live the highest, fullest expression of themselves,” Winfrey said in a statement. At the height of her Chicago-based talk show’s popularity in 1993, she stunned the publishing world when she abruptly halted printing of her autobiography Oprah. Telling me at the time it was "the hardest decision I've ever had to make," she said: "The book, as written, does a really great job of chronicling the events of my life, but I wanted it to be more than a recitation of my life's events. . . . I wanted to offer some insight, some clarity and some wisdom that might benefit other people." Now she must think the time is right. Continue reading →

Steve Grzanich

Veteran Chicago radio newsman Steve Grzanich is joining Tribune Media news/talk WGN AM 720 where he’ll anchor an early morning business news hour and contribute to Steve Cochran’s morning show, starting January 4.

Best known for his 20 years as an anchor and reporter at CBS Radio all-news WBBM AM 780 and WCFS FM 105.9, Grzanich most recently has been a contributing reporter at Chicago-based Rivet Radio, a mobile app providing on-demand news to listeners worldwide. Continue reading →

Regine Schlesinger

Robservations on the media beat:

Chicago radio news anchor and reporter Regine Schlesinger, one of the best in the business, is retiring after more than 42 years at CBS Radio all-news WBBM AM 780 and WCFS FM 105.9. Schlesinger confirmed Wednesday that she plans to “step away from the five-day-a-week grind and give younger journalists a chance at the amazing opportunity I've enjoyed.” Straight out of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, Schlesinger began as a writer and producer at WBBM Newsradio in 1973. Six years later, she moved up to reporter and anchor.  Her decision to retire, effective early next year, will leave the door open for part-time anchoring. “My career has brought me great joy and satisfaction,” Schlesinger said. “I've been a witness to some of the most momentous events of my lifetime and have had the privilege of helping our wonderful listeners make sense of those events.” Continue reading →

WKCC

Chicago’s news/talk public radio station WBEZ FM 91.5 soon may be expanding its reach south to Kankakee and beyond.

Officials of Chicago Public Media confirmed Monday they’re looking into acquiring the license for WKCC FM 91.1, the Kankakee Community College public radio station that’s about to go off the air. Continue reading →

Phil Ponce

The longtime host of WTTW-Channel 11’s “Chicago Tonight” said he supports the right of producers at the public television station to join his union, but he declined to sign a petition last week endorsing their bid for recognition.

Phil Ponce’s signature was conspicuously absent from a letter to management of the Window to the World Communications station from on-air talent backing the effort to include the 13 full-time and part-time producers in the bargaining unit of the Screen Actors Guild/American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Continue reading →

Jerry Taft, Cheryl Burton, Ron Magers, Kathy Brock and Mark Giangreco

Mild November weather and addition of a fourth competitor at 10 p.m. helped tighten the battle over a dwindling Chicago television news audience in the latest Nielsen ratings sweep.

Sporting a brand new set and the city’s most familiar anchor lineup, ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7 again finished first in total viewership at 4, 5, 6 and 10 p.m. Monday through Friday. But its late news ratings were down 13 percent from one year ago, representing a net loss of more than 41,700 households. Continue reading →

Laquan McDonald video via ABC 7

Whatever misgivings Chicago television stations may have had about airing the Laquan McDonald video vanished Tuesday as soon as they got their hands on it.

Minutes after its release by the city following a late afternoon news conference with Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, the eagerly anticipated but much dreaded video could be found everywhere — on TV newscasts, on media websites, across social media and even on a Chicago Police Department YouTube upload. Continue reading →

Laquan McDonald medical examiner's report

Tuesday night update: The city of Chicago released the Laquan McDonald video late Tuesday. Local television stations aired excerpts on their evening newscasts.

On Wednesday the city of Chicago will release a squad car dashcam video showing the shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in October 2014.

It’s been described by people who have seen it as shocking, horrific and potentially explosive, documenting a white Chicago police officer shooting the African-American teenager 16 times — “the rounds hitting McDonald in the back, the legs, arms, neck and head, the bullets making the body jump again and again,” according to Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass. Continue reading →

Marc Silverman and Tom Waddle

When it comes to sports radio in Chicago, “Waddle & Silvy” are in a league of their own.

Tom Waddle and Marc Silverman, now in their 10th year together as the afternoon duo on ESPN Radio WMVP AM 1000, dominated the sports/talk genre in Nielsen Audio ratings released Monday. Continue reading →