Brian Babylon
Brian Babylon, the Chicago-born stand-up comic, radio host and self-proclaimed “Prince of Bronzeville,” is going Hollywood.
Babylon, who signed off last month as host of Vocalo’s “The Morning AMp,” has been named social media producer for “Why? With Hannibal Buress,” a new weekly series on Comedy Central, to be produced in Los Angeles and set to debut in July. Continue reading
Bobby Skafish
Chicago rock radio veteran Bobby Skafish is out after eight years as afternoon personality at Hubbard Radio classic hits WDRV FM 97.1. His last day on the air was Thursday.
No reason was cited for the move, but The Drive’s afternoon ratings have not kept pace with mornings and middays among the station’s target audience. Continue reading
Alexa Helms
The question isn’t why Alexa Helms is leaving after one year at WFLD-Channel 32. It’s why the Fox-owned station’s bosses hired her in the first place.
Fox 32 general manager Dennis Welsh and news director Tom Doerr will have that and a lot of other boneheaded blunders to answer for someday. (I mean that figuratively since neither one ever responds to questions or even acknowledges media inquiries.) Continue reading
Harpo Studios
In April, Oprah Winfrey auctioned off her antique furniture, china, candlesticks and other household items from her Water Tower condo. Now her cameras, microphones and teleprompters are on the block, too.
Friday marks the opening of an online auction of used broadcast equipment from Winfrey’s Harpo Studios in the West Loop. It’s a vast array of top-quality gear that’s expected to generate millions of dollars from buyers around the world, according to ReelChicago.com. Continue reading
Ryan "Jordan" Gorman
It’s over and out for Ryan Gorman after five years as afternoon personality at iHeartMedia Top 40 WKSC FM 103.5.
Gorman, who was known on the air as “Jordan,” was removed from the Kiss FM lineup and the station’s website Wednesday. No reason was cited for the move by management. Continue reading
Niala Boodhoo
In a move that cuts local programming in half on its Monday-through-Friday lineup, public radio WBEZ FM 91.5 has canceled “The Afternoon Shift” and parted company with its host.
Niala Boodhoo is out after five years at the Chicago Public Media news/talk station. A former business reporter, Boodhoo succeeded founding host Steve Edwards and interim host Rick Kogan in 2013 on “The Afternoon Shift,” which aired from 2 to 4 p.m. weekdays. Continue reading
Tribune Tower
Ten editorial staffers were among 25 Chicago Tribune employees whose positions were eliminated Wednesday in a sweeping move to cut costs and shift resources to digital operations.
The company did not specify the jobs affected, but sources said the newsroom layoffs included photo editor Chuck Berman, sports digital editor Stu Courtney, photo imager Eric Davis, sports copy editor Robert Foltman, associate sports editor Lee Gordon, sports copy editor Mike Pankow, metro planning editor Chris Rickett and video reporter/columnist Jenniffer Weigel. Two other editorial staffers could not be confirmed. Continue reading
Tisha Lewis
After more than four years as a reporter and fill-in news anchor at Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32, Tisha Lewis is leaving to join the Fox station in Washington, D.C.
WTTG-TV is expected to announce her hiring later this month, sources said. The move will mark a homecoming for Lewis, who grew up outside of Washington in northern Virginia. Continue reading
Tony Sculfield
The latest round of musical chairs among Chicago’s urban radio stations played out Monday with the hiring of Tony Sculfield to host evenings at Crawford Broadcasting urban adult-contemporary WSRB FM 106.3.
Starting June 15, Sculfield will be heard from 6 to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday. Until he was released last December, he had been morning personality for more than five years at iHeartMedia urban contemporary WGCI FM 107.5. Continue reading
November 22, 1963
Among the most fascinating and enduring suspicions of the Kennedy assassination is that organized crime bosses from Chicago somehow played a role in the murder of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963.
Fifty-two years later that theory is coming to the stage as “Assassination Theater: Chicago’s Role in the Crime of The Century,” a dramatization based on the work of Hillel Levin, an investigative reporter, author and former editor of Chicago magazine. Continue reading