WBEZ

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky has added her voice to protests over the cancellation of “Worldview,” the long-running international affairs talk show airing at noon Monday through Friday on WBEZ 91.5-FM.

The Chicago Public Media news/talk station has announced plans to drop “Worldview” when it launches a new local talk show from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays in October. The still-untitled replacement, to be hosted by Jenn White from “The Morning Shift,” is intended to shore up WBEZ's underperforming midday ratings. Continue reading →

Mary Mitchell

Mary Mitchell, a Chicago original and one of the premier African American opinion leaders in local journalism, is cutting back on her workload as a columnist and editorial board member at the Chicago Sun-Times.

Mitchell, 70, will reduce her output to two or three columns a month — down from two or three a week currently — but will continue to attend editorial board meetings, the Sun-Times announced today. The new arrangement takes effect August 1. Continue reading →

(Photo: Courtney Gousman)

Robservations on the media beat:

Courtney Gousman

Is this a racist image? The depiction of a noose over an automobile’s gas tank cover prompted a reporter for Tribune Broadcasting WGN-Channel 9 to say it made her “sick to my stomach.” “Saw this on the way home from work and it made me furious, afraid, and sick to my stomach,” Courtney Gousman wrote on Twitter and Facebook Sunday. “Given the history of the noose and how it was used to murder black Americans, this image speaks volumes — no matter how it's explained away because it's plastered on a gas tank. #wideawake.” When a white reader suggested Gousman was “just looking for a reason to be mad,” she replied: “The depiction of a noose was clear enough — gas pump or not. There are plenty of other symbols that could have accomplished this besides this hateful reminder.” Continue reading →

Walter Flakus

Robservations on the media beat:

Brian Phillips

Walter Flakus, assistant program director, music director and on-air host at WKQX 101.1-FM, is leaving the Cumulus Media alternative rock station to join KNDD in Seattle as assistant program director and afternoon host. "I guess now it’s time to invest in a rain jacket,” he said Monday. In addition to serving as evening personality from 7 p.m. to midnight weekdays, Flakus also hosted "Queued Up," a new music showcase from 7 to 9 p.m. Sundays. Earlier he worked as music director at The Loop and was a founding member of the band Stabbing Westward. Until a permanent replacement is named, evenings will be hosted by Brian Phillips, a fill-in host and former morning personality at 101 WKQX. Continue reading →

CBS 2 Chicago

Robservations on the media beat:

DirecTV

Just when you thought WBBM-Channel 2's ratings couldn't go any lower, the CBS-owned station can't even be seen in thousands of Chicago area homes. A dispute between CBS and AT&T has left thousands of DirecTV and U-verse viewers of CBS 2 in the dark. Chicago is one of 17 cities where CBS programming has been blacked out since early Saturday when the company's seven-year retransmission agreement expired. AT&T, which owns DirecTV and U-verse, said in a statement: “We had hoped to avoid any unnecessary interruption to any CBS-owned stations or national channels that some of our customers care about. But CBS refused.” CBS responded: “AT&T’s willingness to deprive its customers of valuable content has become routine over the last few weeks and months, and recent negotiations have regularly resulted in carriage disputes, blackouts and popular channels being removed from their service.” Earlier this month AT&T dropped carriage of 120 Nexstar Media Group TV stations in a similar dispute. Continue reading →

Dismantled WBBM transmitter tower in Itasca (Photo: Brian Hill)

Robservations on the media beat:

WBBM transmitter site (Photo: Scott Fybush)

Listeners aren't likely to tell the difference, but all-news WBBM 780-AM began broadcasting Thursday from a new radio tower just off Army Trail Road in Bloomingdale. In a move that took nearly two years to complete, the Entercom all-news station dismantled its former transmitter a few miles east in Itasca and sold the property to a developer for $46 million. (Here is the link to the video.) The nondescript white brick bunker and 680-foot radio tower in Itasca had been beaming WBBM’s signal since 1942. In Bloomingdale, the station now shares a transmitter site with Entercom sports/talk WSCR 670-AM. To comply with FCC requirements, the former 50,000-watt WBBM Newsradio has dropped to 35,000 watts during the daytime and 42,000 watts at night. No significant reduction in signal coverage is expected, according to the station. Continue reading →

Sam Alex

Sam Alex is living proof that radio dreams still come true.

Sixteen years after he started as an intern for a Chicago radio station, the northwest suburban native is the star of a nationally syndicated country music program. This week "The Sam Alex Show" began airing nightly from Nashville on stations across the country. Continue reading →

Jason Pullman

Two and a half months after WUSN 99.5-FM dropped the morning team of Doug Stylz and Justin Roman, the Entercom country music station is about to name their replacement.

Jason Pullman, former morning personality at WUBL in his native Atlanta, is expected to sign on at US99 early next month, according to insiders. Before his 10-year run in Atlanta, which ended in January, he was on the air in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Detroit, St. Louis and San Francisco. Continue reading →

Site of original WMBI transmitter in Addison (1927)

Robservations on the media beat:

Moody Chicago

WMBI 1110-AM, the radio flagship of Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute since 1926 and one of the oldest noncommercial Christian radio stations in the country, is on the block. It’s one of three AM stations being sold as the religious broadcaster focuses on expansion of its FM network and digital platforms. Also up for sale are WDLM in East Moline, Illinois, and WGNR in Anderson, Indiana. Greg Thornton, senior vice president of media for Moody Radio, said the decision reflects “the limitations of AM broadcasting today, including the limitation on many AM stations to only broadcast in the daytime, as well as the dramatic rise in digital/online/mobile listening.” He added: “Listeners in these cities will still hear Moody Radio broadcasting 24 hours a day on our strong FM signals.” (Here is the link to Thornton's full statement.) In Chicago Moody Radio continues to operate Christian ministry WMBI 90.1-FM. No buyer has been identified for the AM stations, according to a spokesman. Continue reading →

Alan Krashesky, Fritzie Weiss Fritzshall and Cardinal Blase Cupich at Auschwitz (Photo: ABC 7)

Over his 37 years as a news anchor and reporter for ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7, Alan Krashesky has traveled the world more times than he can recall. But few assignments affected him as deeply as his journey earlier this month to the Auschwitz death camp with Holocaust survivor Fritzie Weiss Fritzshall.

Fritzshall, 90, a Buffalo Grove resident and president of the board of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie, invited Krashesky to witness what was expected to be her last visit to the Nazi concentration camp where she was imprisoned as a 13-year-old girl. Continue reading →