{"id":11682,"date":"2016-06-21T06:00:41","date_gmt":"2016-06-21T11:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=11682"},"modified":"2016-06-21T08:27:56","modified_gmt":"2016-06-21T13:27:56","slug":"robservations-wcgo-is-back-on-its-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2016\/06\/21\/robservations-wcgo-is-back-on-its-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Robservations: WCGO back on its game"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Daniel<\/a>

<\/a> Daniel French<\/p><\/div>\n

Robservations on the media beat:<\/p>\n

\"Chuck<\/a>

Chuck Duncan<\/p><\/div>\n

In a rare victory for local ownership, Kovas Communications has pulled the plug on its time brokerage arrangement with Arizona-based Anthem Broadcasting and retaken control of programming on north suburban news\/talk and foreign-language station WCGO AM 1590.<\/a> The deal with Anthem, which had been in effect since January and included a purchase option for the station, was voided by mutual agreement, according to Chuck Duncan,<\/strong> who continues as general manager. Gone is syndicated host Rusty Humphries<\/strong> and the other shows Anthem imported.\u00a0As of Monday, WCGO\u2019s weekday afternoon lineup features \u201cThe Small Business Advocate\u201d with Jim Blasingame<\/strong> from noon to 2 p.m., \u201cThe Kate Dalley<\/strong> Show\u201d from 2 to 4 p.m., and Daniel French\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cEveryday with French and Friends\u201d from 4 to 7 p.m. \u201cOur focus remains to build the station's relevance from the ground floor among the primary communities we serve and continue to expand each adjoining community from there,\u201d Duncan said.<\/p>\n

\"Bob<\/a>

Bob Smith<\/p><\/div>\n

Bob Smith,<\/strong> the affable and multitalented Chicago broadcaster who co-hosted the weekly magazine show \u201cSorting It Out\u201d with future \u201cCheers\u201d star Shelley Long,<\/strong> died Sunday after complications from surgery. He was 84. Smith, who began as a sportswriter for the former Chicago Daily News, shifted to television in 1966 when he joined NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5<\/a> as a sportscaster. He later worked as editorial director and as co-host, producer and writer of \u201cSorting It Out,\u201d which ran from 1972 to 1976. In 1977, he moved to CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2<\/a> as executive producer of programming. Winner of 15 local Emmy Awards, Smith also served as president of the Chicago chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.<\/p>\n

\"Walter<\/a>

Walter Podrazik<\/p><\/div>\n

The history of American television in the \u201990s \u2014 \u201cfrom O.J. Simpson<\/strong> to \u2018The Simpsons,\u2019 from Jerry Seinfeld<\/strong> to Jon Stewart<\/strong>\u201d \u2014 is the subject of a new, open-ended exhibition at Chicago\u2019s Museum of Broadcast Communications,<\/a> 360 North State Street. Written by museum curator and eminent media historian Walter Podrazik,<\/strong> \u201cWatching TV in the 1990s\u201d<\/a> celebrates \u201cthe last decade of a media world in which television sets still occupied a central role across generations of viewers, who were usually watching television at home.\u201d In conjunction with the exhibit, the museum will host a series of Saturday afternoon public programs.<\/p>\n

\"Scott<\/a>

Scott Smith<\/p><\/div>\n

Scott Smith,<\/strong> former editorial director at Weigel Broadcasting's short-lived\u00a0TouchVision<\/a> and a prominent commentator on digital and social strategies, has landed as director of editorial content at TeamWorks Media,<\/a> a Chicago-based content marketing, social media and branding company. Smith, who also blogs at ourmaninchicago.net,<\/a> previously was vice president of content marketing at Cramer-Krasselt advertising and director of digital strategy at\u00a0Chicago magazine.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"tronc\"<\/a>History will note that tronc<\/a>\u00a0came into being on June 17, 2016 at 4:15 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, according to a filing<\/a>\u00a0with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. If the new name for the former Tribune Publishing isn\u2019t enough to make you cringe, then surely the \u201cintroductory video\"<\/a> released Monday will do the trick. Typical reactions: \u201cTronc threatens a nightmare hellscape of video content in new warning to employees,\u201d mocked Casey Newton<\/strong> in The Verge.<\/a> Slate\u2019s<\/a> Jordan Weissmann<\/strong> called it \u201ca horror \u2014 an unrelenting circular saw of vapid media-consultant clich\u00e9s.\u201d Chicagoist\u2019s <\/a>Tankboy (Jim Kopeny<\/strong>) said it was \u201cfilled with so much jargon and doublespeak we're still unclear on what, exactly, tronc will do. According to the video, tronc will \u2018harness the power of our local journalism, feed it into a funnel, and then optimize it so we reach the biggest global audience possible.\u2019 But what is that? Sounds more like a meat grinder than a media company.\u201d See for yourself:<\/p>\n