{"id":11777,"date":"2016-06-30T06:00:50","date_gmt":"2016-06-30T11:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=11777"},"modified":"2016-06-30T06:15:52","modified_gmt":"2016-06-30T11:15:52","slug":"robservations-nbc-5-promotes-alex-maragos-to-morning-co-anchor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2016\/06\/30\/robservations-nbc-5-promotes-alex-maragos-to-morning-co-anchor\/","title":{"rendered":"Robservations: NBC 5 promotes Alex Maragos to morning co-anchor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Andy<\/a>

<\/a> Andy Avalos, Alex Maragos, Zoraida Sambolin and Kye Martin<\/p><\/div>\n

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

Alex Maragos,<\/strong> who\u2019s been filling in alongside Zoraida Sambolin<\/strong> as morning news anchor at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 <\/a>since March, just landed the gig for keeps. \u201cHe\u2019s done a terrific job in the role, and I am delighted that we are able to make the assignment permanent,\u201d Frank Whittaker,<\/strong> station manager and vice president of news at NBC 5, told staffers Wednesday. The Chicago native and graduate of Loyola Academy in Wilmette and Washington and Lee University in Virginia replaces Stefan Holt,<\/strong> who left <\/a>for WNBC in New York. Maragos made news last August with his 184-market jump<\/a> from West Lafayette, Indiana, to NBC 5 in Chicago. \u201cNBC 5 News Today\u201d airs from 4 to 7 a.m. weekdays with Sambolin, Maragos, meteorologist Andy Avalos<\/strong> and traffic reporter Kye Martin.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/a>

Michael Sneed<\/p><\/div>\n

Michael Sneed,<\/strong> the Sun-Times <\/a>warhorse and queen of Chicago gossip columnists, wasted no time Wednesday showing her new competitors who\u2019s boss. On the day the Chicago Tribune<\/a> unveiled its new Chicago Inc. column<\/a> with a report on whether Mike Ditka<\/strong> was or wasn\u2019t invited to boost Donald Trump<\/strong> at the Republican National Convention, Sneed one-upped her old paper by getting Ditka and Trump together on the phone for a three-way conference call. Trump invited. Ditka declined. Sneed won. <\/a>Rookie columnist Kim Janssen<\/strong> later updated<\/a> his Chicago Inc. story \u2014 and blew a kiss <\/a>to his \u201cnew so-called rival\u201d Sneed via Twitter.<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/a>

Steve Robinson<\/p><\/div>\n

For the first time a Chinese orchestra will be heard in a multi-part radio series in the West. Chicago-based WFMT Radio Network<\/a> announced the historic deal Wednesday with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra<\/a> to produce and distribute 13 two-hour programs, starting this January. The series will be distributed to stations throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. \u201cI\u2019m so delighted that the WFMT Radio Network will be able to bring performances by this great Chinese orchestra to audiences in the United States and around the world,\u201d WFMT general manager Steve Robinson<\/strong> said in a statement. The programs represent a continuation of the exchange of classical music radio programs between America and China that began in January 2015, he added.<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/a>

Paul Lisnek<\/p><\/div>\n

Paul Lisnek,<\/strong>\u00a0political analyst for Tribune Media WGN-Channel 9<\/a> and host of \u201cPolitics Tonight\u201d on CLTV,<\/a> has launched a weekly podcast on Chicago theater, the arts and politics.\u00a0\u201cBehind the Curtain\u201d<\/a>\u00a0is the latest addition to the lineup on WGNPlus.com. <\/a>\u201cI recognize that WGN fans know me essentially for politics, and I am very excited that WGNPlus gives me the opportunity to spread my wings into another area of great interest to me \u2014 theater and the arts,\u201d Lisnek said. \u201cIt\u2019s a natural way for me to expand my role within the WGN family through a new and growing platform. The pleasure of a podcast is stretching barriers and limits, going in-depth, but without having to watch the clock because it\u2019s time for a hard commercial break.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rich<\/a>

Rich Warren<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cSweet Folk Chicago\u201d <\/a>has come to a bitter end after six years. Hosted and produced by Rich Warren,<\/strong> the weekly showcase for local folk performers, venues and events aired for last time Saturday on WFMT FM 98.7,<\/a>\u00a0the Window to the World Communications classical music station. Starting this weekend, \u201cFiesta\u201d will move to 7 p.m. Saturdays, followed by \u201cFolkstage\u201d at 8 p.m. and \u201cThe Midnight Special\u201d at 9 p.m., according to David Polk,<\/strong> program director of WFMT. \u201cIt was a fine program with a devoted audience that will no doubt be disappointed,\u201d Polk said of \u201cSweet Folk Chicago.\u201d \u201cI liked it, too. Unfortunately, it never found a broad enough audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Scott<\/a>

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

Scott Kleinberg,<\/strong> former social media editor of the Chicago Tribune, has quit after just eight weeks as social media director for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.<\/strong> \"I tried to stick it out, but it was impossible,\" he wrote in a Facebook post quoted by DNAInfo New York.<\/a> \"I don't even know the word quit, but for the sake of my health and my sanity, I decided I needed to do just that.\u201d He added: \"I ended up with political hacks plus a boss who just couldn't get it. It was a bad combination for sure.\" Before Kleinberg left here in April, the Brooklyn native spent 11 years in Chicago, starting as senior news editor of RedEye <\/a>and becoming the Tribune\u2019s social media maven in 2011.<\/p>\n

\"Katie<\/a>

Katie O'Brien<\/p><\/div>\n

Katie O\u2019Brien,<\/strong> a top news producer at WBEZ FM 91.5,<\/a> is leaving the Chicago Public Media station after six years. Since joining the station from The Onion's A.V. Club<\/a> as an intern for the former \u201cEight Forty-Eight\u201d morning show, she rose to reporter, producer and editor of the news desk. \u201cKatie is a rock-star producer,\u201d Rob Wildeboer,<\/strong> senior editor of news, told staffers. \u201cHaving done it all, she\u2019s been thinking for the last few months about what she wants to do next. It\u2019s not super clear yet what that might be so she\u2019s taking a leap and I have every confidence she\u2019ll be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robservations on the media beat: Alex Maragos, who\u2019s been filling in alongside Zoraida Sambolin as morning news anchor at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 since March, just landed the gig for keeps. \u201cHe\u2019s done a terrific job in the role, and I am delighted that we are able to make the assignment permanent,\u201d Frank Whittaker, station manager... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11777"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11777"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11788,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11777\/revisions\/11788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}