<\/a>Ron Magers<\/p><\/div>\n
Ron Magers,<\/strong> arguably the best Chicago anchorman of all time, retired from ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7<\/strong> after 35 years on the air here. The outpouring of respect for him underscored the end of an era for local television news. Other notables who retired during the year included Linda Yu, Robert Jordan, Rich King, Jay Levine, Mike Parker<\/strong> and Gerry Kern.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n- WGN-Channel 9<\/strong> lived up to its brand as \u201cChicago\u2019s Very Own\u201d when the Tribune Media flagship dropped its affiliation with the CW Network<\/strong> and became a full-time local independent. The result was more news, more sports and interminable reruns of \u201cTwo and a Half Men\u201d in primetime. CW promptly changed channels to Fox-owned WPWR-Channel 50.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n- CBS Radio,<\/strong> owner of seven of Chicago\u2019s blue-chip stations (including top-rated all-news combo WBBM AM 780<\/strong> and WCFS FM 105.9<\/strong> ), announced plans to spin off its entire station group through an initial public offering. Established in 1928 by Chicago-born William S. Paley,<\/strong> the CBS empire had been built on the radio business it would now jettison.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n- Ebony magazine<\/strong> cut its 71-year ties to Chicago when Johnson Publishing<\/strong> sold the legendary African-American monthly magazine to a private equity firm in Austin, Texas. Included in the deal was Jet magazine, which earlier had converted to a strictly digital format.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n- Pressures for higher profits at Crain\u2019s Chicago Business<\/strong> led to the surprise resignations of publisher David Snyder,<\/strong> a 33-year veteran of the company, and associate publisher Lisa Emerick.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n- Chicago\u2019s Better Government Association<\/strong> endured a tumultuous year that included a major staff shakeup and a vote to unionize reporters. But the nonprofit investigative news organization achieved a tremendous victory by securing the release of thousands of private messages regarding city business from Mayor Rahm Emanuel\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0personal email accounts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n- Paddock Publications,<\/strong> owner of the Daily Herald,<\/strong> defied industry trends by expanding outside its core suburban market and investing in print publications throughout Downstate Illinois. The privately held company acquired 12 daily and weekly newspapers from GateHouse Media, and four weekly newspapers and a printing plant in central Illinois from Gold Nugget Publications.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n- On the eve of its 25th anniversary as Chicago\u2019s original sports\/talk station, WSCR AM 670<\/strong> rode the Chicago Cubs<\/strong> historic World Series victory to top ratings and revenue. While The Score basked in its good fortune, WGN AM 720 (which had been radio home of the Cubs for the better part of 90 years) could only listen in from next door.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n- Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32<\/strong> became a worldwide laughingstock after the executive producer of \u201cGood Day Chicago\u201d ordered female reporters not to wear hats<\/a> during outdoor live shots in winter. The producer blamed Fox 32\u2019s news director for the idiotic edict, which was later rescinded. Within a few months, both men were gone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For four years as owner of the Sun-Times, Michael Ferro failed to deliver on his promises of growth and innovation. While meddling in editorial affairs, selling off the company\u2019s suburban assets and cutting jobs (including the entire photo staff), he wasted millions on ill-conceived digital ventures and other products that tanked. No wonder he had... 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\/13059"}],"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=13059"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13074,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13059\/revisions\/13074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}