{"id":13198,"date":"2017-01-17T13:00:43","date_gmt":"2017-01-17T19:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=13198"},"modified":"2017-01-17T13:18:53","modified_gmt":"2017-01-17T19:18:53","slug":"robservations-mix-renews-eric-kathy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2017\/01\/17\/robservations-mix-renews-eric-kathy\/","title":{"rendered":"Robservations: The Mix renews morning stars Eric & Kathy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Eric<\/a>

<\/a> Eric Ferguson and Kathy Hart<\/p><\/div>\n

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

Chicago radio\u2019s favorite morning couple have renewed their pact with their loyal audience. Hubbard Radio Chicago announced Tuesday that Radio Hall of Famers Eric Ferguson<\/strong> and Kathy Hart<\/strong> have signed multiyear agreements to continue hosting mornings at hot adult-contemporary WTMX FM 101.9.<\/a> Now in their 20th year at The Mix, Eric & Kathy are still No. 1 among advertiser-coveted 25-to-54-year-old adults. Both are Chicago area natives. \"I'm excited to continue to call The Mix and Hubbard Radio home,\u201d Ferguson said. \u201cAfter so many years of great support, I could never imagine being anywhere else. I've been with Drew Horowitz<\/strong> since my first day in Chicago, and getting the opportunity to work for Ginny Morris, Dave Bestler<\/strong>\u00a0and the entire Hubbard family has been a blessing. Please let them know I'm planning on doing 20 more years.\"<\/p>\n

\"Todd<\/a>

Todd Manley<\/p><\/div>\n

Some familiar Chicago voices are now being heard along with Alexa,<\/a> Amazon\u2019s voice recognition platform. Amazon Echo users who set Chicago as their preference now get updates in \u201cAlexa flash briefings\u201d directly from news anchors at WGN AM 720,<\/a> the Tribune Broadcasting news\/talk station. \u201cOur goal is to have WGN in every media eco-system,\u201d said Todd Manley,<\/strong> vice president of content and programming at WGN. \u201cI\u2019m just grateful the digital team Larry Wert<\/strong> has assembled is so relentless when it comes to that mission.\u201d Wert oversees WGN as president of broadcast media for Tribune Broadcasting.<\/p>\n

\"Brian<\/a>

Brian Hieggelke<\/p><\/div>\n

Big changes are in the works for Newcity, <\/a>the venerable alternative weekly arts and public-affairs magazine and website. Editor and publisher Brian Hieggelke<\/strong> is telling friends he plans to announce \u201can evolution in our format\u201d to coincide with the upcoming 31st anniversary edition of the publication. Hieggelke, who\u2019s been running Newcity since he founded the weekly with his wife Jan<\/strong> in 1986, spent much of last year working on production of \u201cSignature Move,\u201d an indie romantic comedy set in Chicago. The film will make its world premiere this March at the South By Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/a>

Tom Corfman<\/p><\/div>\n

Veteran Chicago journalist Tom Corfman,<\/strong> who led coverage of government and politics as assistant managing editor for Crain\u2019s Chicago Business <\/a>until he was laid off <\/a>last November, has joined the staff of Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas<\/strong> as spokesman. Corfman first joined Crain\u2019s in 1997 and returned in 2006 after six years at the Chicago Tribune,<\/a> where he covered commercial real estate.<\/p>\n

\"Alexx<\/a>

Alexx Dupri<\/p><\/div>\n

Chicago winters apparently weren\u2019t cold enough for Alexx Dupri,<\/strong> who signed on Monday as morning host at KFAT in Anchorage, Alaska. Most recently heard in San Francisco, the Chicago native worked for iHeartMedia urban contemporary WGCI FM 107.5 <\/a>and Top 40 WKSC FM 103.5,<\/a> and for Crawford Broadcasting urban contemporary WPWX FM 92.3 <\/a>and urban adult-contemporary WSRB FM 106.3.<\/a> \u201cI\u2019m so honored to be one of the extremely few women in this industry to lead her own morning radio show,\u201d Dupri said of her new gig. \u201cWhile I've been a morning co-host in both Chicago and San Francisco, this goes beyond taking it to the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Darlene<\/a>

Darlene Hill<\/p><\/div>\n

Darlene Hill,<\/strong> \u201cGood Day Chicago\u201d morning news anchor at Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32,<\/a> is expected back on the air by month\u2019s end, according to station insiders. Hill has been out since before Christmas dealing with an undisclosed health issue. But she hasn\u2019t been completely silent. On January 10 Hill introduced President Barack Obama<\/strong> for his farewell address at McCormick Place.<\/p>\n

\"Allison<\/a>

Allison Rosati<\/p><\/div>\n

After 23 years of marriage, it\u2019s splitsville for Allison Rosati,<\/strong> longtime news anchor at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5, <\/a>and Dr. Lee Dennis,<\/strong> a diagnostic radiologist. The couple has four children. Rosati joined NBC 5 in 1990 and has been anchoring at 10 p.m. since 1997, making her the longest tenured late-news anchor in Chicago. Efforts to reach Rosati were not successful, and a representative declined to comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robservations on the media beat: Chicago radio\u2019s favorite morning couple have renewed their pact with their loyal audience. Hubbard Radio Chicago announced Tuesday that Radio Hall of Famers Eric Ferguson and Kathy Hart have signed multiyear agreements to continue hosting mornings at hot adult-contemporary WTMX FM 101.9. Now in their 20th year at The Mix,... 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\/13198"}],"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=13198"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13212,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13198\/revisions\/13212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}