{"id":13928,"date":"2017-04-17T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2017-04-17T14:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=13928"},"modified":"2017-04-17T10:08:16","modified_gmt":"2017-04-17T15:08:16","slug":"robservations-chicagos-changing-channels-spectrum-auction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2017\/04\/17\/robservations-chicagos-changing-channels-spectrum-auction\/","title":{"rendered":"Robservations: Chicago\u2019s changing channels after spectrum auction"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

<\/a> WYCC<\/p><\/div>\n

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

Back in November 2015 I first urged<\/a>\u00a0City Colleges of Chicago to put up for bid the over-the-air license of its little-watched noncommercial television station WYCC-Channel 20.<\/a> Mayor Rahm Emanuel<\/strong> initially nixed<\/a> the proposal before the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune and others pointed out that it wasn\u2019t such a bad idea.<\/a> Last week WYCC fetched $15.9 million in the FCC spectrum auction.<\/a> Among five other Chicago area stations in the auction were Fox-owned WPWR-Channel 50<\/a> ($160.7 million) and Telemundo Chicago WSNS-Channel 44<\/a> ($141.6 million). The nation\u2019s top bid was $304.2 million for Trinity Broadcasting Network\u2019s WWTO-Channel 35 <\/a>licensed to LaSalle, Illinois. Most are expected to continue operating on other stations' frequencies or digital subchannels. Over the next 39 months, some TV stations will transition to new channel assignments. (For more on the impact in Chicago, see TDogMedia\u2019s report here.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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DNAinfo<\/p><\/div>\n

No comment from our friends at DNAinfo Chicago<\/a> on an ominous published report that owner Joe Ricketts<\/strong> may pull the plug on the digital news venture if staffers unionize. Last week their counterparts in New York voted to join<\/a> the Writers Guild of America despite the veiled threat from management. \u201cDNAinfo has lost money since it began operations in 2009. Every single month has been a money-loser. It\u2019s never been profitable,\u201d read an internal email <\/a>published by the New York Daily News. \u201cMr. Ricketts has never taken a dime out of the business. . . . At some point, the business needs to be profitable or the investor calls it quits.\u201d Ricketts, patriarch of the family that owns the Chicago Cubs, founded DNAinfo in New York in 2009 and expanded to Chicago in 2012.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Hugh Dellios<\/p><\/div>\n

Hugh Dellios<\/strong> has resigned after seven years as Chicago news editor of Associated Press<\/a> to become deputy national editor for NPR,<\/a> based in Los Angeles. Dellios previously worked as foreign editor and correspondent for the Chicago Tribune.<\/a> He began his career at the Tribune as a metro desk intern.\u00a0While AP seeks a new chief for Illinois, Michigan and Indiana, Detroit-based news editor Roger Schneider<\/strong> will oversee coverage of the three-state region.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Craig Wall<\/p><\/div>\n

If Craig Wall<\/strong> knows where he\u2019s headed next, he\u2019s not letting on. Friday marked his last day at Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32,<\/a> where he\u2019s been a top-notch general assignment reporter for 19 years. By all accounts, his departure was entirely voluntary. \u201cI decided not to renew my contract and will be pursuing other options in and outside the news business,\u201d he told Facebook <\/a>friends. The University of Wisconsin graduate worked in Salisbury, Maryland; Lexington, Kentucky, and Salt Lake City before joining Fox 32 in 1998.<\/p>\n

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E. Jason Wambsgans<\/p><\/div>\n

Congratulations to E. Jason Wambsgans<\/strong> of the Chicago Tribune on winning the Pulitzer Prize <\/a>in feature photography. Wambsgans, who\u2019s been a staff photographer since 2002, was cited for images accompanying Mary Schmich\u2019s<\/strong> series on Tayvon Tanner,<\/strong> a 10-year-old boy who survived a shooting in Chicago. (Does anyone else appreciate the irony that Michael Ferro,<\/strong> the man who approved the firing of the entire photo department<\/a> at the Sun-Times in 2013, now heads Tribune parent company tronc<\/a>?)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Mike James<\/p><\/div>\n

A tip of the hat to two outstanding colleagues on the media beat: Mike James<\/strong> is calling it quits after 19 years as editor of NewsBlues.com, <\/a>the daily newsletter he founded to keep tabs on the local television news business. \u201cThe Surly Editor,\u201d as he calls himself, is shutting down June 16. But James says he\u2019s leaving the door open to launch \u201csomething brighter and newer and more modern.\u201d Also bowing out is Kevin Eck,<\/strong> editor of TV Spy, <\/a>the Adweek Network news site covering the inner workings of the local TV news industry. After five years on the job, Eck says he\u2019s quitting to join a high tech company.<\/p>\n

Sharp-eyed viewers caught an early glimpse of Fox 32\u2019s new news set the other night. Midway through the 9 p.m. newscast a director mistakenly revealed the new digs still under wraps (below). While a makeshift set has been in use for months, Fox 32 bosses hope to debut the new set officially by the end of April.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Fox 32<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robservations on the media beat: Back in November 2015 I first urged\u00a0City Colleges of Chicago to put up for bid the over-the-air license of its little-watched noncommercial television station WYCC-Channel 20. Mayor Rahm Emanuel initially nixed the proposal before the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune and others pointed out that it wasn\u2019t such a... 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\/13928"}],"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=13928"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13943,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13928\/revisions\/13943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}