{"id":16640,"date":"2018-01-25T06:00:31","date_gmt":"2018-01-25T12:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=16640"},"modified":"2018-01-25T06:05:42","modified_gmt":"2018-01-25T12:05:42","slug":"robservations-no-anchor-sight-wgn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2018\/01\/25\/robservations-no-anchor-sight-wgn\/","title":{"rendered":"Robservations: No anchor in sight for WGN"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/a> WGN<\/p><\/div>\n

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

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Mark Suppelsa<\/p><\/div>\n

More than five months after Mark Suppelsa<\/strong> announced <\/a>he was retiring from WGN-Channel 9,<\/a> the Tribune Broadcasting station still hasn\u2019t found a replacement for its top anchorman. News director Jennifer Lyons<\/strong> confirmed that there would not be a successor in place for the February rating sweep, which starts next Thursday. As the anchor search goes on, a variety of insiders have been filling in alongside Micah Materre<\/strong> at 5, 6, 9 and 10 p.m. WGN continues to hold a wide lead over Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32 at 9 p.m., according to Nielsen figures for January.<\/p>\n

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Sam Panayotovich<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s Viva Las Vegas for Sam Panayotovich,<\/strong> who\u2019s signing off after six years as weekend sports anchor and sports reporter at Tribune Broadcasting WGN AM 720<\/a> and the voice of UIC Flames men\u2019s basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball. He\u2019s been hired as a host for VSiN <\/a>(Vegas Stats & Information Network), starting February 5. Based at the South Point Hotel Casino and Spa in Las Vegas, the network dedicated to sports gambling information was launched by Chicagoan Brian Musburger.<\/strong> It stars Musburger\u2019s uncle, legendary sportscaster Brent Musburger.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Will Ferrell as Harry Caray<\/p><\/div>\n

Chicago\u2019s Museum of Broadcast Communications<\/a> responded to an urgent call this week from \u201cSaturday Night Live.\u201d With Will Ferrell<\/strong> set to host this weekend\u2019s show, producers needed to secure his original costumes as Harry Caray<\/strong> and the Spartan cheerleader. Both have been on display as part of the yearlong \u201cSaturday Night Live: The Experience\u201d<\/a> exhibit at the museum. \u201cIt was all very confidential and hush-hush,\u201d said Justin Kulovsek,<\/strong> the museum\u2019s vice president of innovation. \u201cI had to use protective gloves and wrap each item in plastic and take photos of the garments before boxing them up and sending them off to New York.\u201d The two costumes are expected to be back on display in Chicago next week.<\/p>\n

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Jon Greenberg<\/p><\/div>\n

There were plenty of skeptics when founding editor Jon Greenberg<\/strong> launched The Athletic,<\/a> a subscription website aimed at covering professional and college sports \u201cwith thought-provoking writing and enlightening statistics.\u201d That was two years ago this week. Today it\u2019s thriving with sites in Chicago, the Bay Area, Cleveland, Detroit, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and seven cities in Canada. With the addition of famed baseball insider Ken Rosenthal<\/strong> (and recently hired Chicago beat writers Patrick Mooney, Dan Hayes, Darnell Mayberry, Kevin Fishbain<\/strong> and James Fegan<\/strong>), January is on pace to be the site\u2019s biggest subscription month ever.<\/p>\n

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Rick Klein<\/p><\/div>\n

A tip of the hat to Rick Klein,<\/strong> president and chief curator of the nonprofit Museum of Classic Chicago Television,<\/a> which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. It\u2019s been a true labor of love for the devoted video preservationist, who\u2019s planning a redesign of his FuzzyMemories.TV<\/a> website later this year. Klein\u2019s YouTube page boasts 25,000 subscribers and more than 30 million total video views since its inception. The latest gem is a rare color kinescope<\/a> of a 1971 newscast on ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7, featuring Fahey Flynn, Joel Daly<\/strong> and meteorologist John Coleman.<\/strong><\/p>\n