{"id":16720,"date":"2018-02-01T14:00:09","date_gmt":"2018-02-01T20:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=16720"},"modified":"2018-02-01T14:08:19","modified_gmt":"2018-02-01T20:08:19","slug":"robservations-wxrt-unplugs-jazz-transfusion-43-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2018\/02\/01\/robservations-wxrt-unplugs-jazz-transfusion-43-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Robservations: WXRT unplugs \u2018Jazz Transfusion\u2019 after 43 years"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

<\/a> Barry Winograd (Photo: WDCB)<\/p><\/div>\n

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

\u201cJazz Transfusion,\u201d <\/a>a Sunday night staple on WXRT FM 93.1 <\/a>for 43 years, is vanishing from the Entercom adult album alternative station. This weekend marks the final broadcast of the jazz showcase, which airs from 11 p.m. Sunday to 1 a.m. Monday. Since 1986 it has been hosted each week by Barry Winograd.<\/strong> \u201cBarry Winograd will always be a part of the WXRT family, and we are keeping our relationship alive to hopefully have Barry return to the airwaves in the future for special features and special programming in the jazz genre,\u201d Greg Solk,<\/strong> operations manager and program director of WXRT, told staffers Thursday. Starting February 11, Sunday nights will be hosted by \u2019XRT newcomer Don Davis,<\/strong> according to Solk. Said Winograd: \u201cThirty-two years doing commercial jazz on \u2019XRT, it\u2019s pretty amazing, I think. It\u2019s been a privilege to present music to people who wouldn\u2019t have otherwise been exposed to it any other way.\u201d Winograd, who was born in Chicago and\u00a0grew up in Evanston, continues to host a weekday jazz show on the College of DuPage\u2019s WDCB FM 90.9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. He also hosts \u201cWhen Jazz Was King\u201d from 10 to 11 a.m. Saturdays on WDCB.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Kerry Lester<\/p><\/div>\n

Kerry Lester,<\/strong> former political editor, columnist and senior writer at the Daily Herald, is making headlines<\/a> again. This time it\u2019s for her new book, No, My Place: Reflections on sexual harassment in Illinois government and politics. <\/a><\/em>Self-published this week and available on Amazon Digital Services,<\/a> the book reveals inappropriate and sexist behavior endured by the state's most powerful women, including Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan,<\/strong> Cook County State\u2019s Attorney Kim Foxx<\/strong> and Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia.<\/strong> \u201cIn the more than two dozen interviews I conducted for this book, not a single woman who experienced harassment felt that there were appropriate mechanisms in place to report and address a problem,\u201d Lester writes. \u201cOften, she just put up with it, hoping with time the dynamics would change.\u201d Lester took a buyout in November from the Daily Herald, where she worked since 2006.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Chuck Swirsky<\/p><\/div>\n

Veteran sportscaster Chuck Swirsky,<\/strong> longtime radio voice of the Chicago Bulls, reacted with cheerful optimism to news that he\u2019s changing channels. Effective Saturday, Bulls broadcasts are moving <\/a>to Entercom sports\/talk WSCR AM 670<\/a> from Cumulus Media news\/talk WLS AM 890. \u201cThe communications industry, as in life, is never a straight line. The challenges, joys and end results make our business fascinating yet unpredictable as well,\u201d Swirsky wrote on Facebook.<\/a> \u201cA flip of the switch in mid-season may not be unprecedented but in my forty years of broadcasting I\u2019ve never experienced anything like this.\u201d To his new colleagues at The Score, Swirsky added: \u201cI will go through a brick wall for you. You are family now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Colin McMahon<\/p><\/div>\n

Look for several major personnel shifts in the Chicago Tribune<\/a> newsroom in the weeks ahead under publisher and editor-in-chief Bruce Dold.<\/strong> Among them will be a new role in the tronc hierarchy for associate editor Colin McMahon,<\/strong> who\u2019s been overseeing the Tribune\u2019s entertainment and lifestyle departments as well as its editing and presentation teams since 2015. A tronc spokeswoman confirmed Thursday that McMahon \u201cis working on a variety of projects across the company that will help us accelerate digital transformation and working with product team on ARC [digital publishing platform], while maintaining some near-term role in Chicago Tribune newsroom.\u201d McMahon, a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, joined the Tribune in 1987 as a copy editor and later served as a reporter, foreign correspondent, foreign editor, national content editor and cross media editor.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Harvey Wittenberg<\/p><\/div>\n

The remarkable Harvey Wittenberg,<\/strong> now in his 60th year in Chicago radio, says he\u2019s ready to take a break. He\u2019s stepping down this weekend as senior account manager at Hubbard Radio classic rock WDRV FM 97.1,<\/a> where he\u2019s worked for 17 years. But he insists he\u2019s not retiring. The 81-year-old Wittenberg will continue as press box announcer for the Chicago Blackhawks. \u201cOutside of that, I will keep busy doing some charity work and see where I can be of assistance in other areas,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s best comment:<\/a> Mark McDermott:<\/strong> Used to be the common wisdom that sports teams were a bad fit for sports stations because they might be seen as compromising the \"journalistic integrity\" of those stations. But now with every radio stations' announcers doing commercial for dollar shae clubs, mattress stores, and the people who painted their house, I guess that's no longer a concern.\u00a0\"The pitcher pauses to scratch himself under his supporter. This scratch is brought to you by Gold Bond medicated powder . . .\"<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robservations on the media beat: \u201cJazz Transfusion,\u201d a Sunday night staple on WXRT FM 93.1 for 43 years, is vanishing from the Entercom adult album alternative station. This weekend marks the final broadcast of the jazz showcase, which airs from 11 p.m. Sunday to 1 a.m. Monday. Since 1986 it has been hosted each week... 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\/16720"}],"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=16720"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16733,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16720\/revisions\/16733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}