{"id":19525,"date":"2018-10-15T06:00:18","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T11:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=19525"},"modified":"2018-10-15T06:00:18","modified_gmt":"2018-10-15T11:00:18","slug":"happened-sun-times-podcasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2018\/10\/15\/happened-sun-times-podcasts\/","title":{"rendered":"What happened to those Sun-Times podcasts?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

<\/a> Rick Telander and Rick Morrissey (Photo: Rich Hein)<\/p><\/div>\n

It was only last February that the Sun-Times<\/a> hired<\/a> Jennifer Schulze, the former Chicago TV news director and wife of Sun-Times CEO Edwin Eisendrath, with \"really big plans\" in mind.<\/p>\n

As executive producer\/new media, Schulze was put in charge of new content development, including production of an ambitious series of weekly podcasts to be hosted by Sun-Times columnists and reporters. \"The best podcasts by some of the most interesting Chicagoans,\" was how the paper promoted them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re putting the full weight of the Sun-Times behind the podcasts,\u201d Carol Fowler, senior vice president of digital news products, told me<\/a> at the time. \u201cWe\u2019ve got really big plans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nine months later, Schulze is still on the job, but the podcasts are silent.<\/p>\n

No new episodes of \u201cThe Two Ricks: Unfiltered,\u201d<\/a> hosted by sports columnists Rick Telander and Rick Morrissey, have been produced since May. No new episodes of \u201cThe Zebra Sisters,\u201d<\/a> hosted by columnist Mary Mitchell and former reporter Leslie Baldacci, have been produced since June. No new episodes of \u201cOn the Beat,\u201d<\/a> hosted by Chicago Blackhawks beat reporter Mark Lazerus and Tracey Myers of NHL.com, <\/a>have been produced since July. (Lazerus left the Sun-Times in September.)<\/p>\n

Fowler confirmed the podcasts are not in production at this time. \u201cOverall, they didn\u2019t generate the audience we hoped, so we put them on hold over the summer,\u201d she said. \u201cMarket research we have underway now will inform where we go next.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about Schulze\u2019s status, Fowler said: \u201cPodcasts are actually a small part of her job,\u201d noting that Schulze continues as executive producer of \u201cThe Grid,\u201d<\/a> the weekly video series on area neighborhoods, hosted by Ji Suk Yi. Schulze also produces \u201cSun-Times ABC 7 Game Week,\u201d<\/a> a weekly livestream show on high school sports. \u201cThere\u2019s other things but those take most time,\u201d Fowler added.<\/p>\n

When it comes to digital ventures, the Sun-Times may have bigger problems to worry about for now. Following the Chicago Bears 31-28 overtime loss to the Miami Dolphins Sunday, the Sun-Times tweeted: \u201cBEARS WIN!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

The tweet was later deleted.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sun-Times tweet<\/p><\/div>\n

Friday's comment of the day:<\/a> Diann Burns:<\/strong> I appreciate your comments, Ken [Dietz], and for the opportunity to bring clarity. I actually never stopped working and continued to mentor young journalists since I left the air. And Rob can tell you I am usually enrolled in some kind of class, even while working full time, to keep my skills fresh in journalism and other areas of interest. Thank you for remembering me.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was only last February that the Sun-Times hired Jennifer Schulze, the former Chicago TV news director and wife of Sun-Times CEO Edwin Eisendrath, with \"really big plans\" in mind. As executive producer\/new media, Schulze was put in charge of new content development, including production of an ambitious series of weekly podcasts to be hosted... 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\/19525"}],"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=19525"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19537,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19525\/revisions\/19537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}