{"id":22408,"date":"2019-07-19T06:00:43","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T11:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=22408"},"modified":"2019-07-19T07:34:24","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T12:34:24","slug":"robservations-wbbm-newsradio-starts-beaming-bloomingdale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2019\/07\/19\/robservations-wbbm-newsradio-starts-beaming-bloomingdale\/","title":{"rendered":"Robservations: WBBM Newsradio starts beaming from Bloomingdale"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/a> Dismantled WBBM transmitter tower in Itasca (Photo: Brian Hill)<\/p><\/div>\n

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

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WBBM transmitter site (Photo: Scott Fybush)<\/p><\/div>\n

Listeners aren't likely to tell the difference, but all-news WBBM 780-AM<\/a> began broadcasting Thursday from a new radio tower just off Army Trail Road in Bloomingdale. In a move that took nearly two years<\/a> to complete, the Entercom all-news station dismantled<\/a> its former transmitter a few miles east in Itasca and sold the property to a developer for $46 million. (Here is the link to the video.<\/a>) The nondescript white brick bunker and 680-foot radio tower in Itasca had been beaming WBBM\u2019s signal since 1942. In Bloomingdale, the station now shares a transmitter site with Entercom sports\/talk WSCR 670-AM. To comply with FCC requirements, the former 50,000-watt WBBM Newsradio has dropped to 35,000 watts during the daytime and 42,000 watts at night. No significant reduction in signal coverage is expected, according to the station.<\/p>\n

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Harold Baines<\/p><\/div>\n

On the eve of his induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame, White Sox legend Harold Baines<\/strong> will be the subject of two Chicago TV specials this weekend. Chuck Garfien<\/strong> will host \"Harold Baines: Welcome to Cooperstown\" at 9:30 tonight on NBC Sports Chicago<\/a> (with rebroadcasts at 11 a.m. and 4 and 9 p.m. Sunday); and Dan Roan<\/strong> will host \"Harold Baines: A Hall of Fame Tribute\" at 4:30 p.m. Saturday on Tribune Broadcasting WGN-Channel 9.<\/a> Another inductee, former Cubs relief pitcher Lee Smith,<\/strong> will be profiled in \"Lee Smith: A Hall of Fame Tribute,\" also hosted by Roan, at 12:30 p.m. Sunday on WGN.<\/p>\n

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Museum of Broadcast Communications<\/p><\/div>\n

After narrowing a wide field of candidates, Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Communications<\/a> is expected to name a new executive director any day now. The post has been vacant since Julian Jackson<\/strong> resigned after one year in March to accept a new position with Freeman Exhibit Solutions in Schiller Park. In the interim, operations at the museum have been overseen by Justin Kulovsek,<\/strong> vice president of innovation, while strategic planning and fundraising have been headed by board member Carol Summerfield.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Guglielmo Marconi<\/p><\/div>\n

Four Chicago radio stations were among finalists named Thursday for 2019 Marconi Radio Awards<\/a> by the National Association of Broadcasters. They were: Janda Lane's<\/strong> \"Behind the Song\" <\/a>on Hubbard Radio classic rock WDRV 97.1-FM in the Best Radio Podcast of the Year category; Hubbard Radio adult contemporary WSHE 100.3-FM in the AC Station of the Year category; iHeartMedia urban contemporary WGCI 107.5-FM in the Urban Station of the Year category; and Univision regional Mexican WOJO 105.1-FM in the Spanish Station of the Year category. The awards, named for wireless telegraphy inventor Guglielmo Marconi,<\/strong> will be presented September 26 at the NAB's 2019 Radio Show in Dallas.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s comment of the day:<\/a> Bruce DuMont:<\/strong> I remember Sam Alex as an energetic MBC [Museum of Broadcast Communications] volunteer who seemed focused and ready to learn. His success pleases me but does not surprise me.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robservations on the media beat: Listeners aren't likely to tell the difference, but all-news WBBM 780-AM began broadcasting Thursday from a new radio tower just off Army Trail Road in Bloomingdale. In a move that took nearly two years to complete, the Entercom all-news station dismantled its former transmitter a few miles east in Itasca... 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\/22408"}],"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=22408"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22419,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22408\/revisions\/22419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}