{"id":9780,"date":"2015-12-18T06:00:21","date_gmt":"2015-12-18T12:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=9780"},"modified":"2015-12-18T06:05:22","modified_gmt":"2015-12-18T12:05:22","slug":"robservations-chicago-tonight-producers-vote-on-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2015\/12\/18\/robservations-chicago-tonight-producers-vote-on-union\/","title":{"rendered":"Robservations: \u2018Chicago Tonight\u2019 producers vote on union"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"WTTW<\/a>

<\/a> WTTW studios<\/p><\/div>\n

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

In an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board, producers at WTTW-Channel 11\u2019s <\/a>\u201cChicago Tonight\u201d will vote Friday on union representation. At issue is whether full-time and part-time producers on the public television station\u2019s nightly news show will affiliate with the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. <\/a>\u201cWe have put a great deal of time into this campaign and we believe the unit is motivated to form a union and enjoy the protections of a collectively bargained agreement,\u201d said Eric Chaudron,<\/strong> executive director of Chicago SAG-AFTRA.\u00a0Management of Window to the World Communications declined to comment. SAG-AFTRA currently represents WTTW\u2019s on-air newsroom staff, announcers and pledge talent. Oddly, announcers at the company\u2019s commercial radio station, classical WFMT FM 98.7,<\/a> are not covered by a union.<\/p>\n

\"Dennis<\/a>

Dennis Welsh<\/p><\/div>\n

WFLD-Channel 32<\/a> announced plans Thursday to launch a weekend morning newscast early next year. Dennis Welsh,<\/strong> vice president and general manager of the Fox-owned station, told Crain\u2019s Chicago Business<\/a> the company was making \u201ca bigger commitment to news\u201d with the addition of shows from 7 to 9 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Fox 32 currently airs \u201cGood Day Chicago\u201d from 4:30 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Welsh did not identify talent for the newscasts, which are slated to start \u201cin late January or early February,\u201d according to Crain\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\"Kendall<\/a>

Kendall Gill<\/p><\/div>\n

More than two years after he was fired over a newsroom brawl, Kendall Gill<\/strong> returns to Comcast SportsNet Chicago<\/a> Friday as a studio analyst for \u201cBulls Pregame Live\u201d and \u201cBulls Postgame Live.\u201d The former Bulls star was dropped after a fight broke out with Big Ten Network analyst Tim Doyle<\/strong> in March 2013. \u201cKendall\u2019s talent as an NBA analyst has never been questioned, but his actions during a lone incident in our newsroom more than two years ago were unacceptable, and Kendall needed to take time to reflect on and address the behavior at issue,\u201d Kevin Cross,<\/strong> the network\u2019s senior director of news and original content, said in a statement Thursday. \u201cAfter multiple discussions with Kendall since the incident and a thorough internal process, we feel confident that he will adhere to the professional standards that we have established in our workplace and look forward to his return to CSN\u2019s Bulls coverage.\u201d Said Gill: \u201cOver the past two years, I have had a chance to reflect on the mistake that I made and still feel a great deal of regret for my actions.\u00a0 I have expressed my remorse to the team at CSN Chicago.\u00a0 I am grateful for this opportunity to once again provide Bulls and NBA analysis on-air, and promise that I will make everyone involved proud of their decision to welcome me back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Joel<\/a>

Joel Weisman<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s that time again: Joel Weisman<\/strong> hosts his annual year-in-review edition of \u201cChicago Tonight: The Week in Review\u201d at 7 p.m. Friday on WTTW. Joining him to analyze the top stories of 2015 will be political reporters Mary Ann Ahern<\/strong> of NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 <\/a>and Charles Thomas<\/strong> of ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7,<\/a> Sun-Times <\/a>columnist Mary Mitchell,<\/strong> and Associated Press <\/a>national sportswriter Jim Litke.<\/strong> Because of the holidays it\u2019s the last \u201cWeek in Review\u201d show of the year.<\/p>\n

\"Aiyana<\/a>

Aiyana Cristal<\/p><\/div>\n

Aiyana Cristal,<\/strong> the former Comcast SportsNet Chicago reporter who was at the center of a social media controversy<\/a> earlier this year, has landed as a news anchor and reporter at WGCL-TV, the CBS affiliate in Atlanta. Cristal was the subject of an exchange on Twitter last March between Dan Bernstein<\/strong> and Matt Spiegel,<\/strong> two hosts from CBS Radio sports\/talk WSCR AM 670. <\/a>The two later apologized for what Cristal called their \u201ccyberbullying attack.\u201d After two years at Comcast SportsNet, Cristal left <\/a>when her contract was not renewed last fall.<\/p>\n

Cheryl Scott,<\/strong>\u00a0marking her first year as meteorologist on ABC 7, makes a splash this weekend in a $4,200 Ala\u00efa\u00a0dress on the cover of Splash<\/a>\u00a0in the Sunday Sun-Times. She\u2019s interviewed<\/a>\u00a0for the piece by managing editor Elle Eichinger,<\/strong> who also happens to be Scott\u2019s best friend.<\/p>\n

\"Splash\"<\/a>

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

Robservations on the media beat: In an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board, producers at WTTW-Channel 11\u2019s \u201cChicago Tonight\u201d will vote Friday on union representation. At issue is whether full-time and part-time producers on the public television station\u2019s nightly news show will affiliate with the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio... 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\/9780"}],"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=9780"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9795,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9780\/revisions\/9795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}