{"id":9917,"date":"2015-12-31T06:00:42","date_gmt":"2015-12-31T12:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=9917"},"modified":"2015-12-31T06:03:36","modified_gmt":"2015-12-31T12:03:36","slug":"robservations-tribune-price-jumps-33-percent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2015\/12\/31\/robservations-tribune-price-jumps-33-percent\/","title":{"rendered":"Robservations: Tribune raises newsstand price 33 percent"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chicago<\/a>

<\/a> Chicago news boxes<\/p><\/div>\n

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

In case you haven\u2019t noticed, it\u2019s costing more to buy the Chicago Tribune<\/a> on newsstands. Over the Christmas weekend, the Tribune announced a 33 percent increase in its single-copy price throughout the Chicago area. Monday-through-Saturday increased from $1.50 to $1.99, while Sunday rose from $2.99 to $3.99. (The\u00a0last price hike<\/a> was in April 2014.) \u201cThe Chicago Tribune is committed to producing the exclusive investigative reporting, suburban news coverage, and thought-leading editorials that our audience expects of us,\u201d said a note to readers. \u201cOur pricing reflects the value associated with these product benefits.\u201d Sun-Times <\/a>sources say they\u2019re holding steady at $1 on weekdays and $1.75 on Sundays.<\/p>\n

\"Rick<\/a>

Rick O'Dell<\/p><\/div>\n

Chicago radio veteran Rick O\u2019Dell<\/strong> is pulling the plug after three years on SmoothJazzChicago.net, <\/a>his excellent streaming digital station, effective Thursday. He cited the prohibitive cost of performance royalties for pureplay webcasters under new rates established by the Copyright Royalty Board. \u201cI realize this is a major disappointment to all of us, and I regret having to do this,\u201d O\u2019Dell posted in an explanatory\u00a0note <\/a>to listeners. He continues as program director of Weigel Broadcasting\u2019s WRME LP 87.7, <\/a>the soft rock\/oldies station branded as Me-TV FM.<\/p>\n

\"Melody<\/a>

Melody Mendez<\/p><\/div>\n

Melody Mendez,<\/strong> who anchored her final broadcast of \u201cGood Day Chicago\u201d Wednesday, continues to play coy <\/a>with viewers about where she\u2019s headed. But Mendez is telling friends her next stop is WHDH-TV, the NBC affiliate in Boston. Until then she\u2019ll work out the remainder of her contract with Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32 <\/a>as weekend co-anchor. The New England native and Boston University graduate joined Fox 32 in November 2013 after stops in Denver, Seattle, Champaign, Illinois, and Jackson, Tennessee.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/a>

John Tillman<\/p><\/div>\n

Bosses of CBS Radio all-news WBBM AM 780\/WCFS FM 105.9 <\/a>say they\u2019re reevaluating their station\u2019s affiliation with Illinois Radio Network now that it\u2019s been sold to the Illinois Policy Institute,<\/a> a non-profit conservative think tank. John Tillman,<\/strong> CEO of the Chicago-based institute, announced the acquisition of IRN from Saga Communications, effective Thursday. Terms were not disclosed. WBBM Newsradio was the largest station airing the network\u2019s reports from Springfield. The new owners say they\u2019ll merge IRN with their Illinois News Network. \u201cINN will continue to pursue independent news representing the taxpayer\u2019s voice according to the highest journalism standards,\u201d executive editor Scott Reeder<\/strong> said in a statement. But some critics expressed concerns the group has \u201ca very definite ideological agenda.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Regardless of the outcome of the New Year\u2019s Eve ratings battle<\/a> at midnight, the year is ending on a high note for NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5.<\/a> With one night to go in the Nielsen book for December, barely 0.3 rating points separated front-runner ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7 <\/a>from NBC 5 in overall viewership at 10 p.m. Monday through Friday. Among viewers between 25 and 54 \u2014 the demographic that translates into advertising revenue \u2014 NBC 5 beat ABC 7 by a full point, according to Nielsen calculations. It marked the eighth consecutive month NBC 5 beat or tied ABC 7 for first place in the adult demo.<\/p>\n

Happy New Year!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robservations on the media beat: In case you haven\u2019t noticed, it\u2019s costing more to buy the Chicago Tribune on newsstands. Over the Christmas weekend, the Tribune announced a 33 percent increase in its single-copy price throughout the Chicago area. Monday-through-Saturday increased from $1.50 to $1.99, while Sunday rose from $2.99 to $3.99. (The\u00a0last price hike... 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\/9917"}],"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=9917"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9928,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9917\/revisions\/9928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}