Will Ignatiy Vishnevetsky become a household name?
Vishnevetsky (pictured right), a Russian-born 24-year-old Chicago-based online film critic for mubi.com, has been named to replace co-host Elvis Mitchell opposite the Associated Press' Christy Lemire on public television's "Ebert Presents at the Movies."
The weekly movie review program from the Chicago Sun-Times award-winning Roger Ebert, born of DNA from the dueling critics program he launched in 1975 with the Chicago Tribune's late Gene Siskel, is set to make its debut on WTTW-Ch. 11 and other stations the weekend of Jan. 21.
Ebert, who lost his speaking voice to health woes but can be heard through a computer, will contribute a weekly segment to the program and serve with his wife, Chaz, as executive producer. The program will also have a Web site.
Continue reading "Roger Ebert names Chicago blogger Ignatiy Vishnevetsky 'At the Movies' co-host" »
Posted at 10:03 AM in Chicago, Disney, Film, Newspapers, Sun-Times Media Group, Television, Tribune Co., Web/Tech, Weblogs, WTTW-TV | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Some notes about WFLD and an American in Paris:
Mark Strehl, who has been doing weather at WFLD-Ch. 32 for a little more than six years, is said by sources to be deep in conversations about a new deal at the Fox-owned station.
WFLD's spokeswoman could not be reached for comment.
Posted at 9:08 PM in Chicago, CNN, Fox Broadcasting, NBC Universal, News Corp., Newscasters, Television, WFLD-TV, WMAQ-TV | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Looking at 2010 with 20/20 hindsight, it wasn't so bad.
Unless you were Little Orphan Annie, Conan O'Brien's dream of hosting "The Tonight Show" or Jay Mariotti's career.
No, really, it was swell.
Continue reading my Jan. 2 column "A media year of bad news, bad moves and things ended badly"
Posted at 9:54 PM in CBS, Chicago, Clear Channel, CNN, Disney, ESPN, Fox Broadcasting, NBC Universal, News Corp., Newscasters, Newspapers, Sports, Television, Time Warner, Tribune Co., WBBM-TV, Web/Tech, Weblogs, WFLD-TV, WGN-AM, WGN-TV, WLS-TV, WMAQ-TV | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
The small but devoted group of followers of Discovery Health Channel have long looked to it for the inherent drama in series such as "Babies: Special Delivery," "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant," "Birth Day," "Adoption Stories" and "Deliver Me."
The birth set for 11 a.m. (Chicago time) on Saturday — 1/1/11 — looks to be as gripping as any of them, for delivery of this long-anticipated baby is destined to claim a casualty: Discovery Health will die, so that OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network shall live.
Momentous as this may prove to be, it will be a low-key occasion by Oprah standards, offering little to rattle those still feeling the aftereffects of New Year's Eve. There will be no street closures, no concert, no prizes or surprises to send the faithful into paroxysms of unbridled euphoria.
The restraint is justified. Even Oprah's newborn — a 50/50 venture of Winfrey's Harpo and Discovery Communications — has to crawl before it walks, never mind running in a crowded field.
Continue reading my Dec. 29 column "Oprah Winfrey Network will need time to find identity, success"
Posted at 3:37 PM in Chicago | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Tribune Co. Chief Operating Officer Gerry Spector, a long-time associate of real estate billionaire Sam Zell, is leaving the Chicago-based media company he has helped lead since Zell took it private three years ago.
Spector's decision to leave at the end of the year was announced Tuesday by the four-man executive council to whom he has been reporting since October's resignation of Randy Michaels as chief executive of the parent of the Chicago Tribune and other media properties.
Continue reading "Gerry Spector exiting as Tribune Co. COO" »
Posted at 10:08 AM in Chicago, Clear Channel, Newscasters, Newspapers, Radio, Television, Tribune Co., Web/Tech, WGN-AM, WGN-TV | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
UPDATE: Click here for my Dec. 12 on Kiss FM's hire of Brotha' Fred
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Christopher "Brotha' Fred" Frederick, a fast-rising radio and TV star in Charlotte, N.C., is coming to Chicago to take over the morning slot vacated by the abrupt exit this week of Kevin "DreX" Buchar from Clear Channel's WKSC-FM 103.5.
"Chicago morning radio is a dream," Frederick (pictured right), 30, said in announcing his move Thursday night on "Fox News Edge" (see video above), which he has co-hosted on Charlotte's WCCB-TV in addition to his "A.M. Mayhem" morning program on Clear Channel's WIBT-FM.
Kiss FM said Friday that Frederick will start here on Jan. 17.
Continue reading "DreX's Kiss FM slot goes to Charlotte's Brotha' Fred" »
Posted at 8:51 AM in Chicago, Clear Channel, Fox Broadcasting, Radio, Television, WKSC-FM | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBack (0)
David Kaplan has signed a multi-year agreement to remain at Comcast SportsNet Chicago in an expanded TV and online role, the channel announced Wednesday.
Kaplan (pictured right) will host Chicago Cubs pregame and postgame shows and take on a greater role on "SportsNet Central" in addition to continuing as moderator of "Chicago Tribune" live, which features the newspaper's sports writers.
CSN Chicago is owned by Comcast, the Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co. still has a small stake in the Cubs as a vestige of its earlier ownership of the franchise.
Continue reading "David Kaplan gets new deal at CSN Chicago " »
Posted at 1:00 PM in Chicago, Newspapers, Radio, Sports, Television, Tribune Co., Web/Tech, Weblogs, WGN-AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
To be fair, there was a time when I was a Larry King fan.
His overnight radio show on Mutual helped me get through many an all-nighter when I was in school. Whenever I think of the implications of the 1877 case of Munn v. Illinois, I am reminded of black coffee, Liquid Paper and King's "absolutely true" Carvel story.
Unfortunately, I would come to discover in later years, King's oft-repeated shaggy-dog account of how he and his Brooklyn childhood pals, including future baseball great Sandy Koufax, drove to New Haven, Conn., in pursuit of bargain Carvel ice cream doesn't stand up to the heat of scrutiny any better than the ice cream would.
Koufax didn't get to know King until King already was a media star, and when the Washington Post Magazine caught up with the Hall of Fame pitcher 40 or so years after the supposed road trip, he said he had never been to New Haven.
So it became increasingly difficult to take King all that seriously, even when serious people were encouraged to say serious things on "Larry King Live," the nightly cable TV program he is set to leave Thursday after 25 years on CNN, a news operation that always prided has itself on its serious standards.
Continue reading "A look at Larry King's storied career, and a new era at CNN" »
Posted at 11:07 PM in CNN, Newscasters, Newspapers, Radio, Television, Time Warner, Washington Post Co. | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
UPDATE 12/17: DreX's Kiss FM slot goes to Charlotte's Brotha' Fred
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Kevin “DreX” Buchar’s run as popular morning man at Clear Channel’s WKSC-FM 103.5 has ended abruptly.
DreX was scrubbed from the Kiss FM Web site on Tuesday, as were sidekicks Mel “Mel-T” Tovar and Angi Taylor. The Facebook page for the female-oriented “Drex in the Morning” program vanished as well.
A Clear Channel spokeswoman said the company never discusses personnel matters but did not deny that he is out.
Posted at 8:35 PM in CBS, Chicago, Clear Channel, Radio, WBBM-FM, Web/Tech, WKSC-FM, WLS-AM | Permalink | Comments (62) | TrackBack (0)
Elvis has left what they're building.
When "Roger Ebert Presents At the Movies" makes its debut the weekend of Jan. 21 in 192 markets, Elvis Mitchell of public radio's KCRW-FM in Santa Monica, Calif., will not be discussing and debating new films with the Associated Press' Christy Lemire.
Mitchell and Lemire were paired in the weekly public television show's pilot, taped earlier this year. But Chaz Ebert, vice president of The Ebert Co. and an executive producer of the the new TV venture with her Pulitzer Prize-winning husband, Roger, said by e-mail Tuesday that Mitchell is no longer associated with the program.
The show's critics will be announced next week, Chaz and Roger indicated in separate notes.
Continue reading "Elvis Mitchell gets the thumbs' rush, no longer part of 'Roger Ebert Presents' " »
Posted at 10:46 AM in Chicago, Disney, Film, Sun-Times Media Group, Television, Tribune Co., WTTW-TV | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
UPDATE: Elvis Mitchell won't be part of new Ebert show
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"Roger Ebert Presents At the Movies," the new Chicago-based public-television movie-review being shepherded by the Chicago Sun-Times' esteemed film critic, is set to make its debut the weekend of Jan. 21 in 192 U.S. markets, Ebert announced Monday night via Twitter.
The program also will be available to U.S. servicemen and women, Department of Defense civilian employees and their families around the world through the Armed Forces Network, Ebert said.
Continue reading "'Roger Ebert Presents At the Movies' to debut Jan. 21 in 192 markets" »
Posted at 11:16 PM in Chicago, Disney, Film, Radio, Sun-Times Media Group, Television, Tribune Co., WLS-AM, WLS-TV, WTTW-TV | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
The Chicago Tribune and other Tribune Co. newspapers have signed a multi-year agreement to become charter subscribers to the new Reuters America wire service, a move that will make them less reliant on Associated Press for print and online content.
Although Tribune Co. papers have experimented with eschewing AP content in news, business and features -- and, during selected trial weeks, sports as well -- there is at present no plan by the newspapers to drop the 164-year-old wire service whose content is ubiquitous in print and online.
"We decided there was value in maintaining our membership and to continue to get AP content," Chicago Tribune Senior Vice President and Editor Gerould W. Kern said. "We want to see how this (new arrangement) develops and how it evolves further."
The Los Angeles Times is expected to continue buying the full AP service, while the Chicago Tribune and other Tribune Co. papers expect to use a limited AP service. An industry source indicated the change should save the company a dollar amount in the healthy seven-figure range.
Posted at 5:01 PM in Chicago, Newspapers, Television, Tribune Co., Web/Tech, WGN-AM, WGN-TV | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Rick DiMaio, whose run of a dozen years as weathercaster at WFLD-Ch. 32 ended almost four years ago, will be filling in temporarily at his old station in the coming days, sources said.
DiMaio (pictured right) is set to work for Channel 32 over the Christmas break. Chris Sowers, whose contract was not renewed by WFLD, is unable to continue working on a free-lance basis.
A former Channel 32 chief meteorologist, DiMaio will continue to teach full-time at Lewis University and part-time at other schools, including Loyola University, Columbia College, Oakton Community College and the School of the Art Institute.
The Fox-owned station in November signed Bill Bellis, chief meteorologist at Phoenix's KNXV-TV since 2003, just last month but he has yet to start. It's also said to be in talks with Tammie Souza, a former WMAQ-Ch. 5 weathercaster who left WFLD two years ago to become chief meteorologist at WTSP-TV in Tampa, Fla. Sowers was hired when Souza left.
WFLD has yet to renew the contract of Amy Freeze, who came from Philadelphia to succeed DiMaio as its No. 1 meteorologist in early 2007. Freeze's deal expires in February.
DiMaio is a 1985 University of WIsconsin-Madison graduate (like a certain columnist/blogger) and is completing work toward his master's degree from Northern Illinois.
Posted at 6:41 PM in Chicago, Fox Broadcasting, News Corp., Television, WFLD-TV | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBack (0)
Chicago-based Groupon.com, the fast-growing social networking site that offers its users daily discounts to businesses in their individual markets, has entered into a partnership with Chicago Tribune Media Group's recently launched e-commerce site.
ChicagoShopping.com is now featuring one unique local discount each weekday on the site’s homepage provided by Groupon, it was announced today.
“By registering at ChicagoShopping.com, you’ll have the option to sign up to receive the exclusive Groupon offer in addition to the feature Groupon highlights on their website each day," Belinda Englman, general manager of the CTMG site, said in the announcement.
Groupon, which launched in November 2008 and now offers users discounts in more than 300 markets worldwide, last week spurned a buyout offer from Internet behemoth Google reported to be worth between $5 billion to $6 billion.
Tribune Co.'s CTMG offerings include the Chicago Tribune, RedEye, Hoy, Chicago Magazine, TribLocal, TheMash, ChicagoNow.com and Metromix.com.
Posted at 10:00 AM in Chicago, Tribune Co., Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Howard Stern announced on his subscription satellite program Thursday that he has signed a new five-year deal with Sirius XM Radio, putting to end months of speculation and discussion that had grown increasingly heated of late.
"If we're going to stay in radio, we should stay here," Stern told his staff and listeners.
Terms were not disclosed, though Stern said the deal was "fair" and said he and Sirius were happy with it. The agreement is said to include provisions enabling distribution of the program on mobile phones. Now it's up to his staff to negotiate their own renewals with Sirius XM.
Continue reading "Howard Stern staying at Sirius XM satellite radio" »
Posted at 8:52 AM in Radio, Sirius XM_, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
It's been a tough time of late for adventurous redheads on the comics pages. Little Orphan Annie ran out of tomorrows six months ago. Now, the deadline is fast approaching for reporter Brenda Starr's final edition.
After one last office holiday party on Jan. 2, the seven-day-a-week "Brenda Starr, Reporter" will go the way of the Teletype.
Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich — who has been writing the late Dale Messick's pre-World War II creation into and out of trouble for the last quarter-century — along with June Brigman, the strip's artist for 15 years, have decided to end their association with the strip. And, rather than find successors, syndicator Tribune Media Services opted to end the daily drama.
"There's sadness about stopping, but no regret and no ambivalence," Schmich said. "It came to me really clearly that I was done. … I don't think the character is dead. But the comic strip in this form is."
Continue reading my Dec. 9 column "Brenda Starr, reporter, leaves newspapers Jan. 2"
Posted at 1:17 AM in Chicago, Newspapers, Tribune Co., Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Former Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Feder, who spent a year blogging for Chicago Public Media before quitting last month, is moving his media commentary to Time Out Chicago magazine's Web site, effective Jan. 3.
The addition of Feder (pictured right) is part of an ambitious effort by Time Out Chicago President and Editor-in-Chief Frank Sennett to broaden and deepen coverage associated with a brand primarily known for its listings of and features on local arts, entertainment, food and nightlife. The blog will be available through timeoutchicago.com and robertfeder.com.
Continue reading "Robert Feder moving media blog to Time Out Chicago" »
Posted at 12:27 AM in Chicago, Magazines, Newscasters, Newspapers, Sun-Times Media Group, Television, Tribune Co., WBEZ-FM, Web/Tech, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Howard Stern might be six live shows away from leaving the satellite pay-radio business he made credible five years ago.
If that doesn't send a shiver through the executive suites at Sirius XM Radio, it at least ought to chill those among the 20 million satellite subscribers who also invested in Stern's move from free over-the-air broadcasting and will be reminded of what's missing each time they look at their dashboard.
Stern (pictured right), who until now has largely downplayed whatever tension there has been as negotiations continue, teed off for more than a half-hour at the start of his Tuesday program about how his own company ought to respect him more than it apparently does. It may have been sincere. It may have been posturing. It was probably both. But it was typically raw, relentless and riveting.
"I understand why (President Barack) Obama won't give me the Kennedy Center Honors," Stern said. "I understand why Oprah Winfrey is beloved and I'm not. I understand why people might say I'm coarse, I'm not really funny, I'm not this or that. That, I can live with. But the company that I've built from 600,000 subscribers … why would the CFO come out and say Howard Stern might need to take a pay cut?"
Continue reading my Dec. 8 column "Howard Stern dismisses talk of pay cut as contract nears end"
Posted at 12:43 AM in CBS, Chicago, Radio, Sirius XM_, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)
Oprah Winfrey's visit to Sydney -- or "Operation Oprah," as they're calling it -- sounds a bit like a bio-hazard, rather than a visiting TV show from Chicago.
But maybe that's because of the way Australia's Ten News correspondent reports it (see video above).
There is to be a maritime exclusion zone, a no-fly zone, road closures and re-routed public transport in the "operational footprint."
And fire: bad.
Rather than getting a police escort, Winfrey and others connected with the program will be assigned an "incident group to manage risk," while bunkered authorities plot every move.
One report said the show and guests needed "20 tonne of trucks" to handle luggage, after arriving in Australia (see video below). That sounds like a lot, but who knows?
Continue reading "'Operation Oprah' storms beaches of Sydney" »
Posted at 11:48 AM in Chicago, Television, WLS-TV | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
UPDATED/See below
Special projects reporter Mark Saxenmeyer is leaving WFLD-Ch. 32 after almost 17 years, he confirmed Monday night.
WFLD is not renewing his contract, which expires next month, sources say. The station did not respond to a call for comment, but Saxenmeyer indicated his last day will be Dec. 23.
Saxenmeyer (pictured right) joined Channel 32 in 1994 from KOVR-TV in Sacramento, Calif., where he was a general assignment reporter. He previously interned at WFSB-TV in Hartford, Conn., and WISC-TV in Madison, Wis.
While at WFLD, Saxenmeyer established The Reporters Inc., an independent, not-for-profit documentary company that, according to his Channel 32 biography, specializes in matters the mainstream media overlook.
Saxenmeyer's award-winning WFLD run may well be remembered most for the "Real World"-inspired reports he conceived and got on the air. He and Darlene Hill fronted "Experiment in Black and White," a monthlong series of reports in 2001 and revisited 2006, as well as 2002's "Experiment: Gay and Straight."
The Chicago Sun-Times' Robert Feder wrote in '01 that the former, which sequestered five blacks and five whites in a home for a week, was "a highly manipulative -- though at times quite revealing -- glimpse at racial attitudes and prejudices."
The latter used sexual orientation as its dividing line, and Saxenmeyer told the American Journalism Review in '02 that he would be "the first to admit it's a gimmick. ... I say TV news on a local level needs to be stirred up, something to get people thinking."
Posted at 6:54 PM in Chicago, Film, Fox Broadcasting, News Corp., Newscasters, Sun-Times Media Group, Television, Tribune Co., WFLD-TV | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
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