Hoedown lowdown: An American radio classic turns 89
Robservations on the media beat:
- It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event for fans of radio history and country music: The 89th anniversary of The WLS National Barn Dance will be commemorated March 23 at the site of the show’s original studio at 1230 West Washington Boulevard. The landmark weekly variety show, which ran on WLS-AM (890) from 1924 to 1960, was credited with popularizing country music nationwide. Starting at 3pm, the celebration will feature classic country music and documentary clips from Stephen Parry's acclaimed documentary The Hayloft Gang: The Story of the National Barn Dance. Parry also will moderate a panel featuring authors and historians Scott Childers, James F. Evans, Paul Tyler and David Wyle. Tickets for the event, hosted by the Museum of Broadcasting Communications, are available online for $89.
Sun-Times magazine title fight goes off the Grid
Another day, another trademark infringement battle.
Monday’s story here recounted the legal dispute between This American Life and This American Whore. Today’s combatants are Grid and The Chicago Grid.
WBEZ bosses’ lips are sealed on ‘This American Whore’
Robservations on the media beat:
- No one at Chicago Public Media wants to talk about the battle they're waging with This American Whore, a San Francisco-based podcast about the lives of sex workers. "Since this is now a legal matter, [we're] not making any media statements," a spokesman told me. Lawyers for the parent company of WBEZ-FM (91.5) have told host and producer Siouxsie Q that her show’s title infringes on the trademark of This American Life, the award-winning Public Radio International series produced by Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. But Siouxsie Q isn't taking matters lying down, telling SF Weekly blogger Chris Hall: "We've definitely gotten the resounding response that This American Whore is worth fighting for." In an email exchange with Poynter, Glass said he finds This American Whore "charming," and insists it's not being singled out because of its content. "The way trademark law works is that we or any business with a trademarked name has to protect that name," Glass wrote. "If you don’t take action when you hear about people knocking off your name, and get them to stop, you can lose your trademark rights."
Fischer ends ‘fantastic run’ with Comcast SportsNet
If Gail Fischer didn’t hold the record for the longest run as a female sportscaster at one station in Chicago, then she came pretty close. Either way, it ended last week.
After 14 years as an anchor and reporter at Comcast SportsNet Chicago and its predecessor, Fischer has left the clubhouse.
ABC 7 cancels ‘190 North’ after 14-year run
190 North, Chicago’s longest running lifestyle and entertainment program, is going south. After 14 years on ABC 7, the show will air for the last time as a weekly series March 31.
John Idler, president and general manager of ABC 7, cited “economic challenges facing our industry” for the decision. “Our plan is to continue an extension of the valued 190 North franchise both on-air and online,” he said in announcing the cancellation Thursday.
White House promotion reminds Avila of Chicago roots
Jim Avila’s promotion to the White House beat for ABC News this week brought back fond memories of the 14 years he spent as a hard-charging local television reporter in Chicago.
“This is a great opportunity to return to my roots as a political reporter,” he told me Wednesday. “A skill I learned in the best political lab in the world — Chicago City Hall — where I covered Mayors Byrne, Washington and Daley, Council Wars to snow storms.”
New Tribune Co. bosses want Wert to change channels
Robservations on the media beat:
- The new bosses of Tribune Co. are reaching out to an old hand in local media to oversee Chicago’s Very Own WGN-Channel 9, news/talk WGN-AM (720) and other Tribune Broadcasting properties. But whether Larry Wert walks away from NBC 5, where he’s been president and general manager for 15 years, is another question. Wert, 56, a Chicago native who’s had a high-profile career since he headed the Loop in the '90s, is rumored to be new Tribune Co. CEO Peter Liguori’s choice to fill a leadership void on the broadcast side. Both WGN flagships have been listing since TV boss Marty Wilke fled to CBS 2 in September and radio boss Tom Langmyer was fired in October. Wert did not respond to my inquiries, but he told Lewis Lazare of Chicago Business Journal: “I have a contract with NBC, and I’m happy here.”
MarketWatch wipes out Chicago reporting staff
Robservations on the media beat:
- All three reporters in the Chicago bureau of MarketWatch are among 13 staffers nationwide who’ve been laid off from the Dow Jones business news website. David Wilkerson, a 16-year veteran who covered media, was the most senior. Also cut were reporters Jennifer Waters and William Spain, both 13-year veterans of MarketWatch. Among other layoffs were media columnist Jon Friedman. The cutbacks reportedly are tied to plans by parent company News Corp. to split off its cable and television assets, filmed entertainment and direct satellite broadcasting businesses into a new entity called Fox Group. MarketWatch accounts for about 40 percent of Wall Street Journal digital networks’ web traffic, sources said. The move comes just weeks after Nightly Business Report closed its Chicago bureau and eliminated three jobs here.
How ABC veteran Bury is keeping himself ‘In the Loop’
Back in the days when Nightline was the best nightly news program on television, you could always count on Chris Bury to deliver the goods. As one of Ted Koppel’s go-to guys (and his principal substitute anchor), Bury earned a reputation as a world class journalist and a master storyteller.
After 30 years as an award-winning national correspondent, Chris Bury left ABC News last July, telling colleagues: “It’s been a good run — through hurricanes, coup d’états, wars, presidential campaigns, scandals and all those quirky little stories along the way.” Since then, he’s been home in Chicago, making plans for the next phase of his career and waiting out the last six months of his contract, which ran through January 31.
“I’m a free agent as of today,” Bury, 59, told me in an interview Friday. And he’s not wasting any time getting back in the game.
NBC 5 looking better than ever in afternoon news ratings
Robservations on the media beat:
- February is getting underway with the closest afternoon news ratings race in memory. NBC 5, gaining on perennial frontrunner ABC 7 in all local news time periods (and the only station to increase its ratings at 10pm), appears to be coming on strongest at 4:30pm. For the month of January, NBC 5’s afternoon newscast tied for first place with ABC 7 among adults between 25 and 54. What’s more, NBC 5 won the time period outright among women. I asked Rob Elgas, who joined Marion Brooks as co-anchor at 4:30pm one year ago, how he accounts for the ratings surge. “Our writers and producers always know what’s interesting for that day,” Elgas told me. “New headlines, a daily health report, local entertainment and sports. We’re at an advantage going on the air an hour before Nightly News, so we can mix national stories in too. It’s our first newscast since noon, so there’s always fresh content. Plus, I sit next to Marion Brooks.”
