Taste of the future: Sun-Times farms out food section
Robservations on the media beat:
- Another familiar franchise of the Sun-Times has been scrapped: Ending a 65-year run, the paper’s award-winning weekly food section published its final edition Wednesday. Starting March 13, it will be replaced by Taste, an advertorial insert produced outside of the editorial department by Sun-Times Media’s Custom Media Solutions. “Taste combines new food-related content, such as a weekly menu planner and a DeVine Wine column, with new advertising opportunities to gain revenue for the company,” a spokeswoman said in a statement. It follows the recent outsourcing of certain business, sports and other content by parent company Wrapports LLC. The move also means a reassignment for food editor and deputy features editor Sue Ontiveros, a highly regarded 29-year veteran of the paper. Sun-Times Media editor-in-chief Jim Kirk said Ontiveros will oversee a new digital and print initiative, expected to be announced next week.
Joe Walsh to turn up the volume as radio talk show host
If Joe Walsh doesn’t become the next Rush Limbaugh, at least he’ll have fun trying.
Either way, the former congressman and tea party firebrand is about to embark on a new radio career that could lead to national syndication or to another bid for elective office. Even he’s not sure which.
As first tipped here in January, Walsh has agreed to sign on as a Monday-through-Friday talk show host on WIND-AM (560), the Salem Communications conservative news/talk station. If all goes as planned, his show will air from 7 to 9pm, starting March 18.
Johnny Morris takes a pass on CBS 2’s ‘pretend nostalgia’
Robservations on the media beat:
- If CBS 2 bosses had their way, there would have been a third old-timer on the set with Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson for their farewell broadcast last week. Former Chicago sports anchor and Bears wide receiver Johnny Morris was invited to show up and stand around, too. Now 77 and living in the northwest suburbs, Morris retired in 1996 — 32 years after he first joined CBS 2. “Johnny wanted no part of the pretend nostalgia they were going for,” a friend said. “No disrespect to Bill or Walter, but when he left, he left for good. He’s happy to spend his time at the track and off TV.”
- In an interview with Carol Marin on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight, both Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson confirmed the report here Monday that neither had any desire or intention to retire from CBS 2 — notwithstanding all the “happy retirement” hoopla last week. “I would say that is absolutely 100 percent true,” Jacobson told Marin after she read verbatim from my post. “You know, I’ve been doing it for 50 years, Carol . . . I think if I stopped doing those 12,000 commentaries that I’ve done, I’ll be lost.”
Why Bill & Walter’s long goodbye was a bust
Somebody must have thought it was a good idea to include Dr. Phil and Nancy O’Dell in CBS 2's farewell tribute last Thursday to Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson. It wasn’t.
Nor was it necessary to hear Scott Pelley, Charlie Rose, Gayle King or Norah O’Donnell read their scripted sendoffs to the departing anchor duo and pretend that they cared, too.
ESPN 1000 drops Teinowitz from afternoon show
It’s over and out for Harry Teinowitz after 12 years as afternoon co-host of ESPN Radio sports/talk WMVP-AM (1000).
Thursday was his final show with Carmen DeFalco and John Jurkovic, although listeners didn't know it was the last call for Carmen, Jurko & Harry. Neither did Teinowitz, who was told after he got off the air.
Chicago programming chief moves up at Clear Channel
The man who’s been calling the shots on the air and behind the scenes at Clear Channel’s Chicago radio stations since 2008 is climbing the corporate ladder.
Tony Coles has been named senior vice president of programming for the west region of Clear Channel Media and Entertainment. While still based in Chicago, he will be leading “programming strategy initiatives” for the company’s west regional markets, as of March 15.
WGN reporter Miller changing lanes for IDOT job
Jae Miller, a reporter and fill-in news anchor for Tribune Broadcasting WGN 9 and CLTV, is leaving to become a spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Transportation, starting March 11.
WGN news director Greg Caputo confirmed the move, which Miller disclosed on her Instagram feed. Caputo said there were no plans to replace her at this time.
Look who’s rising on Chicago TV’s dawn patrol
It only took a year for Stefan Holt and Daniella Guzman to close the gap in Chicago’s early morning news race.
Anchored since last March by Holt and Guzman, NBC 5 News Today at 4:30 and 5:30am finished first among adults between 25 and 54 — the group most coveted by advertisers — in the just-completed February sweeps.
Fox Chicago adds ‘Mancow Mashup’ to weekend lineup
Robservations on the media beat:
- Now you can see Mancow Muller on TV seven days a week. Since October, the veteran radio personality has been simulcasting his syndicated morning show live from 6 to 8am Monday through Friday on Fox-owned WPWR-Channel 50. Last week he added a half-hour recap of the show’s highlights, Mancow Mashup, airing at 11:30pm Saturdays on WFLD-Channel 32 and 11pm Sundays on Channel 50. Muller told listeners he’s happy to be on opposite Saturday Night Live: “After a lifetime of being a huge SNL fan, they did a skit 'DJesus Unchained,' and I decided I would never watch the show again,” he said. “It was incredible that the next day I was told that they were adding my show to the Saturday night lineup on Fox.” Nielsen numbers for his morning show are double what the station had in the time period a year ago, but they still have a long way to go: In February, Mancow averaged a 0.2 rating (about 7,000 households) and 0.9 audience share. Muller broadcasts the show from Fox Chicago studios at 205 North Michigan Avenue.
A respected voice in Chicago, Dillon Smith made a difference
Robservations on the media beat:
- Back in the days when television stations cared enough about the communities they served to air editorials, no one did them better than Dillon Smith. As editorial director of NBC 5, he won Chicago Emmy Awards for his work five years in a row. He also made a difference: Illinois drivers can turn right on red, and consumers can buy fresh meat in supermarkets after 6pm and on Sundays, thanks to two of his editorial crusades. In his 15 years at NBC 5, he also served as a producer and program director before he left to form Dillon Smith Communications in 1984. Even after he retired, he remained vitally active in Chicago broadcasting and journalism institutions. Smith, who was 71, died Friday at his home in Naples, Florida. Services will be 10am Thursday at Old Saint Patrick’s Church, 700 West Adams Street.
- News of Dillon Smith’s passing prompted this recollection from Jim Ruddle, the former Chicago news anchor who knew him since Smith was an intern at WGN nearly 50 years ago: “Dillon was something of an oddity in the business. He worked at his jobs, never seemed to go out of his way to annoy people — a rarity in television — but he was not one of us. He was rich as hell and didn't need the money. His father owned TV properties in Connecticut, and on his demise, Dillon came into a fortune. He used the edges of this treasure on attire. He always looked as though his tailor was waiting just outside the door for another crack at the style section of the paper. His bosses were openly envious of his natty appearance. Of course they couldn't understand how he did it, but they didn't understand a lot of things." (Tuesday morning followup: A correction from Dillon Smith's daughter, Lisa Smith Fulton: "Dillon Smith co-owned Gilmour Manufacturing with his father, Robert Smith, which they sold in 1984 after building a successful business with products carried at most hardware stores. The elder Mr. Smith passed in 1994. His father's estate passed to his father's wife and many philanthropic entities.")
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