Grand prize for Bozo fans: 'Lost episodes' airing again

Bozo's Circus (1972)

Robservations on the media beat:

• Excerpts from two episodes of Bozo’s Circus will be seen for the first time in 41 years on a one-hour prime-time special on WGN-Channel 9. Dean Richards will host Bozo’s Circus: The Lost Tape at 7pm December 9 on the Tribune Broadcasting station and online at WGNtv.com. Both episodes from 1971 featured Bob Bell as Bozo, Roy Brown as Cooky, Ned Locke as Ringmaster Ned, and Bob Trendler and his 13-piece Big Top Band. Although the beloved children’s show aired from 1960 to 2001, few tapes were kept — and none was known to exist from 1969 to 1974. The 1971 compilation was recently spotted in the online archives listings of the Peabody Awards at the University of Georgia by Rick Klein, who runs the Museum of Classic Chicago Television website. The tape had been submitted as an entry in the Peabody competition. (How could it not have won?)

• Curtis Miles has been hired as vice president of creative services and local programming at ABC 7, effective in early January. He replaces Tom Hebel, who resigned last month after 15 years at the station. Since 2005, Miles has been director of creative services at WTVD-TV in Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina, where his boss was John Idler, now president and general manager of ABC 7. “I’ve worked with Curtis for many years and have been able to observe first-hand his outstanding creative instincts, his keen ability to advance a television station’s brand and his leadership within the station,” Idler said in a statement. An Iowa native and graduate of the University of Iowa, Miles previously worked for stations in Virginia and Pennsylvania, and as an international consultant for Frank N. Magid Associates.

• Jim Baumann, a 27-year veteran of the Daily Herald, has been named managing editor of the suburban newspaper. His promotion last week was part of a newsroom restructuring after the departure of executive editor Madeleine Doubek, who resigned last September to become chief operating officer of Reboot Illinois, a nonpartisan digital and social media service. Baumann, who grew up in northwest suburban Arlington Heights and graduated from Prospect High School and the University of Illinois, joined the Daily Herald as a reporter in 1985. He most recently was Fox Valley editor and manager. “An outstanding editor and teacher, Jim has broad management experience at the Daily Herald with a style that is disciplined, innovative and participatory and a perspective that is audience driven,” editor John Lampinen wrote in a memo to the staff. Lampinen also appointed Diane Dungey deputy managing editor of newsgathering, and Teresa Schmedding deputy managing editor of digital operations.

• Chicago Independent Radio Project, the independent online music source at CHIRPradio.org, will launch a new website Thursday including a variety of interactive features. Listeners will be able to create their own personal accounts using their email addresses or social media, and link songs to own music collections. The new site, designed by CHIRP volunteer Mike Gibson, also will feature new discussion forums and merchandise outlets.

• Chris Witting’s north suburban-based Syndication Networks Corporation marks the fifth anniversary of its Internet Talk Radio Network TalkZone.com with the launch of an 11-hour Sunday entertainment block: Carl Amari’s Hollywood 360 from noon to 4pm; Steve Darnall’s Radio’s Golden Age from 4 to 6pm; Greg Bell’s When Radio Was from 6 to 9pm; and Twilight Zone Radio Dramas with Stacy Keach from 9 to 11pm. TalkZone now features more than 5,000 hours of free on-demand talk shows, including Elliott Harris and David Spada’s Sports & Torts, Hub Arkush’s Pro Football Weekly, and Susan Frank’s Wild About Pets.