This just in: Sun-Times to launch ‘The Marin Report’

Carol Marin

Robservations on the media beat:

• Carol Marin, Chicago's preeminent broadcast journalist, will host a new online newscast for the Sun-Times website. Starting next week, The Marin Report will appear at noon Monday through Friday on the home page of suntimes.com. From a studio in the Sun-Times’ newsroom, she will deliver a 90-second roundup of headlines and highlights of her colleagues’ work. Sun-Times Media editor-in-chief Jim Kirk said Marin will go in-depth on bigger topics some days, talk to newsmakers on other days, and bring reporters in to discuss major stories. “Launching the Sun-Times’ first video program with Carol is a powerful step forward for the organization," he said in a statement. The effort coincides with the launch of Wrapports Interactive, a new division of parent company Wrapports LLC, designed to deliver an array of multimedia video content to mobile, tablet and personal computer users. Under Marin's new contract, she'll also write a weekly column for the Sun-Times. “Joining the Sun-Times in 2004 was one of the great decisions of my professional career,’’ she said. “Launching this new digital newscast while still doing a political column is the best of both worlds. We are all very excited about the possibilities it brings.”

• Could the end be near for Chicago Tribune Live? Nothing is official, but sources say the Tribune soon may be pulling out of the flagship weeknight talk show on Comcast SportsNet Chicago. Since it debuted in October 2004 as the first show on the regional sports network, Chicago Tribune Live has featured writers from the paper along with other talking heads discussing the day's top sports stories. Dave Kaplan has hosted the show since January 2008. It airs from 5:30 to 6:30pm Monday through Friday. Thursday morning update: Asked about my item, Kaplan tweeted: "Just changing the name. A bit different look."

• Richard Roeper, the Sun-Times columnist, news/talk WLS-AM (890) afternoon co-host and ReelzChannel movie critic, will share his Oscar predictions with Jay Leno on NBC’s Tonight Show Friday. (Spoiler alert: Roeper picks Argo for Best Picture.)

• Running his nonpartisan Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago won't be the only new occupation for David Axelrod. The former White House adviser (and senior strategist for President Obama's 2008 and 2012 campaigns) this week was named senior political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC.

• Nancy Pender, the former Fox Chicago weekend news anchor and reporter, has been hired as vice president of Culloton Strategies, a Chicago-based communications strategy and crisis management firm. "Nancy will have an immediate impact helping our clients develop strategies and messages to achieve their business goals or meet challenges and crises head on," Dennis Culloton, the company’s president and CEO, said in a statement. "Because of her distinguished broadcast news career, Nancy understands the reporter mindset, what makes news, and the importance of a well-crafted, well-delivered message." Pender who left Fox 32 after 13 years in 2010, most recently played a reporter on Boss, the Starz original drama starring Kelsey Grammer.

• Lin Brehmer, veteran morning star of CBS Radio adult rock WXRT-FM (93.1), has been named a spokesperson for the Les Turner ALS Foundation. The Skokie-based non-profit organization is dedicated to the treatment and elimination of Lou Gehrig’s disease. “Having met numerous ALS patients and their families over the years and having known Eric Lowen of Lowen & Navarro, who lost his life to this disease, I know the devastation it causes and am proud to help support the ALS community,” Brehmer said in a statement.

• Randy Eccles, former assistant program director at Tribune Broadcasting news/talk WGN-AM (720), has been named general manager of WUIS-FM, the public radio station of the University of Illinois at Springfield. Since 2008, he's been development director of the central Illinois NPR affiliate.

• Chad Fitzsimmons, who began his career as a promotion assistant at former alternative rock Q101 here, has been named to the new position of director of music initiatives for CBS Radio. Based in Los Angeles, he’ll develop partnerships with record labels and the company’s 85 major market music stations. The Chicago native most recently was director of integrated marketing for KAMP-FM/KROQ-FM in L.A.