Chicago Cubs

CBS Radio plans to move Chicago Cubs baseball broadcasts to sports/talk WSCR AM 670 next year, sources said.

For the past season, the Cubs aired on all-news WBBM AM 780. Under a seven-year agreement signed in 2014, CBS Radio has a one-time opportunity to move the team to The Score in 2016. Continue reading →

Chicago Public Media

Chicago Public Media marked its 25th anniversary as the independent parent company of WBEZ FM 91.5 this week with a gala celebration and a smart new mobile app.

More than 500 people attended a $500-a-plate fundraising dinner Tuesday at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago. Ira Glass, host and executive producer of “This American Life,” headlined the event, which featured a galaxy of public radio’s biggest stars. Continue reading →

Good Day Chicago

Robservations on the media beat:

Richard Roeper

It’s official: Richard Roeper has signed to host “Good Day Chicago,” the weekday morning news show on WFLD-Channel 32. Colleagues are hailing the move, first reported here Monday, as a coup for the Fox-owned station. Chicago Tribune columnist Phil Rosenthal tweeted it was “the smartest hire Fox 32 News has made in years.” Marlaine Selip, former executive producer of “Windy City Live,” called Roeper “a smart, talented, funny guy [who] will help their effort.” Now it’s up to new “Good Day Chicago” exec producer Dan Salamone to figure out how to deploy Roeper alongside current anchors Corey McPherrin and Darlene Hill. While continuing as Sun-Times film critic, Roeper starts his new duties on Fox 32 later this month. Terms of his two-year deal, negotiated by agent Brian Musburger, were not disclosed. Continue reading →

Richard Roeper

Richard Roeper, the Sun-Times film critic and one of Chicago’s best known journalists, is expected to be named a host of “Good Day Chicago,” the Monday-through-Friday morning news show on WFLD-Channel 32, sources said.

It will mark a return to the Fox-owned station for Roeper, who won two Chicago Emmy Awards during seven years as a commentator on “Fox Thing in the Morning” and co-host of “The Media Creatures,” a weekly segment with Chicago Tribune columnist Rick Kogan. Continue reading →

Michael Ferro

The man responsible for gutting the Sun-Times and eliminating the jobs of dozens of reporters, photographers and editors in Chicago thinks it's “a great time to be a journalist.”

Michael Ferro, chairman of Sun-Times Media parent company Wrapports LLC, made the upbeat declaration in an interview Friday on “Bloomberg Markets.” Continue reading →

David Manilow and Rich Melman

The impresario of “Check, Please!” is stepping out from behind the curtain.

David Manilow, creator and executive producer of the popular restaurant-review show on WTTW-Channel 11, will host a new online video series featuring conversations with “diverse, unique and notable personalities” on Chicago’s restaurant scene. Continue reading →

Amy Guth

Celebrated Chicago journalist Amy Guth knows what it’s like to be the target of vicious and terrifying harassment by online trolls — and to be advised by well-meaning friends to pretend it didn’t happen.

She’s not pretending anymore.

On Wednesday Guth launched a Kickstarter campaign to secure funds for production of an ambitious documentary series about “harassment and civility in the online world and how it relates to women.” Continue reading →

Siera Santos

Comcast SportsNet Chicago filled one of two vacancies in its on-air staff Wednesday with the hiring of Siera Santos as a full-time reporter/anchor, effective immediately.

Santos will appear on “SportsNet Central,” the regional sports network’s nightly sports news program, and contribute to its digital initiatives on CSNChicago.com. Continue reading →

NBC 5 (October 13, 2015)

Chicagoans celebrated the Cubs division series-clinching win Tuesday night by turning to television, of course.

Local news viewership peaked at 10 p.m., with more than 830,572 households in the Chicago area tuned to one of the four late newscasts covering the jubilant aftermath of the historic victory at Wrigley Field, according to Nielsen figures. Continue reading →

Orion Samuelson

Robservations on the media beat:

One month after undergoing heart surgery, Radio Hall of Famer Orion Samuelson returns Tuesday to Steve Cochran’s morning show on Tribune Media news/talk WGN AM 720. Samuelson, 81, will broadcast from his home while recuperating from heart-valve replacement September 14. “Now that I have this recovery time at home to contemplate life, world events, who will win the World Series and college football championship . . . and what our final crop production numbers will be for 2015, I have reached one very firm conclusion. We are very fortunate to live in a time when we have the people and their knowledge to improve our way of life and to make it healthier, safer and more enjoyable if we deal with it responsibly,” the legendary agribusiness reporter wrote Monday. “I know for sure that I do want to live in this world of technology, not in the world of anonymous bloggers.” Continue reading →