Play ball! Cubs move to The Score

Wrigley Field

Wrigley Field

It’s official: Chicago Cubs baseball broadcasts will air on WSCR AM 670 next year, according to a joint announcement Wednesday by the team and CBS Radio.

Confirming a report here last month, the Cubs will shift to the sports/talk station from all-news WBBM AM 780, where they aired for the past season. CBS Radio had a one-time option to move the team to The Score, under terms of its seven-year rights agreement. Continue reading

Robservations: Kaufmann ‘glad to be back’ on WGN

Justin Kaufmann

Justin Kaufmann

Robservations on the media beat:

Without fanfare, Justin Kaufmann returned Monday as host of “The Download,” his weekday evening show on WGN AM 720. He’d been missing from the Tribune Media news/talk station since October 6 while dealing with “a private and personal matter.” He later apologized to family and friends for what he called a “lapse in judgment” in his personal life. "I'm glad to be back,” Kaufmann said Monday. “‘The Download’ is a special show and we're proud of all the work we put in every day. I look forward to helping out the team produce some more great content for our audience." The show airs from 7 to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday. Continue reading

Newsweb surrenders station license

Newsweb Radio

Newsweb Radio

Fred Eychaner’s Newsweb Radio is voluntarily giving back the license of one of its eight Chicago area radio stations to the Federal Communications Commission.

WCFJ AM 1470, a time-brokered ethnic and foreign-language station licensed to south suburban Chicago Heights, ceased broadcasting Saturday, according to Charley Gross, president of Newsweb Radio. Continue reading

TV legends head 2016 Silver Circle honor roll

P.J. Hoff

P.J. Hoff

Three legendary Chicago personalities — weatherman P.J. Hoff, commentator Len O’Connor and sportscaster Tim Weigel — will be honored posthumously with induction in the Silver Circle of the Chicago Television Academy.

Among six living broadcasting veterans to be inducted this spring by the Chicago/Midwest chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will be husband and wife Jay Levine, chief correspondent at CBS 2, and Mary Ann Childers, former news anchor at CBS 2 and ABC 7. Continue reading

City of Chicago overlooks huge fortune from TV station license sale

WYCC

WYCC

While Chicago’s financial crisis keeps getting worse, City Hall appears to be ignoring a potential jackpot worth nearly a half-billion dollars.

Up to now, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration seems unaware that the city could reap a windfall as high as $474,185,700 by relinquishing the license of WYCC-Channel 20, the little-watched noncommercial television station operated by City Colleges of Chicago. Continue reading

Elaine May to direct Mike Nichols documentary

Elaine May and Mike Nichols

Elaine May and Mike Nichols

The legendary Mike Nichols will be the subject of an upcoming “American Masters” documentary directed by his former creative partner, Elaine May.

Exploring Nichols’ life and 50-year career as a trailblazing performer and Oscar-winning director, “American Masters: Mike Nichols” will kick off the 30th anniversary season of the acclaimed PBS series on January 29. Continue reading

Robservations: Radio forecast adds Cheryl Scott to The Mix

Cheryl Scott

Cheryl Scott

Robservations on the media beat:

Is Cheryl Scott about to take Chicago radio by storm? The WLS-Channel 7 meteorologist turned up twice last Friday with weekend weather updates on hot adult-contemporary WTMX FM 101.9. She first joined the top-rated morning team of Eric Ferguson and Kathy Hart, and later appeared on Kevin “Koz” Koske’s afternoon show. Sources say Scott soon could have a weekly role on all three Hubbard Radio stations — The Mix, classic hits WDRV FM 97.1 and adult contemporary WSHE FM 100.3. She’s been a rising star at the ABC-owned station since she signed on last December. Continue reading