Brian Hanley
Robservations on the media beat:
Mike Mulligan
Brian Hanley, a 26-year veteran of WSCR 670-AM, is not being renewed as morning co-host of the Entercom sports/talk station, according to insiders. No word from management yet, but Hanley is expected to work through the end of the month with longtime partner Mike Mulligan and then shift to a new role as weekend and fill-in host. A former Sun-Times sports writer, Hanley joined The Score as a part-timer at its inception in 1992. He and Mulligan teamed up in middays in 2005 and moved to mornings in 2008. Sources say the top choice to succeed Hanley from 5 to 9 a.m. weekdays is Chicago Tribune sports columnist David Haugh. The move follows recent shakeups to the Score’s midday and afternoon lineups. In the latest Nielsen Audio survey, "The Mully & Hanley Show" tied for fourth among men between 25 and 54 with a 5.7 share.
Jeff Harris
As reported here last week, Jeff Harris, news director at ABC affiliate WEWS in Cleveland, starts July 16 as vice president of news at CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2. Derek Dalton, president and general manager of CBS 2, confirmed the hiring in an email to staff Friday. "I know you will make Jeff feel as welcome as you have done with me," he wrote. Harris, who earlier worked in Denver and San Francisco, will replace Jeff Kiernan, who resigned in March to rejoin WTMJ, the NBC affiliate in Milwaukee.
Daily Herald
For the second time in eight months, Paddock Publications is offering voluntary buyouts to employees of the Daily Herald. Staffers whose applications are accepted will receive one week of severance pay for each year of employment up to a maximum of 20 weeks, along with health benefits paid for three months. Doug Ray, chairman, publisher and CEO of the Daily Herald Media Group, attributed the latest staff reduction plan to forecasts of falling revenue and skyrocketing newsprint prices. “As a result of the trends we see for the remainder of 2018 and into 2019, we have determined that the voluntary buyouts that were concluded last fall are not enough to sustain us during the next 18 months,” Ray wrote to employees Monday. (This blog operates under an agreement with the Daily Herald. I am a full-time employee of Paddock Publications.)
Shia Kapos
Monday marked the debut of prominent Chicago journalist Shia Kapos as principal writer of Politico’s Illinois Playbook, the daily newsletter on politics and government throughout the state. Kapos, a former columnist for the Sun-Times and Crain’s Chicago Business, most recently has been covering corporate governance for Acuris. Natasha Korecki, who launched Illinois Playbook in 2015, was promoted to national correspondent for Politico.
Chicago Journalists Association
Chicago Journalists Association released a statement of mourning and solidarity with journalists worldwide after the mass shooting last week at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland. “This rare attack against U.S. journalists is heartbreaking, a reminder that Journalists everywhere work under great and ever-growing personal risk,” the statement read in part. “Any attack on the Free Press in this nation is an attack on all of us. We stand in great respect of the courageous Capital Gazette Newsroom, which continued the work of putting out a newspaper even in mourning. You make us proud. Today, Journalists everywhere are Capital Gazette. We stand as one.”
Michael Ferro
Michael Ferro, former chairman of tronc (and still the company’s largest shareholder), has pledged up to $1 million to match funds to provide immediate relief and long-term recovery for individuals affected by the Capital Gazette shootings. The paper is owned by tronc, which established The Capital Gazette Families Fund, being managed through the Community Foundation of Anne Arundle County, based in Annapolis. (Here is the link.)
Monday’s comment of the day: Nick Greco: Kathy who? . . .