Get Moving with Me
Robservations on the media beat:
Here’s one that will brighten your day: “Get Moving with Me” debuts at 7 a.m. today on Me-TV FM, the Weigel Broadcasting soft-rock oldies station at WRME 87.7-FM. It’s an hour of up-tempo high-energy classics Monday through Friday designed to jumpstart the day and encourage homebound listeners to exercise. “With so many of our listeners sheltering-in-place and starting later each day, we wanted to give them a shot of musical adrenalin to get them going in the morning," said Rick O’Dell, director of programming at Me-TV FM. "You can do a home workout to it or just shake off the cobwebs.”
Chicago Sun-Times
Two of the brightest stars at the Chicago Sun-Times are teaming up on a timely new podcast. Coinciding with ESPN's "The Last Dance" documentary series on the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls championship season, sports columnist Rick Telander and film critic Richard Roeper are co-hosting "Chicago Six-Times," a weekly recap of each episode in the series. They'll also offer additional insights into the storylines they witnessed during the Bulls’ six championship runs. Starting Saturday, listeners can download or stream episodes at suntimes.com/chicago-six-times or wherever they get their podcasts. Telander is one of three current or former Sun-Times sports staffers (along with Mark Vancil and J.A. Adande) featured in the first two episodes of the ESPN series.
Paul Harvey
The people have spoken — or at least those who participated in an online poll at WGN 720-AM have spoken. By an overwhelming majority, listeners to the Nexstar Media Group news/talk station have chosen 8:30 a.m. as the daily airtime for "The Rest of the Story," rebroadcasts of radio legend Paul Harvey's historical vignettes. Harvey hosted the popular series from Chicago five days a week from 1976 until his death in 2009. They'll start re-airing Monday on Bob Sirott's WGN morning show.
Chicago Headline Club
Chicago Headline Club will host a free video conference on Zoom next week featuring a discussion about covering vulnerable communities in crisis. Registration is required for the event, which will run from 7 to 7:40 p.m. Wednesday. (Here is the link.) Panelists will include Judith Helfand, director and producer of "Cooked: Survival by Zip Code," a documentary about the 1995 heatwave that killed 739 Chicagoans, and journalists Maudlyne Ihejirika of the Sun-Times and Andy Nebel, formerly of ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7.
Chicago Unite at Night
Update on this weekend's sing-alongs: Altering the lyrics of The Blues Brothers' “Sweet Home Chicago” to “Stay Home Chicago,” Hubbard Radio classic rock WDRV 97.1-FM will host its weekly sing-along and downtown light show at 8 p.m. Friday. “As COVID-19-related hardships, anxiety and uncertainty continue to consume our daily lives, we are endeavoring to provide a few moments of relief, unity and pride across the Chicagoland region," Rob Cressman, program director of The Drive, was quoted as saying. At 7 p.m. Saturday, the song of the week for "Chicago’s Saturday Night Sing Along" on Me-TV FM will be “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor. In both cases, listeners are invited to sing along from porches, balconies and backyards.
Wednesday’s comment of the day: Matt McCann: Enough of the political comments, but I will point out that Silvy [Marc Silverman] and John Williams, both outstanding radio people, are Salukis. There are many top media professionals that came from SIU [Southern Illinois University]. Best to Silvy and congrats, John!