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Published on Friday, 29 June 2012 08:15
This weekend's News & Notes has ten local media news items, including: a service for Kathy McFarland; a new sponsor for "Living Healthy Chicago"; new shows for Antenna TV; a new CE for WLS-AM/FM; a new radio station for Tom Kent; a loss of a job for Jack Silver; and new jobs for Ty Bentli, Tim Virgin, Mark Edwards and Dave Price. All of the details are just below.
* * Rick Klein, the President/Chief Curator of the
Museum of Classic Chicago Television has spread the news that there will be a memorial for the late Kathy McFarland this weekend. The former Chicago news anchor passed away last month at the age of 61. She may be best known for her time as the primary news anchor of WFLD-TV's news updates, which aired throughout the day from around 1979 through 1983. She was also heard on a few Chicago radio stations as a news anchor in the 1970s, including WLS-AM. The memorial service will be on Sunday, July 1st at 11:00am in Lincoln Park at the site of the Lincoln Statue (near the intersection of North Ave. & Clark St.). Kathy's stepsister, Dawn Fisher will have some ashes of hers to spread in honor of Kathy's love for Chicago, and another old friend, Ron Walters is doing a celebration of life poster with pictures of her and newspaper articles that were obtained from Kathy McFarland's mother. They welcome any additional verbal or pictorial memories of Kathy McFarland. Additionally, any and all donations collected will go to Kathy' McFarlands elderly mother in Florida, who is 88 years old and took care of Kathy for the last 10 years. Donations can also be sent directly to Kathy's mother, Aileen Ferrarini at 2525 First Street, Fort Meyers, FL 33901.
* * WGN-TV and CLTV weekend television program "Living Healthy Chicago" has picked up Treasure Island Foods as its new partner. Starting July 15th, Treasure Island becomes the exclusive grocer of the program's "Healthy Bites" segment. "Living Healthy Chicago" airs every Sunday at 11:30am on WGN-TV, with repeats multiple times throughout the week on CLTV.
* * Antenna TV has announced that it will soon be adding two more beloved classic sitcoms to its Sunday night schedule. Starting on September 9th, viewers will be able to see "Barney Miller" at 7:00pm, and "Benson" at 11:00pm. "Benson," which was a spin-off from "Soap," will air for one hour, directly following one hour of "Soap."
* * Chicago's Cumulus Media radio stations (WLS-AM & WLS-FM) have a new Chief Engineer. Scott Clifton has taken over as CE after working the last six years with Oprah Radio. He has a long resume in radio, which includes working 14 years with Chicago's WGCI-AM. Clifton replaces Warren Shulz, who decided to retire after 22 years of working at WLS Radio.
Update: The spelling of Warren Shulz's name has been corrected.
* * WLIT-FM has picked up the syndicated show by Tom Kent, "Lovin' Life, Livin' the 80s." It will be heard on Saturday nights from 7:00pm-Midnight, starting this weekend. It's a return to Chicago for Tom Kent, whose radio career really kicked off here in Chicago at WLS-AM in 1980 & 1981, where he worked as a DJ and as an assistant to then-Program Director John Gehron. From his launching pad in Chicago, Kent went on to work at markets all across the Midwest and east coast. Kent also spent some time working with Elektra Records. In 2002, Tom Kent launched the TKO Radio Network. In 2008, he began the more popular Tom Kent Radio Network (TKRN), featuring numerous programs and programming options for stations nationwide. The TKRN is currently syndicated nationally via United Stations Radio Networks. Kent also has programming heard on suburban stations, including WWYW-FM.
* * Former WKSC-FM personality Ty Bentli has landed on his feet in a big way after losing his radio job at Los Angeles' KBIG-FM in May. He left Chicago's Kiss FM for LA in the late summer of 2010. At the time, it appeared that the extremely-likable Bentli was being groomed by Clear Channel for bigger & better things. Less than two years later, it seems Clear Channel no longer feels that way. His former boss at 103.5 Kiss FM still feels that way, though. Former WKSC-FM Program Director Rick Gillette, who is now the Program Director of CBS Radio's WXRK-FM in New York, quickly grabbed Bentli for his station. Starting July 5th, Ty Bentli will take over as morning show host at the CHR station, 92.3 NOW. In two years' time, Bentli has jumped from Market #3 to Market #2 to Market #1.
* * Former WKQX-FM/WLUP-FM DJ Tim Virgin has found new work out west. Virgin is the new afternoon host at KEGY-FM in San Diego, CA. The nomadic DJ has worked all over the country and at various formats, but may be best remembered by Chicago radio listeners as the nighttime DJ on WLUP-FM in 1994-1995, the afternoon DJ on WKQX-FM from 1995-1998, and then again at WKQX-FM from 2009-2011. He most recently had been doing some weekend & fill-in work at WKSC-FM.
* * Programmer Mark Edwards, who lost his job due to an Entercom Radio budget cutback with KUDL-FM & KGEX-FM in Kansas City last October, has found new work. Edwards is the new Digital Community Manager for John Tesh's TeshMedia Group, responsible for the company's online properties. The Chicago native is the former Program Director of Chicago's WLIT-FM and the Chicago Cubs #1 fan.
* * Another former Chicago programmer who grew up here is now out of work. Former WLUP-AM Program Director Jack Silver is out as Program Director for Cumulus Classic Rocker KLOS-FM and sister-station KABC-AM, both in Los Angeles, CA.
* * Former WBBM-TV weatherman & feature reporter Dave Price is back on TV. He has been hired as the new co-host on New York's WNYW-TV's "Good Day New York." Price worked at CBS 2 in Chicago from 1996-1998.
