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Published on Wednesday, 19 September 2012 18:53
Today's News & Notes has a dozen more news items from the Chicago media beat, including: a comical mistake for the Chicago Sun-Times; Sam Zell has money; Brooke Hunter goes to SoCal; Jill Egan on TV; "The Brooke & Jill Show" on hiatus; a new job for Elizabeth Grattan; a new job for Chuck Hillier; a new job for John Govia; breakfast with Eddie & Jobo; a "haunted" visit with Svengoolie; a new baby boy for Tim Vander Tuuk; and a new bride for Anthony Ponce. It can all be read right here, right now...
* * Today's comics pages in the Chicago Sun-Times were anything but funny. The newspaper accidentally reprinted every single comic strip from yesterday instead of printing today's comics. Jim Kirk, Chicago Sun-Times Editor-In-Chief blamed the mix-up on a "production error." To make good on the problem, tomorrow's Sun-Times will have an expanded comics section, printing both Wednesday's and Thursday's comics.
* * Sam Zell, the Chairman of Chicago-based media giant Tribune Company once again made the list of "The Forbes 400: The Richest People In America." The 2012 list of the 400 net wealthiest men & women, as measured by Forbes magazine, was
released today. The wealthiest Chicagoan on that list was Zell. He came in at
#103 with a net worth of $3.8 billion, according to Forbes.
* * Chicago radio veteran Brooke Hunter has found new radio work... only not anywhere near the Chicago market. Earlier this month, Hunter signed on as a new weekend host at San Diego's KYXY-FM/Soft Rock 96.5. Hunter has now relocated to southern California, where she has family. She will be back in Chicago often, though, as her son's father still lives & works here and she still has family here, as well. A Columbia College graduate, Brooke Hunter began in the local radio biz in the late 80s. She has had stints at WKQX-FM, WZZN-FM, WTMX-FM and WRDZ-FM. Most recently, she worked at WCFS-FM when it was Fresh 105.9. She began as a part-timer, doing a Friday Night 90s show, then added weekends, evenings and fill-in work, before finally becoming the station's midday host in July 2010. She was there until Fresh 105.9 was taken off the air to make room for a simulcast of WBBM-AM on the FM band in late July 2011. Hunter is also one half of the duo hosting the popular "Brooke & Jill Show" podcast.
* * Chicago radio's Jill Egan can now also be called "Chicago television's Jill Egan." She has been hired (via Radiate Media) to be an on-air traffic reporter for WMAQ-TV/NBC 5 Chicago on weekend mornings. Egan will be able to be seen on newscasts on Saturdays at 6:00am & 9:00am, and Sundays at 6:00am & 8:00am. She will not be on every weekend, but will rotate with JoAnne Pazderski and Amanda Czernecki, who have been doing weekend traffic for the station already. She has already had her first weekend on the air earlier this month and returns again on the weekend of Sept 29 & 30. This is in addition to her other jobs as weekday afternoon drive traffic reporter on WBEZ-FM, and weekend personality on WTMX-FM/101.9 the Mix. Jill Egan is a Chicago radio veteran of well over 10 years. She began her radio career as a promotions intern and production assistant at WXCD-FM/CD 94.7 while still a student at Columbia College, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Radio Broadcasting in 1998. She, along with Brooke Hunter, was part of WZZN-FM/The Zone's morning show in 2002 and 2003. Additionally, she was heard as a traffic reporter on WGN-AM and other stations while working full-time for Shadow/Metro Traffic. Egan might be best known for her long time with WLUP-FM/97.9 The Loop, where she was working weekends on a part-time basis for a couple of years before being hired on a full-time basis in March 2008 as a producer and traffic reporter for the afternoon show. She was later promoted to producing and doing reports for the morning show with Pete McMurray. Budget cuts had Egan exit the Loop in October 2011, but she was quickly back to work just a month later with Radiate Media. Egan is also one half of the duo hosting the popular "Brooke & Jill Show" podcast.
* * Speaking of the "Brooke & Jill Show" podcast, just because Brooke Hunter is now working in southern California and Jill Egan is a busy bee, working up to seven days a week in Chicago, doesn't mean the podcast is over. The duo are still looking to bring the show back in the future. It is in a hiatus for the time being. Past shows can still be heard right here on Chicagoland Radio & Media at this link
HERE.
* * The Ohio/Illinois Center for Broadcasting has hired former Chicago radio and voice-over personality Elizabeth Grattan as their new Career Services Director for their Cleveland, OH campus. Grattan will now use her almost 20 years of broadcast experience to help OICB graduates find careers in media industries.
* * Chuck Hillier has joined Kankakee-based radio company STARadio Corporation as its newest Senior Vice President & Market Manager. He signed on with the company at the end of last month to help with its growth. Hillier was most recently the Vice-President of Radio Network Operations for the Debut Broadcasting Corporation, a radio station owner and syndicator based out of Nashville, TN. Chuck Hillier is better known here in Chicagoland as the longtime (13 years) Vice-President and General Manager of WKQX-FM, as well as being associated with the Illinois Broadcasters Association, and the Radio Broadcasters of Chicagoland. For those wondering, Mike Tomano remains with STARadio as Vice President & General Sales Manager of the Kankakee cluster.
* * Former WKSC-FM/103.5 Kiss FM personality (with Tic Tak), intern, and promotions man John Govia is back on Chicago's airwaves. He has been hired as the newest personality for the brokered Dance Factory Radio show, which is heard nights, simulcast on three suburban FM stations: WCPT-FM 92.7, WCPY-FM 92.5, and WCPQ-FM 99.9. Govia will be heard Fridays and Sundays from 9:00pm-5:00am and Saturdays from 8:00pm-5:00am. Since leaving Chicago many years ago, Govia has been working as a DJ and Program Director in Peoria, IL and in New Jersey. He's been "on the beach" since the start of this year.
* * Eddie & Jobo, WJMK-FM/104.3 K-Hits' morning duo, will be broadcasting their show Friday morning live from Main Street Cafe, located at 111 N. Main Street in Crown Point, IN. Fans from northwestern Indiana are welcome to stop by the live remote at the Cafe between 5:00am-9:00am and have breakfast with E&J.
* * With Halloween coming up next month, the Volo Auto Museum is kicking off its "Haunted Trolley Tour" season this Saturday, September 22nd. Helping them start out this event will be Chicago television's favorite ghoul, Svengoolie. Starting at around Noon, Sven will be signing autographs and posing for pictures. Around an hour later, he will join on the trolley for the the first couple of tours around a haunted 1848 barn. For more information about the Volo Auto Museum's Haunted Trolley Tours and Svengoolie's appearence, visit this link
HERE.
* * Congratulations to Tim Vander Tuuk, News Director and anchor at NextMedia's far north suburban WXLC-FM and WLIP-AM. Tim and his wife Sarah celebrated their 8th wedding anniversary on Monday by giving birth to their third child, a son named Austin Timothy Vander Tuuk. Everybody is healthy, sleepy, and resting back home.
* * Congratulations to Anthony Ponce, WMAQ-TV/NBC 5 reporter/anchor and WLS-AM weekend host. On September 8th, Anthony and his longtime girlfriend Maggie finally became husband and wife. The happy couple remain on their honeymoon.
