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Published on Wednesday, 28 April 2010 21:11
In tonight's News & Notes: Q101's Electra and Sherman & Tingle hit the bars; Amy Freeze hits the comedy stage; Oprah hits the smart phones; Bill Kurtis hits bankruptcy court; Bob Shomper hits Phoenix; WFLD's "Good Day Chicago" may be hitting the coffee earlier. It is all just below!
* * This Friday night, April 30th, Q101 has their personalities hitting the bars and doing some promoting for the station! First, midday host Electra will be in New Lenox at Charleston's Bar and Grill (2101 Calistoga Dr.) from 9:00pm-11:00pm She will be giving away trips to Mexico while she is there! Also that night, the morning duo of Sherman and Tingle will be in Bolingbrook at Tailgaters (431 W. Boughton Rd.) from 10:00pm-Midnight. They will be overseeing a game of Bar Olympics, where winners will get tickets to the Q101 screening of Iron Man 2. Hmmm... Last time Sherman & Tingle had a live remote at a bar, they ended up going back to the station to do a couple hours of drunken pirate radio...
* * Also going on this Friday night will be the second taping of WTTW-TV's "The Chicago Stand-Up Project," the upcoming reality show that takes Chicago personalities and has them do a set of stand-up comedy in front of a live audience for the first time. Last week, former White Sox great Ron Kittle and Michigan Avenue Magazine editor Susanna Homan Negovan took the stage. This Friday, it will be WFLD-TV meteorologist Amy Freeze, along with Olympic gold medal skater Shani Davis. The show is hosted by WGN-TV reporter (and closet comedian) Ana Belaval and comedian Pat McGann. The program will be taped again at the Chicago Zanies Comedy Club (1548 N. Wells), with the showtime at 8:30pm. Tickets can be purchased in advance (recommended) at this link
HERE.
* * Not only is she the Queen of Chicago, but now she can be the Queen of your phone! The company Hands-On Mobile (the same company that designed "Guitar Hero Mobile" and "NFL Mobile Live") in cooperation with Chicago-based Harpo Studios, has come out with the new Oprah Mobile app for your smart phone! The new application offers video clips and previews from Winfrey's talk show, ticket alerts, weekly polls, audio clips from Oprah Radio, and articles & photos from Oprah.com and "O," the Oprah Magazine. The app has been developed for all smart phone platforms: iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm Pre and Google Android phones. Now you never have to be without Oprah again! To purchase the apps or get more information, visit this link
HERE.
* * Another radio station group has fallen into bankruptcy. This time, it is one co-owned by a beloved Chicago icon. Tallgrass Broadcasting, LLC, which is owned by broadcasting giant Bill Kurtis and his business partner Joe Walker, has now gone into receivership. The court has appointed a new trustee for the company, Chris Oldroyd, who will be overseeing the company while working with the principle lender, SpiritBank of Tulsa to help restructure the company and its heavy debt. Tallgrass Broadcasting owns and operates radio stations in Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. The company is based in locally in suburban Hoffman Estates.
* * Bob Shomper, the former Program Director for WLS-AM & WGN-AM, has found a new home. As of this week, he has joined KTAR-FM as the News Director and Assistant Program Director. KTAR-FM is a station similar to WLS, in that it mixes right-leaning syndicated talk shows, along with local talk shows. The morning show is almost all news. The station is owned by Bonneville, who at one time, had their eyes on WLS, before Citadel bought it from ABC. Bob Shomper said in a statement yesterday, "I'm thrilled to work for the best local radio news company in America. KTAR-FM is a ratings leader, a Murrow Award winner, and a team with a plan to expand its content offerings while so many are cutting back. I couldn't be more excited to join the Bonneville family." Shomper has been searching for work since his surprise exit from WLS-AM on January 22nd.
* * Could WFLD's five-hour early morning news show, "Good Day Chicago," which runs from 5:00am-10:00am, become even
longer? It may be happening soon. Out of Fox's 16 news-producing stations, 13 of them have already started beginning their morning news shows at the time of 4:30am. The first to do so was Detroit's WJBK-TV, who started in September 2008. It has been slowly rolling across the country since then. The latest to begin at 4:30am was WHBQ-TV in Memphis, who did so starting this week. Chicago's WFLD-TV is one of the last hold-outs. That hold-out may be ending soon, if Fox's corporate offices gets their way (which they usually do).
