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Published on Sunday, 26 September 2010 02:15
In this morning's News & Notes, we look at stories involving: Orion Samuelson's anniversary party, Terry Boers' renewal, Kevin Manno's debut show on MTV, Maura Myles' exit and Marti Jones' entrance on WLS, Michael Eisner getting "mousy" on the Tribune status, the Tribune partnering up to deliver the Sun-Times in Chicago, WGN-TV beginning weekend morning newscasts, WMAQ-TV's Jeff Goldblatt visiting with WIND-AM's Geoff Pinkus, Byron Harlan hosting an investment workshop, Tom Shaer gets hitched, Gary Morse passes away, Ginger Zee & Amy Freeze will be announcing Emmy nominations, the "Wheel of Fortune" spins its way to Chicagoland, and more!
* * To celebrate 50 amazing years working at WGN-AM, a special honoring Orion Samuelson will air on the radio stations today at 8:00am and again at 8:00pm. The one-hour special was recorded live in front of a small audience at a station-hosted event last Wednesday night. John Williams is the host of the program entitled "An Evening with Orion: Celebrating 50 Years of Orion Samuelson," that features memories, stories, laughs and more.
* * As of this month, Terry Boers has signed on for two more years of talking sports on WSCR-AM. In the most recent Arbitron ratings, Boers, along with his partner Dan Bernstein, were tied for 4th place in Men aged 25-54 with a 4.3 share, making them the #1 talk show in the afternoons within the station's target demographic. Boers has been with The Score since its start in 1992. In related news, Boers & Bernstein Show contributor Larry Horse continues to work on only a month-by-month contract with the station.
* * As a reminder, MTV's new show "The Seven," starring now-former WKQX-FM host Kevin Manno, makes its debut tomorrow afternoon at 4:00pm Chicago time. The show will be shot and aired LIVE each weekday. For the debut episode, the show's guests will be hip-hop star Drake and the cast of the new Facebook movie, "The Social Network" including Justin Timberlake, Jesse Eisenberg, & Andrew Garfield.
* * In a surprising move, WLS-FM morning show traffic reporter & co-host Maura Myles is out as Dave Fogel's morning show sidekick on WLS-FM. (The news was first reported by Chicago Public Media's Robert Feder
HERE.) Friday was her final show with the station, as Citadel has parted ways with her. Myles had worked for Citadel & WLS for a little over three years. The poor ratings performance of Dave Fogel's morning show is being cited as a reason for the move. Myles tells CRM that she hopes to enjoy some quality time with her baby boy and perhaps eventually rejoin a station she has worked with in the past. Beginning Monday morning, replacing her will be Marti Jones, who left Shadow/Metro Traffic on Friday to join the Citadel station on a full-time basis. She previously did traffic for the highly-rated afternoon show of Drew Walker's on WUSN-FM. In the little over six months it has been around, WLS-FM's morning show has already switched producers and traffic personalities. Are bigger changes coming to the morning show before the end of the year if the ratings do not rise...?
* * Despite numerous reports out of Los Angeles that says it is a "done deal," in an interview with Bloomberg Television this past week, Michael Eisner denies that he will be taking over as the Chairman of Tribune Company once the creditors take charge of the company. The media giant has been struggling to exit bankruptcy, but the major & minor creditors who are owed billions in debt are fighting that move and looking to run the company themselves. As for Eisner becoming the handpicked man in charge soon, he told Bloomberg that it was "highly unlikely."
* * The Chicago Tribune Media Group announced that it will begin distributing copies of the Chicago Sun-Times to newsstands, retail locations and newspaper vending boxes within the City of Chicago, seven days a week, beginning on October 18th. Currently, the Tribune has been only delivering subscription copies of the Sun-Times within Chicago's suburbs. This new distribution agreement is an addendum to the suburban subscription agreement and lasts for seven years. The Chicago Tribune also distributes the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, Investor Business Daily, and USA Today, among others and in addition to its own papers.
* * Tribune-owned WGN-TV announced that it was getting back into the weekend morning newscast game. Beginning on October 2nd, WGN-TV will air live one-hour newscasts at 6:00am on Saturdays and Sundays. The news anchor will be CLTV's Sean Lewis, with weather by meteorologist Mike Hamernik.
* * On "Livin' Large with Geoff Pinkus," on WIND-AM 560, one of the Pinker's special guests will be Jeff Goldblatt. The Emmy Award-winning anchor/reporter who exited WFLD-TV last month and joined WMAQ-TV on a part-time basis this month will be live on Pinkus' show, talking about his new job and many other subjects. Normally, the "Livin' Large" show stars at 5:00pm, but due to other WIND-AM commitments today, the show will begin at 6:30pm.
* * Another former WFLD-TV anchor/reporter, Byron Harlan, will be holding an investment workshop on October 6th at the Marriott Oak Brook (1401 W. 22nd St., Oak Brook). Harlan is hosting the event with Certified Financial Planner, Jeff Harper, and guest speaker, Kirk Barnaby. The workshop has two sessions: 2:00pm and 7:00pm. It is free to attend, but seating is limited. Register by calling 773-788-1027. In addition to his television anchoring duties, Harlan has been an Investment Advisor for two years. He now co-hosts "Money Talks" on WLS-AM on Sunday's at 1:00pm with Jeff Harper, the Senior Financial Planner for the Harper Financial Group & MetLife.
* * Congratulations to former WMAQ-TV & WSCR-AM (as well as numerous other media outlets) host, Tom Shaer. Shaer and his longtime girlfriend Lisa Shelnitz were married on September 11th. It was a short honeymoon, as Tom Shaer was the emcee for the big Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame event four nights later. Shaer is the President of Tom Shaer Media, Inc., which provides audio & video products for websites, as well as radio & TV productions. He also is a sought-after speaker & emcee.
* * Gary Morse, who worked in both radio and television in Chicago in the 60's, has passed away. Morse's career in broadcasting spanned over 50 years. In addition to Chicago, he also worked in television in Houston, before settling in as a radio executive and personality in Paducah, KY in the early 70's. Morse is credited as being the first person to put country music on an FM station in Kentucky, back in 1973. In his three and a half decades as a manger in KY (all with the same company), he has been the recipient of numerous awards and accolades. He had earned 2 degrees -- a Bachelors Degree in Communications and a Masters Degree in Journalism -- from Northwestern University. Gary Morse lost a fourth battle with cancer at age 65.
* * The 2010 Chicago/Midwest Emmy Nominations Party is taking place this Tuesday, September 28th. The event is being put on by the Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and will be held at a large, private room within RockIt Bar & Grill (22 W. Hubbard St., Chicago) from 5:30pm-7:30pm. The 2010 local Emmy Award nominations will be announced at 6:30pm. WMAQ-TV's Ginger Zee and WFLD-TV's Amy Freeze will the evening's hosts. The Chi/Midwest NATAS is inviting anybody who wishes to mix and mingle with the region's top television professionals to come out that evening. Cost is only $10 for members, $15 for non-members. RSVPs needed by calling 312-369-8600 or e-mailing
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. The award winners will be announced at a ceremony held on November 6th at the Park West (322 W. Armitage, Chicago).
* * If you have always wanted to be a contestant on the syndicated TV game show "Wheel of Fortune," this may be your lucky week. The show's "Wheelmobile" (a totally "Wheel of Fortune" painted & decorated Winnebago) will be stopping at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, IN on Wednesday & Thursday of this week. There will be three one-hour auditions held both days inside the casino at The Venue. Audition applications will be available before each tryout time. More details & directions can be found on the WLS-TV website at this link
HERE. WLS-TV/ABC7 is sponsoring the event, as they are the Chicago flagship station for the show, airing it each Monday-Saturday at 6:30pm. Although he will not be at these auditions, the show's host, Pat Sajak is a Chicago native, who first discovered he wanted to be in show business after he won a contest to be a teenage guest DJ on Dick Biondi's WLS-AM radio show in the 60's.
