Columns
Media: June 2019
No one in this town has been a part of the Chicago media scene longer than WGN-Radio’s (and The Chicago Tribune’s) Rick Kogan. He was literally born into it. His parents, Herman and Marilew, were both fixtures in the heyday of Chicago’s print media. They lived the life. They hung out with Chicago’s glitterati. […]
Media: May 2018
Jim O’Donnell has been off and on the media beat for Chicago area newspapers for four decades. As of a few months ago, he’s back on, and he’s landed at a familiar place, The Daily Herald. “That’s where my career started,” he says, “and now I’m doing a sports and media column thanks to a […]
Media: April 2019
If you listen to the veterans of the radio world, you begin to hear a few common themes. One is that there is a dearth of young talent. Another is that the young talent that has emerged doesn’t know and appreciate radio history, and are therefore unappreciative of what radio was and what it can […]
Media: March 2019
When WDRV’s Sherman and Tingle were first put together as a team more than a decade ago, it wasn’t exactly considered a long term plan. “I came here from Phoenix to be a part of a show called The Morning Fix which is the show that replaced Mancow on Q-101,” Steve Tingle explains. “After […]
Hello My Name Is…Dave Meniketti of Y&T
Some artists hem and haw when trying to pinpoint the reason for their longevity. Not Dave Meniketti. He’s as surprised as the next guy about the four-decade career longevity of his Bay Area metal outfit Y&T, nee Yesterday and Today. They’ve survived because they’ve deserved to, a modern exercise in Darwinian natural selection. “We’ve honestly […]
Media: February 2019
Bill Turck’s road to his current location, co-hosting Playtime with Bill Turck and Kerri Kendall on Sunday afternoons (1-3pm) on WGCO is one of the most interesting non-traditional radio roads ever traveled. Twenty plus years ago, he was literally in the most dangerous place in the world. “I arrived in Sarajevo just after Susan Sontag […]
Media: January 2019
Dave Fogel has now been in the saddle as the morning man at WLS for a year. The return to his former station seemed to be destined. “I was doing mornings at WJMK, and CBS sold to Entercom out of the blue, a total surprise, and they changed the format overnight. I was out of […]
Media: December 2018
As 2018 comes to an end and a new year begins, it’s time once again to pay tribute to the people who passed away this year. Once again, we lost some of the all-time Chicago greats. Among them, the long-time anchor and reporter Warner Saunders. Saunders’ award-winning 29-year stint at NBC-5 in Chicago touched countless […]
Media: November 2018
When Eric Ferguson started working at WTMX (The Mix), the studios had just moved from Skokie to downtown, and they were considered state of the art for their time. That time, unfortunately, was the 90s. Now, he is working in state of the art facilities again–brand new studios that are still under semi-construction. “Like anything […]
Media: October 2018
For the first time since the late ’80s, the Chicago radio landscape doesn’t include Cara Carriveau. Cara stepped down from her shift at WSHE (100.3 FM) earlier this year after stints at the Wabbit (103.9FM), Rock 103.5, the Loop (97.9FM), and the Mix (101.9FM), and jumped into a new role at Local Radio Networks. It’s […]
Hello My Name is Andrew W.K.
Like Alexander the Great centuries before him, mega-metaller Andrew W.K. is probably weeping because he has no more worlds to conquer. Justifiably so. After recording 2001’s I Get Wet – a multi-tracked ELO-meets-Sweet-at-Slayer-junction masterpiece so addictive that we guarantee that there will be days you’ll wake up needing to hear it right then, this […]
Media – September 2018
WXRT morning man Lin Brehmer is more than just a friendly voice on 93.1 FM every day, he is your “best friend in the whole world,” a moniker he has used now for several years. “But I usually say it in a pathetic ‘why don’t I have any friends at all’ whine,” he points out. […]
Remembering Aretha Franklin 1942-2018
Aretha Franklin, who passed away on August 16th of pancreatic cancer at age 76, embodied her title of “Queen of Soul” in a wholly spectacular way but that name didn’t fully capture all that she was. Aretha wasn’t just a gifted singer, and she wasn’t just a master of soul singing. She sang every American […]
Media: August 2018
WDRV disc jockey Byrd is a rock jock out of central casting. He looks and sounds the part so much that you get the feeling if there was ever an injury to a band member of any group he was introducing on stage any given night, Byrd could fill in at the drop of a […]
Media: July 2018
WBMX midday host Diana Steele may be a new voice on the Chicago radio dial, but she isn’t new to radio, and she isn’t new to Chicago. It’s just that her two worlds had never collided like this before, and she’s really enjoying the ride. “It is the coolest thing on the planet for a […]
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