Columns
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 […]
Media: June 2018
WSCR (The Score) Morning host Mike Mulligan has the background that Chicago sports fans seem to require. He is one of us. “I grew up on the South Side, and went to school at Quigley, and college at Loyola.” He also grew up listening to the radio, and he understands our unique market history. “I […]
Media: May 2018
If you’re a big fan of WFLD-TV News (Fox 32) in Chicago, you might have noticed that their ace investigative reporter Dane Placko hasn’t been on the air for about a month. Don’t worry. He isn’t the victim of budget cuts. He hasn’t been demoted. He didn’t get hired away by the networks. He just […]
Media: April 2018
I was 23 years old the day I walked into the Loop offices for the first time. After getting rejections from the other rock stations in Chicago (and there were quite a few at the time), I had thrown a Hail Mary pass to the biggest of them all, The Loop. I wrote a letter […]
File: Hello, My Name is Kaki
Kaki King’s multimedia show The Neck is a Bridge to the Body made its Chicago debut at Lincoln Hall in 2015. The senses-saturating fusion of sight and sound has evolved since then, while the guitarist and her music have done the same. King promises new material in 2018 including the album Live at Berklee, so […]
Media: March 2018
In 1968, John Records Landecker was in his final semester at Michigan State University (after beginning his college career at Grand Valley State), when he suddenly got an offer he felt he couldn’t refuse. A big AM rock station in Philadelphia (WIBG) wanted him to be their new nighttime jock. The only problem was […]
![File: The Smashing Pumpkins Reunion [Updated]](http://illinoisentertainer.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/pumpkins-88-150x150.jpg "File: The Smashing Pumpkins Reunion [Updated]")
File: The Smashing Pumpkins Reunion [Updated]
Longtime fans of The Smashing Pumpkins hopes of a full reunion were dashed last month when ex-bassist D’Arcy Wretzky revealed to website BlastEcho.com that she was not invited to participate in the band’s reunion tour with co-founders Billy Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin which will allegedly take place this summer. Speaking exclusively to BlastEcho […]
Media: February 2018
When I called Chicago radio legend Fred Winston (WLS, WMAQ, WFYR, WCFL, WPNT, WJMK, WLUP, and just about every other station on the dial), the gentleman farmer now living in Southwest Michigan, was in the middle of a project. “You caught me repairing a doorknob. Thank God for the internet. There are scores of YouTube […]
Media: January 2018
If you’ve listened to rock and roll radio for the last three decades, you’ve undoubtedly run across the work of Steve Seaver. He’s been rocking Chicago since 1991 at stations like The Blaze, The Loop, and currently The Drive (97.1 FM). He’s one of those rare personalities who can be identified by one name, […]
Media: December 2017
It’s become a year-end tradition in this space to honor some of the broadcasters we lost in the past calendar year. All of them touched countless lives in the Chicago area, maybe even your own. The Chicago media community is diminished by their absence. JOE COLLINS – Collins was a veteran traffic reporter in Chicago best […]
Media: November 2017
Tom Shaer’s career in Chicago media includes stints as the morning man (and first voice ever) on the Score, ESPN AM 1000, morning sports anchor on WBBM News radio, and TV sports anchor at Channel 5, among other positions, but the Massachusetts native got his start in the business in Boston, and he did it […]
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