All Entries in the "Media" Category
Media: March 2010
Chicago’s Very Own: CHIRP Radio & ‘JBTV’
photo by Cara Jepsen
Two of the nation’s coolest indie-rock outlets originate right here in Chicago. Both “JBTV” and CHIRP radio are staffed by volunteers who are more passionate about music than money. And both have launched 24-hour Internet stations.
Media: February 2010
Satellite Of Love
Late last year I got fed up with mechanics and bought my first-ever new car. It came with satellite radio, and in no time I was hooked — even though it didn’t get Howard Stern.
Media: January 2010
Three Years Of ‘Outside The Loop’
Mike Stephen and Andy Hermann launched “Outside The Loop” radio on September 28th, 2006 as a way to “create an independent program that featured stories and discussions about local issues that weren’t always getting media attention,” says Stephen. At the time, they were producers at WGN, and launched the weekly [...]
Media: December 2009
Radio Ceiling Crasher Says Not Much Has Changed
Groundbreaking radio personality Connie Szerszen wrote her new memoir, Top Rock Girly Jock: A Chicago Radio First, four years ago, when she was still an on-air personality at oldies station WJMK-FM. “It had a happier ending in the first draft,” admits the Chicago native, who, along with the [...]
Media: November 2009
Last Chance To Gigglesnort
Bill Jackson, creator of the late, great children’s programs “Cartoon Town,” “The Gigglesnort Hotel,” and “The BJ & Dirty Dragon Show,” will draw, tell tales, and recreate his most memorable characters at a December 5th benefit for the Museum Of Broadcast Communications called “Saturday Morning With B.J. And Dirty Dragon: Live In [...]
Media: October 2009
Pod-A-Palooza
Steve Dahl unveiled his new weekday webcast September 8th (www.dahl.com), just after deadline time. The CBS Radio-sponsored show allows Dahl a chance to talk to his fans – something he hasn’t been able to do since CBS took him off WJMK-FM (104.3) late last year, and he won’t be able to return to the airwaves [...]
Media: September 2009
‘JBTV’ Needs An Angel
Watch “JBTV” this week (beginning September 3rd) with featured guests Tim Hiatt and Steve Forstneger from IE. Check www.jbtvonline.com for air times.
“I’m still here rockin’, but I need a sponsor,” says “JBTV” host/owner Jerry Bryant, who’s been bringing alternative-music videos, concert footage, and free-form interviews to the Chicago airwaves since 1986. “I [...]
Media: August 2009
PRINT NOT DEAD:
TRUE STAR MAGAZINE
“Print remains a viable media source, especially if you have unique distribution,” says True Star magazine co-founder, publisher and executive director DeAnna McLeary, whose free magazine for, by, and about local teens is distributed at high schools, YMCA’s Boys & Girls Clubs, McDonald’s, barber shops, beauty salons, libraries and retail clothing [...]
Media: July 2009
Live Local Bands Get Their Own Free Weekly (Free) TV Show
“We’re encouraging local bands to support each other in a grassroots way,” says John Sink, executive producer of “Chicago/ Live,” a new live, weekly music performance series that airs Wednesday nights at midnight on WJYS TV-Channel 62 — just after “JBTV.”
Editors note: Due to an [...]
Media: June 2009
FREE RADIO STILL RELEVANT – ESPECIALLY FOR MUSICIANS
A few years ago, Massachusetts-based musician Candace Clement was in a band called Better Friends Than Lovers when she started taking a hard look at how the music industry works. “A pattern quickly emerged — one where very few companies seemed to control all content,” says Clement, now [...]
Media: May 2009
Media
Old-Time Radio Guru Chuck Schaden Retires
Many people — including former Sun-Times media critic Robert Feder — credit Chuck Schaden with single-handedly keeping old-time radio alive for generations. But Schaden is stepping down in May, after 39 years of doing his Saturday afternoon radio show, “Those Were The Days” (1 to 5 p.m. on WDCB-FM 90.9 [...]
Is Journalism Dead?
In 1991, I met writers Michael Miner and John Conroy after they gave a presentation on independent journalism at an adult-education seminar.
In those pre-Internet days, The Reader was the thick, independent weekly everyone picked up on Thursday afternoon, so they could plan their weekend. Miner wrote its popular “Hot Type” media column, and Conroy was [...]
Reasons To Be Cheerful Pt. IV
Sound-alike syndicated shows have never gone over very well in The Windy City, where the preference for personal and authentic media dates back to the Chicago School Of Television. It emerged in the 1950s as a spontaneous, informal genre typified by shows such as “Garroway At Large,” “Kukla, Fran & Ollie,” and “Studs’ Place.” Look [...]
Reasons To Be Cheerful Pt. III: “JBTV”
“I love to help those that have talent, give them a place to be a rock star . . . on ‘JBTV,’” says Jerry Bryant, who has been bringing alternative-music videos, concert footage, and free-form interviews to the Chicago area since 1986. “JBTV” has featured everyone from The Afghan Whigs to Zwan, and won two [...]
CBS Heaves It To Stever
Last month’s firing of radio legend Steve Dahl and his staff was shocking – but not out of character – for CBS Radio.
A few weeks earlier, B96’s longtime morning team, Eddie Volkman and Joe “Jobo” Bohannon, were dumped by CBS Radio with eight months left in their contracts – and no chance to say goodbye. [...]
