Media
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Reasons To Be Cheerful, Pt. 1
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 […]
Public Acess Under Siege
AT&T hypes its new U-verse digital TV system as “advanced TV that brings consumers a revolutionary new ent-ertainment experience that’s cooler than cable.” U-verse boasts something like 900 channels (including more than 41 in high definition) and a DVR that can record four shows at once. But activists say it doesn’t give consumers easy access […]
He Gone
Chicago Tribune. Recent redesigns have reduced story length and page count plus relegated much of the national and world news into bite-sized briefs.
The Morning After
For WKQK-FM 101.1 listeners, the morning drive is now an awful lot like the afternoon drive. On August 11th, the former afternoon team of Brian Sherman and Steve Tingle took over the morning slot after Alan Cox and Jim Lynam‘s “The Morning Fix” was given the ax.










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