– WGN-AM 720 is attempting to renegotiate their current deal with the Cubs, reports Ed Sherman. The deal, which was agreed to shortly after the team’s back-to-back (2007, 2008) post season runs is a hefty expense for the station. With the team’s struggles lessening fan desire to listen to the games on the radio, the current contract has turned out to be a bad deal for the station.
– The NFL docket locally for this Sunday, per 506Sports.com, has the Bears vs. the Redskins at 12 p.m. on WFLD-TV/Fox 32. WBBM-TV/CBS 2 is airing back-to-back games with the Bengals vs. the Lions at 12 p.m. and the Browns vs. the Packers at 3:15 p.m. In perhaps, one of the most anticipated games of the year, Peyton Manning returns to Indianapolis for the first time this Sunday night with the Broncos vs. the Colts at 7:20 p.m. on WMAQ-TV/NBC 5.
– As a special reminder, tomorrow night’s Blackhawks and Maple Leafs game from the United Center begins at 6 p.m., as opposed to the normal 7 p.m. start. That game will also air locally on WGN-TV Ch. 9.
– Even though the revered Chicago baseball reporter Bruce Levine is currently not employed, that hasn’t stopped him from keeping busy. Levine, who left WMVP-AM/ESPN 1000 in late September, is keeping busy via Twitter and by making a handful of appearances on both radio and television. Levine’s been on WSCR-AM/670 The Score, WGN-AM and Comcast SportsNet. It would be a no-brainer to assume he’ll turn up on the air somewhere during the November MLB general manager meetings and again in December during the MLB winter meetings.
– WLIT-FM/My FM 93.9 has already begun promoting their holiday/Christmas music, though no official start date obviously has not been announced. For those wondering, the all-holiday music will be branded as “My Holiday” as opposed to the “Holiday Lite,” since the “Lite FM” brand was dropped earlier this year.
– The future of embattled talk show host Mike McConnell may finally be settling. According to Chicagoland Radio and Media, McConnell might not not only be out for good at WGN-AM — where he had been relegated to online only since early August — but that he might be back on the Cincinatti news/talk WLW-AM 700 at the start of 2014. If this pans out as Larz suggests, it’s a good move for McConnell, who will find himself in familiar territory where he is also well liked.
– Just an observation… While morning meteorologist Megan Glaros and traffic anchor Derrick Young are on vacation (no, not with each other), CBS 2 has decided to only schedule one person to fill in for the both of them. Pulling double duty on Wednesday was Ed Curan, while Mary Kay Kleist had the honors yesterday and again this morning.
– Worth reading… Bloomberg’s Business Week has a lengthy, but must-read, excerpt from the book “The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon,” by Brad Stone. The piece portrays very vivid details on how Bezos operates within the Amazon workplace, and gives very concrete examples to the absurdities Amazon will go in order to gain a desired result.