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Dahl speaks, Meier stays silent: Radio Hall of Fame spat turns into potential shame

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While previously recapping the awkward situation involving Steve Dahl, Garry Meier and the National Radio Hall of Fame, I thought there might be some important pieces missing to the story. Having thought about it some more, and after reading Dahl’s open response to Chaz Ebert, the picture narrated by Dahl just doesn’t add up.

Just to recap, earlier this summer it was announced Dahl and Meier would be inducted in this year’s National Radio Hall of Fame as a duo. Last night, Robert Feder blogged that Dahl had decided not to attend the event due to a general lack of interest and also because he hadn’t heard back from Meier after first attempting to contact him previously. Feder then noted that Meier had informed the National Radio Hall of Fame that he would be attending the event.

So let me get this straight. Meier plans to attend the event, yet refuses to call back the person who he is supposed to be inducted with? That doesn’t make any sense. Either there’s more to the story or Meier has gone delusional.

Since their surprise one-show reunion on Oak St. Beach in 2006, the two have participated in a few appearances together and haven spoken well of each other. I remember a 2009 off-air meet between the two inside the WGN-AM 720 studios (while Meier was in the middle of his show) became quite the stirrer on the Chicagoland Radio and Media message board. The overall impression was that the two, at the very least, were amicable.

Dahl has a way with words and for sometimes harshly digging into people. He did so again in his response to Chaz Ebert, where he more than once subtly knocked Meier and his wife when referencing their unwillingness at reconciling with him (again, weren’t Dahl and Meier getting along, well enough at least, after their 2006 get together?).

For someone like Meier who comes across as heavenly guarded towards his off air business, it’s hard to imagine him attending such an event that is supposed to recognize the two of them as a duo if he does indeed have remaining animosity towards Dahl.

Later this afternoon, Feder tweeted the question, “Which side of the Steve & Garry debate are you on?” If you take Dahl at his word, then Meier does come across as petty. While I certainly won’t suggest that Meier has never previously come off as  petty (i.e. his opening monologue on his WGN debut show in April, 2008), I find it hard to believe that he all of a sudden went from willingly associating with Dahl to not wanting anything to do with him.

I don’t think it’s right to yet take any side in the Dahl and Meier issue without hearing from Meier. Unfortunately, he passed on the opportunity during his show this afternoon on WGN (where better place to do it?). Maybe he addresses it on Monday after thinking about it over the weekend, or perhaps, closer to the induction date.  If Meier, however, does decide to stay quiet on the issue, it will make it a lot easier for those following the “debate” to side against him.

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Media Bits & Bytes (10/25/13)

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– I’m not sure what to make of the now awkward situation involving Steve Dahl and Garry Meier, as narrated by Robert Feder, concerning their Nov. 9 induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame.

While it does seem strange that Meier never responded to Dahl’s initial inquiry, I think it’s safe to assume there’s more to this story then mentioned in Feder’s blog. While there’s no love loss between Feder and Meier, Feder often comes across as a huge admirer of Dahl — with last night’s blog being no exception.

I’m curious whether Dahl has mentioned any of this on his podcast. He certainly has mentioned nothing about it on Twitter. The only reason to go on-the-record with Feder is to stir up a controversy, and to possibly put pressure on Meier to come back with a response, either in private or publicly.

As if this wasn’t awkward by itself, Chaz Ebert penned an open letter (again, via Robert Feder’s blog) to the two personalities in hopes they work out any issue and attend the induction together.

While Meier will occasionally address such inner-working on the air, it’s usually done with a modest level of discomfort. It will be interesting to see if he brings it up on his WGN-AM 720 show at some point, if not this afternoon (perhaps if he is angry enough).

– Even with a Bears bye week, there’s no shortage of NFL games this Sunday in the Chicago market. WFLD-TV/Fox 32 has the 12 p.m. Cowboys/Lions and the 3:25 p.m. Redskins /Broncos, while WBBM-TV/CBS 2 has the 12 p.m. Dolphins/Patriots. The Sunday night game on WMAQ-TV/NBC 5 features the Packers/Vikings. The Monday night game on ESPN is the Seahawks/Rams. Thanks to 506Sports.com for Fox and CBS listings.

– Former WGN-AM host John Williams, who continues hosting at WCCO-AM 830 in Minneapolis, recently added an extra hour to his day — now heard from 3 to 7 p.m. While the show does center around some local Minnesota happenings, there is enough general, non-Minnesota specific discussion that should keep your interest if you enjoyed his show on WGN. Williams’ show can be heard online via live stream, or on most mobile devices via the Tune In or Radio.com apps.

– SiriusXM Radio announced they are raising subscription rates beginning in 2014. The added rates will result in subscribers paying an extra $6 a year (or $.50 each month), though it was not specified which subscribers would be impact (that lack of detail prompts me to believe it will unfortunately be all subscribers). As a current subscriber to their online-only option, I thought $15 by itself was already ridiculously high. As  a matter of fact, I’ve been meaning to try my hand at cancelling in hopes that they would in-fact lower my monthly cost in order to keep my subscription.

– Washington Post staffers held a huge going away party for Don Graham and family earlier this week. With the official handover having been completed earlier this month, the Washington Post is now owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, following 80 years of ownership by the Graham family. The party was attended by current and previous Post employees in a night filled with reminiscing and fellowship. In noting how much journalism has changed, Graham stated “every one of my 1971 heroes has left the newsroom. Now it’s time for me to go, too.”

– Meanwhile, another major newspaper acquisition was finally completed yesterday. The Boston Globe now officially belongs to Boston Red Sox owner John Henry. This particular purchase hasn’t generated the same type of buzz that came with Bezo’s purchase of the Washington Post. When the deal was first announced in August, some Globe journalists voiced fear that Henry would thumb his nose in how the paper covers the Boston sports scene, particularly the Red Sox.

– While on the discussion of newspaper ownership, the New York Times’ David Carr discusses the seemingly-new trend of tech industry entrepreneurs investing heavenly in journalism. While Carr spotlights the two mainstream examples (Bezos/Washington Post, Pierrer Omidyar/Glenn Greenwald), he also sheds light on some of the lesser prominent investments in journalism of late and how this trend may play out moving forward.

Also worth a read is New York Times interview with Omidyar pertaining to his ambitions of getting into the news business.

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Local media on Lemont Citgo refinery fire

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While I do like Mike Parker and appreciate his long-time standing as a Chicago journalist, last night was not one of his better nights on camera. The WBBM-TV/CBS 2 reporter was live in Lemont to report on the Citgo refinery fire for the station’s 10 p.m. newscast.

Asides from the blatant stammering and stuttering, Parker didn’t acknowledge some of the questions that an active viewer might be asking — are there any injuries or casualties, how close is the fire to being extinguished, are there any interruptions to traffic or road closures, are any nearby homes or businesses in danger?

Near the end of his report, Parker warned that anyone (assuming nearby residents?) with asthma or breathing problems should close their windows and… lock their doors.

Just an observation… I actually caught wind of the story via a blurb on the WGN-TV Ch. 9 News Facebook page just before 10 p.m. While the story on the WGN website was extremely vague with virtually no details asides from “there’s a fire,” the Lemont Patch story, for as short as it may have been, at least addressed some of the obvious questions a reader might be looking for.

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CBS 2 Chicago newscast rolls out new graphics

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CBS 2 News Graphic

CBS 2 News graphic — screenshot courtesy of NewscastStudio.com.

WBBM-TV/CBS 2 rolled-out new graphics during this morning’s newscast. Snapshots of the new graphics, which will be adapted by all CBS owned-and-operated stations, were leaked to NewscastStudio.com last month (showing demo screenshots for WCBS-TV, the CBS O&O in New York). KTVT-TV, the CBS O&O in Dallas, unveiled the same graphics package last week.

The new graphics are boxier and bolder. The added boxy and bold look will probably standout better for those viewing CBS 2 newscast videos on mobile devices.

The graphics used on CBS 2 so far this morning are nearly identical to the screenshots shown on NewscastStudio.com. One minor difference is the CBS 2 logo in the bottom-right corner — while the channel 2 graphic in the screenshots are gold, the channel 2 graphic that WBBM adapted is white, matching the color of the iconic eyeball.

Beneath the CBS 2 logo is a rotation of the station’s Twitter handle, Facebook handle and the URL to their website, CBSChicago.com. The “HD” stamp that was previously to the right of the logo is gone (thank goodness — bragging about broadcasting in HD in 2013, in my opinion, was the equivalent of a station still bragging about broadcasting in full color in 1997).

The theme music has also been modified, sounding slightly more amplified.

The new graphics are nice, clean, simple and modern. Most people at home probably won’t even notice the change, and that is ok. As long as they properly convey the information without being distracting, that is what is most important.

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Media Bits & Bytes (10/18/13)

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– 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.

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A ‘Savage’ kick in the balls to Mark Levin

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Mark Levin and Michael Savage have long been on-air rivals. The two right wing talk show hosts used to compete in the same 5 to 8 p..m CT time slot — Levin’s show syndicated by Cumulus Media, Savage’s show syndicated by Talk Radio Network. After a bitter divorce with Talk Radio Network, Savage was hired by Cumulus in 2012 to broadcast a new show in the 8 to 11 p.m. slot, following Levin.

Even though the two rivals were now employed by the same syndicator, that hasn’t stopped the two of them from taking occasional swipes at each other. While both individuals are uniquely spirited, Levin has a better way with words, giving him the ability to be far more mean and nasty. And he certainly demonstrated that while going after Savage once again this past May.

“You little troll, you little nobody… I kicked your butt in the ratings, head to head, one end of the nation to the other. That’s why you’re late night. Got it? I’d like you to come back at six pm, against me, eastern of course, so I could do it again, snaggletooth.”

Soon after that diatribe, Savage’s name surfaced as a potential replacement for Sean Hannity’s show, syndicated by Premiere Radio, which airs on Cumulus-owned news/talk stations throughout the country. When such rumors became official last month, that had to be the most vicious low blow to Levin’s ego (I’m guessing today’s conference call with Cumulus COO John Dickey didn’t help). The move to afternoons is a huge promotion, one that Levin lost to a bitter rival who joined his syndicator just one year ago.

While I’m not particularly fond of either guy, I can appreciate Savage from an entertainment standpoint. I hesitate to find any redeeming qualities about Levin.

And I can’t help but appreciate the irony with how this worked out.

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As news and information gathering changes, ABC 7 to revive iconic ‘Eyewitness News’

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Channel 7 Eyewitness News

When WLS-TV/ABC 7 dropped the “Eyewitness News” monicker in 1996, the station was Chicago’s undisputed leader in local broadcast news.

Some 17 years later and still number one, ABC 7 will soon bring “Eyewitness News” back, reports Robert Feder, likely in time for November sweeps. John Idler, ABC 7’s president and general manager, tells Feder that revising the “Eyewitness News” name will be done in a contemporary sense — a “look forward to what ‘Eyewitness News’ means to viewers today.”

With all due respect to Idler, I read that as marketing fluff for “we’re changing the name of the newscast while everything else around it will pretty much stay the same.” Without a significant change to the newscast’s presentation or format, a name change with maybe a new studio set (highly unlikely) or graphics (more likely) is nothing more than a fresh coat of paint.

If I were a betting man, one intangible unlikely to change is the theme music. When “Eyewitness News” became “ABC 7 News” in 1996, the station decided to continue using the same music. Considering that ABC 7 has resisted changing it since, there’s hardly any reason to expect they’d do so now (which is perfectly fine by me).

Concerning everything else around the name change, I wouldn’t blame Idler for playing it safe. Even though ABC 7’s ratings dominance in local news has minimized in recent years, any attempt to dramatically alter the presentation or format would likely have an adverse affect. Previous attempts elsewhere have typically bombed.

In 2000, WBBM-TV/CBS 2’s effort to go retro with a more straight-and-narrow newscast featuring Carol Marin was dropped after eight months because of low viewership. CBS 2 went the opposite direction in 2010 with “Monsters and Money” in the morning, which was dropped after only seven months due to embarrassing low ratings.

I don’t mean to pick on CBS 2. Since their newscasts have typically been in or near last place for well over a decade, they’ve had reason to try something different. Lessening the burden on CBS 2 in recent years has been WFLD-TV/Fox 32. When walking past an empty Fox news truck at Monday’s Columbus Day parade, my wife said “Fox is also here. Where do you think they’re at?” My immediate response was “last place.”

In fairness to CBS 2, I am a big fan of the current newscast they’ve assembled, in both mornings and at night. There’s nothing edgy or innovative about it. They’ve done a great job at finding the right talent who also work well together on camera. Even if ratings growth is slow or sometimes stagnant, they are headed in the right direction as far as delivery goes.

Concerning the revival of “Eyewitness News,” Idler told Feder that a research study commissioned by the station showed that even though the name went away in 1996, it still resonates with the public. That to me sounds vague and doesn’t really mean anything to me. I get the sense they’re doing it more so for the sake of change. I hope whoever conducted that study wasn’t the same person or group that swayed WFLD into re-adapting the outdated “Fox 32” monicker.

While maintaining the status quo for local broadcast news may be the safe route, the way society collects and searches for news and information continues to change with the advancement of mobile technology and gadgets.

With the continued decline of print media and its failure to adapt a profitable online business model, local broadcast news should be in the driver’s seat. In the case of ABC 7, the name of the newscast isn’t going to matter in the long-run. What will make a long-term difference is that the quality of news stays superb, that it is easily available on mobile devices and that users can access it whenever they want.

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Art Bell subtly talks coincidences, George Noory and that ‘other show’

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Since launching “Dark Matter” on SiriusXM last month, Art Bell has kept his thoughts pertaining to his former show, “Coast to Coast AM,” and his successor George Noory to a minimal. Anything on air spoken by Bell in regards to Coast or Noory has been more or less subtle. Bell gave his peace about Noory on a few occasions via Facebook, as well as to Time magazine last month. Such words by Bell were always constructive, not intended to be personal. I think Bell was within his rights, considering he kept his mouth shut for 10 years while Noory slowly destroyed the program that Bell created.

 

Since late last week, Tobias McGriff was scheduled to appear on tonight’s “Dark Matter.” Sometime over the weekend, “Coast to Coast” booked McGriff for last night’s show. Bell discussed the “coincidence” at the start of his show last night (“Dark Matter” airs prior to “Coast to Coast,” with the last hour of Bell’s program coinciding with the first hour of Noory’s).  Bell made his point, as tactfully as he possibly could, as only he can. And just in case Bell’s message was too subtle, the bumper music played afterwards further makes his point loud and clear.

A few added thoughts…

I’m not a regular “Coast to Coast” listener, but it has been well documented elsewhere that Noory often seems unprepared and uninterested when interviewing guests. Wouldn’t it be more appropriate for him to book guests for his show the night after appearing on “Dark Matter?” Noory can listen to the questions asked by Bell (show prep!) and use them on his own show the following night. To the remaining “Coast” fans who are not listening to Bell’s new show, they’d probably think Noory had never sounded better.

If Bell continues with the subtle shots, I picture Noory’s eventual breaking point being somewhat similar to “The Office” where Michael Scott asks Stanley why he picks on him (from the episode “Did I Stutter?”).

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‘Radiogirl’ Margaret Larkin debuts videopod with WGN’s Jordan Bernfield

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I like insider radio stuff (obviously). So I enjoyed watching this video short of WGN-AM 720’s Jordan Bernfield prep for guest-hosting last night’s “David Kaplan Show.” This is also the kind of stuff that stations should be doing on their own and pushing via social media.

The above video was shot by Margaret Larkin, host of the Radiogirl Podcast. Hopefully, Margaret will be doing more of these video shorts, allowing listeners to get more familiar with the various media talent in the city.

Margaret’s most recent full-length interview podcast is with WGN newsman Steve Bertrand. Some of her other recent sitdown podcasts include Bernfield, Mark Carman (co-host, “David Kaplan Show”) and St. Louis radio veteran J.C. Corcoran (recommended listening — J.C. should be on the air in Chicago… ideally on WGN.FM).

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Can’t get over the ‘Chicago Sun-Times.com’ newspaper masthead

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Excuse me if this comes across as anal, but I just can’t like the Chicago Sun-Times current masthead, which debuted in June (along with a revamped design for the rest of the newspaper — which I am yet to see since I don’t touch newspapers these days).

It’s not that the masthead looks bad (it actually looks semi-nice), but it just doesn’t make sense.

Chicago Sun-Times MastheadI get that the formal name of the paper is the Chicago Sun-Times. The name that appears on the masthead would suggest that the formal name is Chicago Sun-Times.com, which it’s not.

I realize I’m over thinking this. But really, somebody at the Sun-Times should have been over thinking before this masthead was ever approved for use.

I fully understand the paper wants to emphasize the importance of their website, however, adding the .com to the logo is wrong. The Sun-Times markets its website simply as Suntimes.com — not as ChicagoSuntimes.com or ChicagoSun-Times.com (even though both URLs do technically forward you to the Suntimes.com URL).

I get it… the reader is supposed to understand that the paper is named the Chicago Sun-Times, and that there is a website, which the reader probably already understands is Suntimes.com. Still, that’s a lot of assumptions. Such lapse in judgement is something I would have expected in 1999 or 2000. Not in 2013.

It could have been worse. At least the masthead wasn’t written as www.Chicago Sun-Times.com.