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One year later: ‘Windy City’ boss likes what she sees
Marlaine Selip
Chicago and the rest of the civilized world were still coming to grips with Life After Oprah (or at least life after The Oprah Winfrey Show) when Windy City Live debuted one year ago this week.
More than half the population of the city (median age 31.5) never knew a time when Oprah wasn’t on ABC 7 at 9am weekdays — an hour she’d dominated in the Nielsens for more than 27 years. Replacing her on the market’s top-rated station wouldn’t be easy.
Hosted by Val Warner and Ryan Chiaverini, who’d emerged from a months-long talent search, Windy City Live appeared in many ways to be a throwback to the kind of programs local stations produced decades earlier — including A.M. Chicago, which begat Oprah. Boasting a big budget, a big set and a big studio audience, it was the biggest local show launched here since WGN bagged Bozo’s Circus.
No one expected Windy City Live to pull Oprah-sized ratings out of the box. It needed only to be marginally profitable to survive. Nevertheless it consistently has won its time period in overall households and appears headed for a victory in the key adult demographics during May. Not bad for a program some critics damned with faint praise and others savaged when it premiered.
On the eve of the show’s first anniversary special Wednesday, executive producer Marlaine Selip reflected on the challenges of creating a national caliber local production from scratch and previewed what’s ahead for Windy City Live:
Sun-Times cuts features editor in ongoing overhaul
Amanda Barrett
Robservations on the media beat:
- The management makeover of the Sun-Times continued Monday with the elimination of Amanda Barrett’s position as features editor. Under new editor-in-chief Jim Kirk, the job is expected to be redefined more broadly, with responsibilities for features at all publications owned by Sun-Times Media. Kirk told editors he’s likely to fill the new position from outside. Barrett, who joined the Sun-Times as a copy editor in 2000, held a variety of jobs with the company (including a brief stint as managing editor of the Naperville Sun) before she was named features editor in 2007. She’s married to Larry Hamel, a sports editor at the Sun-Times.
- I was 12 years old when anti-war demonstrators clashed with police during the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. Even at that age, I clearly understood why the protesters were there and what they meant when they chanted: “The Whole World Is Watching.” But after three days of following the coverage of this week’s NATO demonstrations, I’m still unsure what all the shouting was about. For that I hold the local media at least partially responsible. Television stations had their cameras and reporters in the right places, to be sure, but fell short when it came to conveying a meaningful narrative. Without a ’68-style cataclysm to cover, they ultimately came off as relieved, let down and maybe just a little bit embarrassed by all the alarmist hype. Sort of how I felt after Y2K.
Purge at Pioneer: Sun-Times Media shaking up editorial ranks
Jeff Wisser
Robservations on the media beat:
- Does the firing Friday of Jeff Wisser as editor-in-chief of the suburban weekly Pioneer Press chain signal an overhaul of editorial management at Sun-Times Media? That’s the word according to insiders, who also say Sun-Times executive editor John Barron turned down an offer to become publisher of the Reader when it’s acquired by parent company Wrapports LLC. Both moves point to bigger changes coming under Jim Kirk, who stepped in last month as chief of editorial operations for the company. Until a successor for Wisser is named, Pioneer Press publisher Chris Krug will double as interim editor. “It was a great opportunity,” Wisser, 52, said of his six-year run Sunday. “I got to stretch muscles I didn’t even know I had. It was a pleasure working with my team at Pioneer, who were terrific in the face of devastating change. I’ll be looking for someplace to go in the morning.” Since he started with the Barrington Press in 1984, Wisser held various posts with the suburban chain and the Sun-Times before becoming top editor of Pioneer in 2006.
- Good news for fans of Tommy Edwards: They’ll now have an extra hour to enjoy the Chicago radio legend each day. Starting Monday, Edwards’ midday show on CBS Radio’s classic hits WJMK-FM (104.3) will begin an hour earlier and air from 9am to 2pm Monday through Friday. It’s part of a revamped lineup at K-Hits that includes Edwards’ promotion to permanent midday personality. “Tommy is the perfect addition to our on-air lineup,” said program director Todd Cavanah. “His knowledge of the artists and music that we play will come through the speakers every day.” Also as of Monday, Eddie Volkman and Joe Bohannon’s K-Hits morning show will start a half-hour earlier, airing from 5 to 9am weekdays.
A quiz in quotes: Think you know Chicago television?
Fahey Flynn
Match these phrases with the Chicago television personalities who made them famous. (Answers appear at the bottom):
1. How do you do, ladies and gentlemen?
2. Bozo’s Circus is on the air!
3.The lively art of conversation.
4. Hey! Hey!
5. Take it easy, but take it.
6. Someone you should know.
7. Man on the Go.
8. Berwyn!
9. Peace.
10. Whoosh!
11. That ball had eyes.
12. Vice President in Charge of Looking Out the Window.
13. Holy cow!
14. I thought I was on the fo'c'sle of a tramp steamer.
15. You get a car, you get a car . . . everybody gets a car!
16. Laugh your troubles away.
17. The balcony is closed.
18. Peace, love and soul.
19. Bye, bye, byeeee!
20. And I am Len O’Connor.
When it comes to media manipulation, Emanuel’s a master
Rahm Emanuel
Robservations on the media beat:
- One of Rahm Emanuel’s few public flareups since he was elected mayor was a testy encounter with NBC 5 political reporter Mary Ann Ahern when she tried to ask about plans for his inauguration. A few months later he came close to losing it again when Ahern questioned him about where his children would be going to school. But those were exceptions. In a revealing profile for Northwestern University’s alumni magazine, freelance writer Cate Plys describes Emanuel’s media strategy as shrewd, relentless and sometimes overwhelming. “Oh, my God, it’s ridiculous,” Ahern tells Plys. “Crazy! Sometimes I don’t even answer the phone in the afternoon. Every single day, usually around 2:30 or 3, they [Emanuel’s press people] call. ‘Just checking, what are you working on?’ ‘I’m working on news. What are you working on?’ If I dare to say what I’m working on, they say, ‘That’s not a story. That’s not a story.’” Nevertheless, Ahern says of Emanuel: “He’s impressive. I think he could probably be — who’s to say? — but maybe folks will end up saying this guy was our best mayor ever.” In a fascinating sidebar, Plys analyzes the various rhetorical devices Emanuel uses to dismiss, deflect and misdirect the media — skills he learned when he pursued a master’s degree in rhetoric and argumentation at NU.
- Throughout her 15 years as president and general manager of ABC 7, Emily Barr rarely appeared on the air. But now that she’s between jobs (on her way to starting as president and CEO of Post-Newsweek Stations), she’s making an exception for public television. Barr will be among Joel Weisman’s guests on Chicago Tonight: The Week in Review at 7pm Friday on WTTW-Channel 11. Topics will include how local stations are preparing to cover NATO.
What makes Roy blog? It’s a question of ‘civility’
Roy Leonard
After a broadcast career spanning more than 50 years and thousands of daily radio and television appearances, some people might find they have nothing more to say.
But Roy Leonard is just getting started.
With the launch this week of his redesigned website at RoyLeonard.com, the 81-year-old Chicago legend has unveiled two new blogs (both of which he plans to update weekly) and links to audio, video and photo archives highlighting his stellar career, most notably his three decades at Tribune Co.-owned WGN-AM (720) and WGN-Channel 9.
Keller to end ‘extraordinary journey’ as Tribune critic
Julia Keller
Julia Keller, the Chicago Tribune cultural critic who won the newspaper’s only Pulitzer Prize for feature writing, says it's time to return to the academic world — and pursue a new career as a novelist.
Calling it “an exceedingly difficult decision,” Keller, 54, told her bosses last week that she plans to leave in June after completing several projects for the paper and participating in the Tribune’s Printers Row Lit Fest.
Starting this fall, Keller will join the faculty of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where she will teach writing classes in the journalism department. She previously taught at Ohio State University (where she earned a doctorate in English), Princeton University, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Chicago. Just before joining the Tribune 1998, she studied technologies of literacy as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.
Urge to merge: WTTW combines national, local program staffs
Dan Schmidt
Claiming it will create “a more cohesive and efficient unit,” Chicago’s leading public television station is putting all its production eggs in one basket.
WTTW National Productions, which brought the world Soundstage, Sneak Previews, The Frugal Gourmet, The New Explorers and The McLaughlin Group, is being combined with WTTW11 Local Productions, the local programming department of WTTW-Channel 11, according to Dan Schmidt, president and CEO of parent company Window to the World Communications.
“With this new focus, we are better able to leverage the creativity, experience and expertise of our existing staff to develop programming that appeals to local, national and international audiences,” Schmidt wrote in a memo to staffers.
Daytime drama: How will ABC 7 make room for Katie & Kelly?
Kelly Ripa
Katie Couric and Kelly Ripa are coming to the station that Oprah Winfrey used to call home. But adding their daytime talk shows to WLS-Channel 7 will mean disrupting a lineup that has led the ratings in Chicago for more than 25 years.
The big question is: Where will they go? And the bigger question is: Will viewers follow?
Starting September 10, Katie, the new syndicated talk show hosted by the former Today host and CBS Evening News anchor, and distributed by Disney-ABC, is expected to air here at 3pm Monday through Friday, leading into the ABC-owned station’s 4pm newscast.
Back at CBS 2, weatherman Curran enjoys ‘warm reception’
Ed Curran
More than two years after he left WBBM-Channel 2 in a contract dispute, Chicago broadcast veteran Ed Curran is back on the CBS-owned station — and very happy about it.
It’s just a temporary gig for now, but Curran’s comeback as fill-in meteorologist marks a return to television following a nine-month detour at Merlin Media all-news WIQI-FM (101.1). His afternoon news anchor position was eliminated last month in a budget cutback at the struggling radio news operation.
At CBS 2, he’ll be filling in Friday for morning meteorologist Megan Glaros, who was hospitalized this week with issues related to her pregnancy with twins, according to her Facebook posts. Curran also will be working Saturday and Sunday night newscasts this weekend.
