When North jumps the gun, he’s dead wrong

Mike North

Robservations on the media beat:

• Joe Frazier, the former heavyweight boxing champion who died Monday, got a premature sendoff from Chicago sports talk host Mike North. On his nationally syndicated Fox Sports Radio show Sunday, North reported that Frazier had died based on an unconfirmed text message he’d received. Then North spent the rest of the show backpedaling: “I know he’s in the hospice, but my buddy George texted me, ‘Joe Frazier’s dead.’ But if there’s no report, either they haven’t announced it and he’s got the deal, or he’s wrong. And I would have to apologize to the Frazier family — although I think when you’re in the hospice and you have liver cancer, it’s may be a little short trip to that point. But if you’re not dead, you’re not dead. So, as far as we know, even though I said earlier that he was dead, he may still be alive. We’re trying to nail it down.” Twenty-four hours later, he was finally right.

• Saying he’s been “reborn as a rock ’n’ roll DJ,” the legendary John Records Landecker this week converted his weekday afternoon talk show to The John Landecker Music Explosion. Airing from 3 to 6pm weekdays on WIMS-AM (1420) in Michigan City, Indiana, the show also streams live on wimsradio.com. “I’m bringing in music from home, and the station is adding to its collection, so it’s really ‘grass roots,’ ” he said. “It’s really a blast. I’ve got that crunchy AM signal blasting in my headphones and the mic turned down low. Rock and roll music and the people who played it on the air are the reason I am in radio. In fact I have DJ DNA.”

• Sharon Bialek, the woman who accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment Monday, had connections to three Chicago radio stations. She worked as a sales account executive at Tribune Co.-owned WGN-AM (720) from 2001 to 2004, followed by a stint as nontraditional revenue director at CBS Radio’s former WCKG. She reconnected with Cain last month at a Tea Party rally hosted by Salem Communications news/talk WIND-AM (560), where she reportedly also has been seeking employment. WIND afternoon host Steve Cochran, who was a close friend of Bialek at WGN, said he believes she’s telling the truth. “I know she’s a dedicated single mother, and I can’t see any scenario where she would come forward like this unless she felt she absolutely had to,” Cochran said. Cain has denied the accusations against him.

• Denis King, who most recently headed the Denver bureau for Fox News Channel, has been named Chicago bureau chief. He succeeds Todd Ciganek, who left Fox News earlier this year to become vice president of information services for BidClerk, a Chicago company that produces research reports for the construction industry.

• For a guy who’s supposed to spend most of his time podcasting from his basement, Steve Dahl seems to be everywhere: On this week’s installment of Check Please!, Dahl turns up as guest reviewer (with a recommendation of Davanti Enoterca on Taylor Street) at 8pm Friday on WTTW-Channel 11. That’s in addition to his filling in two days this week for Richard Roeper alongside afternoon host Roe Conn on Cumulus Media news/talk WLS-AM (890) and delivering his weekly commentary on Fox Chicago’s 9pm newscast Friday.

• In a reader poll by Radio Ink, the immortal Dick Biondi this week was named The Greatest DJ of the 1960s. Amazingly, the 79-year-old Radio Hall of Famer is still going strong as Monday-through-Friday evening star on Cumulus Media oldies WLS-FM (94.7). Biondi’s legion of fans may have helped a bit after he promoted the poll on his website. Other Chicago radio icons in the top 10 were Larry Lujack (at No. 4) and Art Roberts (at No. 6).

• John Garcia, the veteran reporter at WLS-Channel 7, will host the ninth annual John Drury High School Radio Awards November 19 at North Central College in west suburban Naperville. Named for the late ABC 7 anchorman, the awards recognize the nation’s outstanding high school radio talent. The event is sponsored by the college’s WONC-FM (89.1).

• Remember Ed Tyll? The fiery talk show personality who most recently hosted middays at WEUS-AM in Orlando, Florida, has left radio after three decades to begin a new career as a teacher, according to Radio-Info.com. In Chicago, Tyll made a name for himself in the early ’90s as late-night talk show host on the former WLUP-AM.  His theme song (“Ed Tyll, you may not like what he says, Ed Tyll. But he’ll say it anyway, Ed Tyll.”) became an enduring anthem.