Jase

To be fair, I'm not saying they'll be successful, just that I wouldn't be surprised if they try.

They would need to also grab some behind-the-scenes people too from WGN to be really successful. I could see them try to make a play for Larry. I doubt Robin would want to work for her ex-husband or Paul pushing Mike out (unless they get rid of Bill and move Mike to evenings).

Okay, so I'm not the only one with the theory that Good Day Chicago is in a holding pattern until they see what happens to WGN Morning News, and whether or not they can get their hands on talent.

Even if Sinclair completely destroys WGN Morning News, I can't imagine anyone leaving for WFLD and/or a huge amount of viewers turning to GDC. Jenny and Mike were a good pair. Can't for the life of me figure out why WFLD dropped her.

Man, this picture is a whole buttload of awesome. Ron's pants, Bob's hair, Ron's pants, everyone's shoulder pads, Ron's pants, John and Mark's doublebreasted jackets, and Ron's pants.

 

[MEDIA=instagram]BeYfnWmBZhL[/MEDIA]

This was the team to watch back in the day. No one could hold a candle to them.

One of the biggest problems Megyn Kelly faces is that we really don’t know who ‘the real’ Megyn Kelly is. She was a different person when she was on FNC and said/did a lot of stupid things imo (‘Santa can only be White’, etc..).

Now she is on NBC, she has attempted to clean up her image, but that’s tough to do when, for example, you’re an advocate for Women one day and attack an 80 yr. old Woman the next for no reason. This is only one incident/misstep she has made since arriving at NBC.

I think she has never fully taken the time for some self-reflection in order to better herself. Granted that may sound like nonsense, but she would have been better off not taking the job at NBC and spending some time with her family out of the spotlight.

Or why not go back to the way it was pre-Suppelsa and put Sanders back at 9pm (and 5-7pm) and Negovan back at midday?

I think the easy answer is that Steve had a good run (15 yrs.) as principal anchor and it's time for someone else/new to sit in the big chair. Without question, it should be Negovan. He and Micah have pretty good chemistry and he has earned the spot over everyone else there.

Apparently Dionne Miller has signed a new multi-year contract.

This is a no-brainer. No reason not to keep her.

Is it possible that McDonald's contract for the naming rights ensures national carriage?

It's a safe bet that when WGN signed the original contract/and subsequent renewals with the Chicago Festival Association, coverage on WGN America was part of the deal. Any change in station ownership (or the possibility there of) wouldn't instantly nullify that contract. They can however simply choose to not renew it when the time comes.

The fact that McDonalds is the title sponsor of the parade is a non issue.

Any chance of a WGN America simulcast this year?

Per the official McDonalds Thanksgiving Parade site , it will be on WGN, WGN America and live streamed on WGNtv.com.

It doesn't even seem like they care to use Bill Zwecker much anymore.. Looks like much of Richard Roeper's "duties" were given to Jake Hamilton.. Including all the interviewing of movie actors. It also looks like Jake has been given much of the entertainment reporting too. Wouldn't surprise me if Bill is out when contract is up.

They probably came to the conclusion that they didn't need 3 people doing entertainment-related stuff. Jake has always done features with more of an entertainment angle to them since he arrived @ WFLD, so I noticed no real difference.

I also think they're in a bit of a flux @ GDC [ no Corey, Darlene, Richard and Kristen (maternity leave), loss of DNAInfo content, etc.. ] and could be preparing to make more changes leading into the new year.

They must be holding out hope for Darlene to come back, or they're at least not ready to say goodbye, as Roeper's bio is already gone, while hers is still online...though they haven't bothered to update anyone else's.

They, like most other stations in town, do a horrible job when it comes to keeping staff bios up-to-date.

About Roeper.. He has an EXTREMELY busy schedule and life, and he barely sleeps. In addition to his movie reviewing and his column, he also constantly does interviews and various show and event appearances. He's traveling to LA/Vegas constantly. He's also a regular on Roe Conn's WGN-AM show, being on at least a couple times a week for most of or all of the show.. His condo is pretty much a "studio" for various things. He's also very big with living the "nightlife".. He's big in the poker world and he's always out at the bars. He normally doesn't turn in until after 2 or 3 am so he barely sleeps. Leaving GDC isn't really about pursuing other work.. He just needs a little break and some sleep during the day. Plus, you can really tell how tired his eyes look during GDC.

Not only that, there was a lot of overlap between him and Bill Z that it seemed Richard didn't really have a lot to do on most days. I think that it got to a point that it wasn't worth his and FOX 32 time to continue this relationship (if you will).

Feder says Darlene Hill could be on the way out.

Given that they already moved Anita to an anchor role and recently hired Tia as a reporter/fill in anchor, this seems like a done deal. It's unfortunate they couldn't work something out.

This has been going in my head for a while, and this is just my opinion, but I feel like the Morning News hasn't been a fun watch as it has in the past. I think it has lost quality.

If one of the core three (Larry, Robin or Paul) is off, there's a serious lack of chemistry. I caught a little bit of a newscast awhile back with Larry, Lauren (filling in for Robin) and Paul and you can tell the difference. Plus, as they age, they slowing start sounding like old curmudgeons when talking about certain things (i.e. viewer complaints, etc...). I don't watch them (I rather be informed than entertained), but at some point, the fun times and whatnot will become unsustainable.

Tia Ewing (former anchor/reporter at WOIO) is the newest face at WFLD. I believe she is taking Anita's spot on GDC. She is a native Chicagoan and today was her first day on-air.

WGN announced on-air today that just like last year, "Cubs Nightly" will air every night at 6:30pm from October 2nd until the Cubs' playoff run is over. It will replace the 6:30-7pm block of news, which, of course, didn't exist last October.

Seems like overkill. I'll stick with WFLD/Fox 32 and their 'Blue October' specials.

By the way, it appears that there have been some other talent moves. From what I've noticed (nothing officially announced), Kaitlin Cody has been bumped up to weekdays, appearing every day at noon for several weeks, while Mark Strehl has been pulling her original weekend evening slot. In addition, she takes over for Mike Caplan at 9am, when GDC changes tone and weather isn't on as often. That 9 o'clock hour is the ladies hour, fronted by Darlene, Natalie, Kristen, and Anita Padilla. I thought Anita was merely filling in on occasion, but she anchors with Scott from 6 to 8. Because of that move, Darlene anchors the noon news essentially every day. With Anita in-studio, there is a listing for a reporter on their website.

 

In case that was too convoluted...

4-6: Kristen & Natalie

6-8: Scott & Anita

8-9: Scott & Darlene

9-10: Darlene, Kristen, Natalie & Anita (who appeared in more of a news anchor role)

 

If anyone has either confirmation of or evidence against any of these changes, prove me right/wrong.

They like to (tend to) do different things without any sort of rhyme or reason (they don't like stability). I too have noticed these changes, but I wouldn't go as far as to say this is 'official'. Things could be completely different in the next few weeks/months ahead. Just never know with them.

It looks like Corey finally debuted as evening co-anchor tonight. He was off for a few weeks.

I think he was only off last week. Pretty sure he was on GDC/Midday news prior to that. Don't think they gave him a traditional send off/we'll miss you mention on Good Day (which is a bit of a surprise).

Had he not acknowledged this as fact (the truth), I would have thought it was completely fake (particularly the part about the hammering). As strange as this sounds, at least Bill was more passionate and sincere in his blowup. Lawrence didn't seem believable at all.

Gameday Live, Gamenight Live, Inside the Bears and all Bears preseason games are produced and distributed by the Bears (via the Chicago Bears Network). Both WBBM and WMAQ are former TV partners of the Bears. WFLD outbid them both in 2008 and thus became 'the official home of the Chicago Bears.' In years past, they used a different part of the set/studio as the backdrop. This is the first time, I believe, they have ever used the main desk.

First off..kudos to WFLD for being respectable to Jeff and waiting until after his last day before making this official announcement. Classy move. Secondly, Corey is a great choice given his experience at the station (and the market) plus it's a reunion of sorts given both him and Dawn worked together on GDC several years back.

I knew there was a more logical reason Scott unofficially (now officially) moved to GDC weeks ago other than filling in for Corey. I also figured Corey wasn't in the running for the job, but this is a pleasant surprise. After years of mistakes and/or missteps, some pretty solid decisions are being made.

Remember when we speculated on how WMAQ would split the male anchors? Today's schedule is:

 

4PM: Patrick

5PM: Dick

6PM: Patrick

10PM: Rob

Okay... it will be interesting to see how things will go once Rob is better.

We now have a somewhat clearer picture of how things are going to go when Rob returns Monday...

'Stafford will return to the 10 p.m. news. Dick Johnson and Patrick Fazio will share anchoring duties with Allison Rosati at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. until Stafford is ready to return to those newscasts,' said Frank Whittaker, station manager and vice president of news for NBC Chicago.

Sounds as if his condition and treatment was worse than I (and likely others) have thought. I'm surprised he didn't take the rest of the year off to recover.

Full story :

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-rob-stafford-nbc-blood-disease-update-met-20170824-story.html

Could it be he'll be the new 9 pm weeknight anchor? Schneider meaning.

It's possible. Despite Corey being back, Scott remains on GDC (he was on today I believe), so it's unclear if he will stay there or take Jeff's spot. It's a key role that they have to fill for like the 4th time in 10 years, so I can understand them wanting to take some time to find the right person.

I'm apparently one of the few people that actually likes Rafer, so I'll say good for him. That said, I'm curious as to what that means for Scott Schneider. I rarely saw, but I got the impression that he filled in on GDC during Corey's absence, and I'd imagine he's going to fill in for whichever one of the early morning Bobbsey twins is going on maternity leave soon. I thought he had the best chance to be named to weeknights, but not doing so tells me that they're either still debating internal candidates or looking elsewhere (which doesn't make sense since Weigel could've filled that qualification WITH name recognition).

Scott did filled in for Corey on GDC and may fill in for Kristen when she goes on leave in October. I want to say he has been reassigned to GDC given that Rafer is taking his spot on weekends, but who knows?? Rafer, Larry and Sylvia could help fill the void @ 5P & 9P until they find Jeff's successor (which could still be either Scott or Rafer). They may want to test things out before making a final decision between the two.

Pretty much. At one point, WLS did carry the Thanksgiving Day parade (not sure when they started carrying

WFLD carried the parade in 1996 (on a Saturday with Bernie Mac and Anne Kavanaugh (sp?) as hosts). WLS took over the following year when the parade moved to Thanksgiving Day and on State Street then WGN became the TV sponsor in 2007. I think I got that right.

So nobody is running a special on the Air and Water Show this year? That's a shame.

Seems like stations are cutting back on things like this unless they are the 'presenting TV sponsor/partner.' WGN didn't air Bud Billiken parade special (WLS did), no Air and Water show specials, etc.. The Auto Show is the only exception I believe.