Jase

That's a damn shame. I guess no one should be surprised by this outcome, but this is pitiful nevertheless. Sad. #TooMuchNews

Couldn't agree more. They might as well shut down CLTV and reinvest those resources/money into WGN.

I feared the worst when I noticed Rob Stafford taking most of January and February off. He was basically only around for the inauguration and for sweeps. The first thing that came to mind was a medical issue, and it's scary to have those fears confirmed. All the best to Rob. I hope all goes well.

I remember him being off to recover from a foot/ankle injury, coming back and then taking more time off very soon thereafter because of that injury. Hopefully he takes all the necessary time needed to fully recover (even if that means not returning until Jan. '18). No need to rush back.

The only hang-up with Christian is if he's getting any kind of extended paternity leave. It's an increasingly popular practice in any business, so him being gone for more than a few weeks is a possibility, too.

Yeah..given this isn't his and Karen's first child, he may not take a lot of time off. Honestly, they need him back as soon as possible. Dick is going to need some time off and so will Alex. They could go the two-female anchor or sole anchor route (from time to time), but that's not a good long-term strategy.

The hits and absences keep coming. Rob Stafford has been diagnosed with an incurable kidney disease and related rare blood disorder. He will undergo a bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy at the Mayo Clinic. Dick Johnson will be the primary substitute while Rob is out for SEVERAL months.

 

http://www.robertfeder.com/2017/03/01/nbc-5s-rob-stafford-taking-leave-bone-marrow-transplant/

 

They really need to fill that 4pm anchor slot.

Now that they are down to Dick and Alex, they really have no choice but to find someone fast. Either look for Christian to fill in for Dick on the weekends or a lot of solo anchoring going on. All the best to Rob during his recovery.

Expected, but well-deserved. Siafa was a real trooper during Mike's time off. Make's you wonder what becomes of the weekend shift. Does Blanzy continue, or does Berman get the nod?

Jeff will likely continue in his role as an in-studio anchor with Mike (like Peggy before him) doing more reporting than anchoring. I don't think Jeff has ever done anything outside the studio, so I wouldn't expect that to change. Peggy may even be called upon to help than they originally planned.

He's the sports guy.... I don't know about you but I don't really expect editorial integrity from the sports guy...

 

I can think of several guys who editorialize on air in ridiculous ways and don't get burned for it...

But he still a journalist which means he has to adhere to the same rules/standards/guidelines as a news anchor or reporter would. If this was his first offense, he probably would have gotten a verbal warning or whatnot, but that's not the case here. Honestly, it may be time to hang it up. He has had a good run. I would hate to see him get fired for another offense the next time around.

Maybe the desk will be shaped like a 32...

Don't give them any ideas, but I think it's safe bet that that will not happen.

Nope. Not sad at all. If anything, it's something to rejoice over that it's 1000x much better than the last in every sense.

I wouldn't go that far. This is the best temp (newsroom) set they have had. As far as main sets, they have had some pretty bad ones. I think the first set (once they permanently moved out of the newsroom) was some blue wood monstrosity with cardboard cutouts of various 'Chicago' buildings as a backdrop. Nothing will ever beat that as the worst set.

A temp set during sweeps? What?!

Yeah..very odd. It will be interesting to see what they come up with.

I hope he's okay but I am kinda upset they are using this for sweeps. Like "omg I'm going to die so tune in tomorrow and watch." They could've easily ran the story today. I hate that aspect of this.

We don't have a complete picture. Maybe he wasn't in the best of health or ready to tell his story until now. That said, the timing could just be coincidental and not anything more than that. There have been two previous main sweeps periods (May & Nov. 2016) that have come and gone in which they could have aired this and did not. Let's not think the worse here.

They have a new "studio," if that's what you call it. It's called "Good Day Chicago Studio B." It's a room with a window that over looks the "FOX Plaza" with a table in it so they can do special segments there (i.e. Interview, cooking, etc.).

I wouldn't call it a studio (which they now call 'Studio 32' (as of 1/9/17). It's a small space upstairs that they previously used for a online sports show with Lou Canellis and Hub Arkush awhile back. My guess is that someone said why are we using space at Sweetwater when we have our own we should be using.

I'm surprised they have never taken advantage (a complete build out) of this space before (particularly now that the view across the street is better, big windows, etc...).

Remember that NBC doesn't put on this event, they just have the broadcast rights to it. The musical acts are entirely outside their control (though I'm sure they could help pull strings to get, I don't know, America's Got Talent performers...)

 

 

I didn't see the whole show (just this video), but it looks to me like WMAQ's involvement is to provide the hosts and most of the broadcast aspect (the boring camera shots give away that someone who directs news for a living is directing the video here). The audio feed of everything happening on the stage is probably a mix from the "house board" (if they were using a system like Dante they could potentially have a "house mix" and an "air mix" on two separate boards, but I doubt it) more than likely being operated by someone from the audio vendor, which is why the hosts are so loud in comparison.

 

WMAQ's involvement with the actual event itself is just about the same as the vendors who supplied the lights, trussing, staging, etc.

Yeah I know WMAQ plays only a very smart part in this (with Arena Partners being the actual producers of the show/program). I just expected something better given they had a year to work with. It's not like they are putting on a live 3 hr. parade or something. Everything just seemed so half-hearted.

I don't know how they did it but, against all odds, they managed to make this show even worse. It was just sooooo boring. Siafa and Shinelle were quite dull as hosts, and there was absolutely no chemistry between them, or any of the talent. None of them wanted to be there. The musical offerings were very weak, so bad that they even cut to a pre-taped Blake Shelton concert in LA for a while. I was switching back and forth with ABC7, which was also a train wreck (as usual), but at least they seem to be having fun and actually put together an entertaining show...

Siafa and Shinelle had no chemistry given they have never worked together and likely met a few hrs. before the broadcast. It seems like they picked these two out of thin air and said this can work. I'm surprised they didn't just pay someone from Chicago Fire, PD, Med or Justice to host and be done with it. Maybe next year. I agree the musical acts were very, very weak and without question, no thought was put into this. You have a freaking year to prepare and this is the best you can do? Shameful.

One question I have is why do they use different mic flags for the thanksgiving parade?

WGN wouldn't use their own mic flags because they don't produce/control the parade. The Chicago Festival Association runs it with WGN/WGN America serving as the TV partner/sponsor only.

why haven't they yet?

They could incoporate (or likely thought about incorporating) 'Tribune' into the channel's name [i.e.... TMN (Tribune Media Network) ]; but it could easily get lost in the shuffle with other channels that start with a 'T' like TNT, TBS, TruTV, etc..

My guess is that WGN America is unique enough that they may feel it's not worth changing (at least for now).

WGN's coverage before 10 with Larry and Robin was so much better, and Tomasulo has been their star...

Tomasulo is okay, but he tends go overboard. There's a balance between being both a professional and a sports fan and he still needs to figure that out.

Plus, he lacks the overall sports knowledge/ personal experience that is often interesting to hear about during coverage like this (Who knew Jim Williams (WBBM) worked at Wrigley as a kid?, etc...). He's fine for what he does on the WGN morning zoo, but that's about it.

There are too many clashing elements to this coverage and they end up talking over each other. Furthermore, Micah Materre is continually demonstrating a lack of knowledge of what she's talking about, misidentifying trophies and hats left and right.

I didn't really care for any of WGN's coverage throughout the Cubs playoff/WS run. They tend to act like they own all things Cubs and instead of letting moments (for example) play out, they often find a way mess things up. From the little bit of coverage I did see today (I was at work), Micah may have been bad, but Allison Rosati was the absolute worse. While stuff like this is highly subjective, WFLD had the best overall coverage I think.

Good to hear he left on his own accord. My bet is that he lands at WGN. WMAQ has enough people (probably too many) on the investigative beat and I highly doubt that 4P spot will get filled by anyone anytime soon (if ever).

His facebook and twitter were posting until the 26th with no mention of my last day or anything... makes me wonder if he was shown the door...

Yeah..seems like it's a safe bet to assume he's gone. I wonder what happened? Kevin Roy goes AWOL and is subsequently fired in 2010 and then his replacement/successor (Ben Bradley) suddenly disappears without a trace. An odd set of circumstances.

for those of you watching how do you rate the new meterologist on the weekend am shows in terms of her forecast, delivery etc.

I would give her a C+. There's some stuff she needs to work on and it appears that she hasn't really settled in yet (there's a bit of awkwardness between her and the rest of the team). I'm sure things will get better over time.

The Saturday night game(s) on ABC bring in big #s, so I'm not surprised they had to go back to it. Honestly, they probably should have just aired it until its conclusion and aired the Cubs post game stuff on 7.2 and then made the switch. Luckily, WFLD/Fox had a better option available and moved their game to WPWR/CW50. Not sure if the Chicago Wolves game on CW50 was over however. Since SNL was new, WMAQ was likely under some pressure to wrap things up and air SNL before 11P.

what are they going to do with carson's 2 other shows the voice and last call if they choose him?

The Voice is like two days a week, so that shouldn't be much of an issue. I believe he just does voiceovers for Last Call ( I'm not sure if he even appears on screen anymore).

Multiple news sources are saying that their sources are saying there's no discussion of punishment for such an old offense. That being said some articles say this has pissed off a lot of staffers who may not want to work with a misogynist in addition and that this could cause tensions between him and Tamron to rise.

Tamron isn't one to hold back her distain for/of someone. When she worked in Chicago (WFLD) with Mike Barz (reportedly, a bit of a misogynist too), the tension between those two was very high. Like I said before, hopefully Billy offers up a sincere/genuine apology tomorrow otherwise, I can't imagine him lastly very long on Today.

Billy did apologized. What's funny is they mentioned Nancy O'Dell which of they didn't mention her, I wouldn't have never thought Trump was talking about her. Nancy also responded and took the high road. This whole thing seem weird but it does explain why Nancy left Access Hollywood starting she didn't really get along with Billy so it made it easier to leave.

I wouldn't call his statement an apology. It was more or less a ' sorry (not sorry)...it was years ago' type of statement (much like Trump's) which isn't going to resolve this matter. He going to have to step it up or risk losing his job. We shall see what happens on Monday.

I don't know how the Today show cannot suspend him at least for this

I would agree. I'm not sure how they/he can get around this. As it stands, they are pretty much pretending Billy wasn't there and not either agreeing or egging Trump on (not that he needs any help) during the whole ordeal. What's going to happen on Monday??? Do they keep pretending or does Billy apologize?

When did 'First Look' become 'Morning Joe First Look'? I was flipping through and noticed both the name change and the expansion from 30 mins. to an hour.

I believe that it was WFLD needed, hire a Chicago veteran to "surge" its news operation. However that could backfire because Bob Sirott and Walter Jacobson didn't help the ratings there.

Firing people left and right every other month, constantly changing formats/news presentation and a hosts of other things is what hurt WFLD and not Bob and Walter per se. Bob's first stint at WFLD could be considered somewhat successful, but his ego got the best of him then (and always has). Walter had a pretty decent run too (12-14 yrs.?), but honesty, anchoring was never his strong point.

They are in dire need of more experienced people and the hiring of Perez is hopefully just the beginning of building a more solid team of anchors/reporters. And if one day she somehow ends up taking over Dawn's spot, then so be it. I doubt anyone would be up in arms over that scenario.