Posted by Bud on April 21, 2010 at 10:11:56:
Courtesy of Robert Feder @ Vocalo:
- On May 2, 1960, a skinny kid from Endicott, N.Y., arrived in Chicago and signed on at WLS-AM (890) as the new Top 40 station�s nighttime screamer. Five decades later, Radio Hall of Famer Dick Biondi, 77, is still playing the music that rocked Chicago � from 7 to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday on oldies WLS-FM (94.7). To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Biondi�s debut on WLS, the Citadel Broadcasting station will air a not-to-be-missed live special from 7 p.m. to midnight on May 2. Biondi will host the five-hour Sunday night extravaganza, featuring appearances by celebrities and highlights of memorable moments in his career. �We�re proud and privileged to have Dick broadcast on our station every night,� said Michael La Crosse, operations director of WLS-FM. �He still sounds as great now as he did then.�
- While Oprah Winfrey was in New York this week bashing a controversial new book about her as a �so-called biography,� author Kitty Kelley was in Chicago, tipping her hat to the local media community. (Full disclosure: I was among the 850 sources Kelley says she interviewed for Oprah: A Biography. Except for one exaggeration � I never claimed to have had lunch with Oprah �once a week,� as I was quoted � I found Kelley�s reporting to be fair, accurate and insightful.) In a conversation with Phil Ponce Tuesday on WTTW-Channel 11�s �Chicago Tonight,� Kelley said:
�I reached out to an awful lot of journalists here, and I must really support Chicago journalists. They were very generous, and they were very, very forthcoming. They also know Oprah very well. They�ve sort of grown up with her. You know, they were there when she was �America�s Girlfriend,� and they followed her all the way up, as one said, to �America�s Goddess.� And I said: �Can you break up the career for me?� And he said: �Do you mean before �The Dawn of the Diva� or do you mean after?� �
- Television comedy legend Carl Reiner will be on hand Thursday when Columbia College�s television department tapes an episode of its original sitcom, �Debbie�s Got Class,� before a live audience at the college�s new Media Production Center in the South Loop. Set in the 1950s, the show follows a divorced socialite who finds a job as a home ec teacher. Reiner will provide a brief intro to the show and participate in a Q&A session with students earlier in the day.
- Tickets are sold out for Saturday�s special 40th anniversary broadcast of �Those Were the Days,� but you can still tune in and hear it all from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday on WDCB-FM (90.9) or online at wdcb.org. Steve Darnall, who succeeded Chuck Schaden as host of the venerable old-time radio showcase last year, will welcome back Schaden along with special guests Ben Hollis, Tim Kazurinsky, The West End Jazz Band and singer/songwriter Robbie Fulks. The live broadcast will originate from the campus of College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn.
- Although the two stations are polar opposites on the air, they�ve agreed to join forces for a second time. From the left, Newsweb Radio progressive talk WCPT-AM (820), and from the right, Salem Communications conservative talk WIND-AM (560), are making plans for �The Great Debate 2,� an onstage rematch between syndicated talk show hosts Thom Hartmann and Michael Medved. It�s tentatively set for Oct. 28 � on the eve of the November elections. Last year�s debate between WCPT�s Hartmann and WIND�s Medved drew more than 1,000 to the Meadows Club in Rolling Meadows. WCPT simulcasts on WCPY-FM (92.5), WCPT-FM (92.7) and WCPQ-FM (99.9).
- WCPT also will be the new radio home of �The Beacon,� a weekly show focusing on disability issues, hosted by veteran Chicago broadcaster Bill Jurek. Starting this weekend, the hourlong show will air at 4 p.m. Sundays. Jurek is retiring April 30 after a 35-year career at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5, where he was a voice-over announcer, among other roles. Since losing his vision in the mid-�90s, Jurek has dedicated his time to helping the blind and working with The Chicago Lighthouse.
- Eduardo Fernandez, who was forced out last July as president and general manager of NBC/Telemundo Spanish-language WSNS-Channel 44, has landed as vice president and general manager of WXYZ-TV in Detroit. The ABC affiliate is owned by The E.W. Scripps Co.