Roll your eyes

And look at another useless television study from an useless right-wing organization, The Prick Tofu Crud. They know many homes have cable or a dish, right? Too bad they were busy spewing this crap to notice that there were fifteen or so murders in Chicago over the Labor Day Weekend (and maybe more in New York City- a teen was gunned down in the subway in Queens on Monday.) To the PTC, protecting the children only applies if you live in the "right" area of the country and you're not a minority... (yeah, I went there.)

Unbox with NBC and Amazon

NBC Universal and Amazon have come to an agreement to sell the company's TV shows through Amazon's Unbox service. This comes after NBC announced on Friday that it was dropping iTunes at the end of the calendar year, in which a few hours later, Apple announced it wasn't carrying any of the network's fall shows.

Pricing for the episodes of popular NBC shows including The Office, Heroes, and new shows Bionic Woman and Chuck, will cost $1.99 an episode - the same price iTunes offered for its downloads of NBC fare. Season passes will also be available. There were reports that NBC wanted Apple to sell episodes for $4.99 each.

Unbox will also offer fare from NBC's cable networks including Battlestar Galcatica and Monk.

Boston bloggers

Another day, another Boston TV story. Tomorrow, Red Sox pennant coverage!

Seriously, there are bloggers in the nation's seventh-largest market who dissect every detail about their TV stations - from ratings to news content to news anchor moves. This Boston Globe story (registration may be required) details the way bloggers update their sites on a daily basis.

Most local newscasts are targeted to the 25-54 crowd. But the people blogging about the newscasts are actually young males in their 20's - a group who are normally not considered news viewers. These guys watch every newscast, and they do their homework very well (and yes, some station managers even read their sites.)

Bill Rancic to host new talk show set in Chicago

Apprentice winner and Orland Park native Bill Rancic will co-host In the Loop with iVillage, a reincarnated version of iVillageLive, a show that aired on the NBC O&O's from Universal Studios in Orlando and flopped with viewers. The new version of the program will air live weekdays at 11 a.m. (CT) on WMAQ-TV here in Chicago from the NBC Tower.

Also joining the fun will be actress Kim Coles (In Living Color) and fellow Apprentice contestant Ereka Ventrini, who appeared with Rancic on the show's first season (along with another contestant named Omarasa, who was briefly considered for a talk show from Jerry Springer producer Richard Dominick. Thankfully, they went with Steve Wilkos.)

Ventrini was the announcer and sidekick on the now-defunct Tony Danza Show during that show's first season (2004-05).

The NBC Tower has been busy of late with TV production. In addition to iVillage, Steve Wilkos, and Jerry Springer, the NBC Tower is also home to Judge Mathis. Past shows shot at the studio include Jenny Jones and Kwik Witz.

Meanwhile, Rancic was married over the weekend in Italy to E! reporter Giuliana DePandi.

WCIU's fall schedule

Weigel-owned independent WCIU is out with its fall schedule. To see it, click here (Adobe Acrobat required.) Pretty stable schedule, particularly in daytime....

Notables:

-Jury Duty, a new syndicated courtroom show (yeah, we need another one of those) with C-list celebrities serving as jurors, airs at 9 a.m., beginning Sept. 17.

-CBS Television Distribution's Half & Half, a former UPN sitcom starring Essence Atkins and Rachel True, airs weekdays at 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., also beginning on the 17th.

-Warner's Fresh Prince returns to WCIU at 11:30 p.m. beginning Sept. 10.

Also, Byron Allen's Comics Unleashed moves to 12:30a.m., also on the 10th.

-As noted before, Warner's George Lopez will premiere on the 10th at 6 and 10:30 p.m.

- CBS' Becker and Girlfriends are out at WCIU, because the contracts of those two sitcoms were not renewed in broadcast syndication. Also out is weird courtroom show Eye for an Eye, which aired at 2:30 a.m.

-On to the weekends: UFC Wired, featuring stars of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, airs Saturday nights at 12:01a and again Sunday morning at 4:00a.m. In a rather odd move, WPWR was the only Fox-owned My Network TV affiliate not to pick up this show. UFC Wired is hosted by Joe Rogan (and no, there will be no appearances by arch rival Carlos Mencia, where if he did show up, they would definitely go at it in the ring.)

-Know Your Heritage, a teen-oriented quiz show, moves to WCIU, airing Sundays at 11a.m. The program. produced by Chicago-based Central City Productions, previously aired on WPWR on Saturday mornings.

- In an odd scheduling quirk, reruns of the original Twilight Zone air on WCIU at 6:30 p.m. on Sundays, between The Insider and The Bernie Mac Show.

WPWR's fall schedule

We're gonna turn it on... we're gonna turn on the power... at Fox-owned WPWR this fall. But the power's been off for a few years now at the station. Like other big-market MNT affiliates (WWOR and KCOP in N.Y. and L.A., respectively), WPWR has performed poorly, often placing last in total-day ratings among Chicago's English and Spanish commercial TV stations. Among the changes at the My Network TV affiliate:

-NBC Universal's off-network run of Law & Order: Criminal Intent got a better time slot than expected, landing at 10 p.m., effective Sept. 17The second run of Scrubs moves to 11:30 p.m.

- Also on the 17th, syndicated repeats of King of the Hill move back to sister station WFLD-TV at 4 and 4:30 p.m., the same time slots it held from 2002 to 2004 (it never should have moved to WPWR to begin with.)

- That '70's Show moves from 6:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. It replaces the second run of Still Standing, which moves to 9:30 p.m. (That '70's Show moves to WCIU next year.)

- As noted before, Warner's new syndicated magazine TMZ airs at 6:30 p.m. on WPWR (and at 11:35 on WFLD) while MGM's off-cable Reno 911! airs at 11 p.m. and at midnight. Both shows debut Sept. 10.

- New to daytime are the 700 Club at 8 a.m. and Cristina's Court at 9 a.m.

- On weekends, WPWR is airing two Canadian dramas from Program Partners: ReGenesis, a sci-fi show (be sure to check this one out - the concept sounds very cool) airing Saturdays at 9 p.m. and Sundays at 11 p.m., and Stone Undercover (a lame Rockford Files clone that aired as Tom Stone a few years back on the CBC for 26 episodes) airing Sundays at 9 p.m. Undercover previously ran late-night Saturdays (Sunday morning) on ABC-owned WLS-TV. Those moves are effective Sept. 15.

- On a related note, WLS has acquired Davinci's Inquest from Program Partners to replace Stone Undercover. DaVinci's previously aired at 1:30 a.m. Mondays on Tribune-owned WGN-TV. Episodes of DaVinci's City Hall, the failed spin-off of Inquest, are expected to run under the DaVinci's Inquest title sometime this fall.

FCC to hold Chicago hearings - at Operation PUSH

In a surprise move, the planned media-ownership hearings in Chicago won't be held in the Loop at Columbia College or Roosevelt University - but at Operation PUSH here on the South Side. The hearings will start at 4 p.m. and last until 11 p.m.

Operation PUSH's headquarters are located in the Kenwood neighborhood at 930 East 50th Street near Washington Park. The facility is just a little northwest of Hyde Park and about a mile from the University of Chicago. You can click here for a map.

TV Week: FCC Pushes Chicago Media Ownership Hearing to Jackson Group's HQ

Advertisers pass on "Kid Nation"

Several blue-chip advertisers are passing on Kid Nation, the controversial Lord of the Files-type reality show where kids 8-to-15 years old build and run their own town without the help of any adults. Among the advertisers skipping the show are Procter & Gamble, Ford Motor Co., and Anheuser-Busch (obviously.)

The program has been dogged for weeks with allegations of child-labor laws being broken and parents who were upset over the way their children were treated on the show.

CBS declined to release a list of advertisers on Kid Nation, but with so many blue-chip advertisers avoiding the show, one could wonder if the ads will consist of Cancer Treatment Centers of America commercials, the one where Alex Trebek pitches life insurance, and whoever makes those Hoveraround Chairs.

WHDH's turnaround

Once a laughingstock in the Boston news race (and the channel that had the dubious distinction of losing its FCC license - twice), NBC affiliate WHDH-TV (Channel 7) is one of the network's best performing stations. Now meet the person who keeps the station at the top at 11 p.m. (who needs an NBC lead-in, anyway?) and very competitive with ABC affiliate WCVB-TV the rest of the day - 39 year-old general manager Randi Goldklank. She also runs sister station WLVI-TV, the market's CW affiliate.

For the record, WHDH became an NBC affiliate on January 2, 1995 after it lost its CBS affiliation to WBZ-TV after then-owner Westinghouse Broadcasting made an affiliate deal with all five of its stations. WBZ was an NBC affiliate for 47 years.

T Dog Media Think Tank: Nine-FM's not an alternative

Yours truly remembers two years ago when Nine-FM - the triplecast of WDEK, WKIE, and WRZA - ran promos that stated "Give corporate radio the finger."

But today, it seems that a corporate radio-like atmosphere has taken over Nine-FM - and it's not owned by one of the big radio chains.

It's a issue that's being debated hotly on Chicago radio message boards (don't be surprised - stations that get no ratings often are talked about the most on these boards) on what direction Nine-FM seems to be going.

At first, the station was a breath of fresh air. All right, somewhat of a breath of fresh air. You can go from The Goo Goo Dolls into Kanye West or Stevie Wonder into Nickelback with ease. The station went by its slogan: "We Play Anything."

Now, that's not the case. The station musically is a mess. The station sounds like a poor man's Jack-FM as a clone of WTMX with a weak signal. And the playlists suck. Like, how many times you can hear "The Great Escape" and any Kelly Clarkson song in a given day?

They recently introduced another slogan - "It's mostly upbeat music". Uh, excuse me geniuses, but doesn't that defeat the purpose of "We Play Anything"? Why are they using a slogan similar to those of WLIT and Love FM?

Now the station is airing a brokered show called "Dance Factory"- which once aired weekly on Saturday Nights - is now airing seven nights a week - potentially alienating the older 25-54 audience that listens to the station earlier the day (I love dance music, but not this show, and especially not seven nights a week.)

And here comes the latest genius idea. Nine is airing high-school football games on Friday nights.

High school football? What state are we living in, Texas?

Nothing wrong with airing such fare, but its best left to a low-power AM or community station, not on one with broad area coverage on three signal-strained stations that plays music. (there are pro teams that air games on FM music stations in other cities, but that's different.) Will anyone in Crete or Morton Grove care about two Naperville high schools playing one another? If you are going to stop music to air some HS football game, or some other distraction, it's basically an open invitation to turn the dial, or better yet, fire up the iPod or Internet radio. You risk losing your audience. (You're probably saying about Nine - what audience?)

When Sky Daniels was in charge, the station played more variety, breaking music before the major stations, playing deep cuts, obscure songs, and more. But the problems began after Daniels left for personal reasons. The station later saw an exodus of talent, including morning personality Joey Fortman and Chicago radio veteran Johnny Mars. And just yesterday, PD and afternoon personality Matt DuBiel left the station for a better position (and better pay) at classic rocker WERV-FM (The River) in Aurora.

The situation is dire. Nine now has no viable morning show, no national advertising, a crappy Internet stream, a bland website, and it seems to have no purpose or direction whatsoever. There are only two discjockeys on the entire payroll, with the rest of the station either voicetracked or automated.

If the small guys in this market want to get noticed, they have to be different from them, not walk like, talk alike. Do something that will have people talking about them on message boards in a positive manner, to get the audience to tune in. This is not what Nine is doing right now. Judging by their execution, Nine is not that different from the corporate radio stations out there in Chicago.

Big radio chains aren't the only ones immune to bad decisions made by management who thinks they know how to serve the public interest. That's the problem with radio right there. They don't know - or care - how to serve an audience (Like the big guys.) Nine's GM used to work at a CBS-owned radio station here in Chicago. Enough said. Around here, the small frys have the same mindset as the big guys.

Let's face it. The "We Play Anything" mantra is so 2005, like the Chicago White Sox. Both have stumbled and fallen on their faces since, although the White Sox arguably has had more success that year than Nine had. It's the same old same old - safe playlists, voicetracking, brokered programming - why am I listening to this when I can listen to the big, corporate-owned sticks to hear the same thing?

If you think the listeners are not impressed, the advertisers are less so. Many national and local advertisers stay away because the audience is too small and the signals are crap. The sales team should do a better job of selling the station, despite the problems. There's no excuse. In the position they are in, the sales team should be hungrier and more aggressive.

And of course, the job is made even harder by how the breaks are split up. The ad breaks are only a minute. That's nice, but there are five or six an hour. So much for ten in a row. Or even five in a row. All it does is create more clutter, which advertisers hate.

Nine told its listeners to give corporate radio the finger. Well, to the sixteen listeners they have left, it may be time for them to give Nine the finger, since they basically went from fresh alternative to the same old everyday stuff. Just like the corporate-owned big radio chains.

Matt DuBiel heads to "The River"

Matt DuBiel has resigned as programming director and afternoon personality of the Nine-FM triplecast (WKIE,WDEK,WRZA-FMs) to become operations manager at NextMedia's WERV-FM (95.9), or "The River" in west suburban Aurora. DuBeli will also have an airshift to be determined later. He will join the classic rock station on Sept. 10.

For more on Nine-FM, check out the T Dog Media Blog Think Tank that will be posted on Saturday about the stations (it was to be posted today, but recent events changed that, a.k.a. "rewrite".)

NBCU, Apple come to impasse on pricing of TV shows; deal ends

NBC Universal has decided not to renew its deals with Apple's iTunes when it comes up in December. Apple then retaliated and pulled NBC's fall shows from its service.

NBC Universal's content accounted for 40 percent of the sales of iTunes video product, including popular shows like The Office and Heroes.

This happened coincidentally with NBC Universal 's announcement that it has named its new video venture with News Corp. called Hulu. The venture is designed to compete with YouTube and offer downloads from the NBC Universal and Twentieth Television studios.

It's just a reminder that content is king in Hollywood and the studios control the content, and they are the king.

Official press release from Apple

Yes, CSN!

While basketball and hockey playoff ratings were dead in the water this past spring, The New York Yankees and the Chicago Cubs are on fire this summer, and so are the regional sports networks that carry them.

Tuesday's Brewers-Cubs game on Comcast SportsNet drew a 8.1 Nielsen rating, easily outranking other fare on both broadcast and cable in the Chicago area. On Wednesday, The Red Sox-Yankees game on the YES Network drew a 7.6 rating in the New York City metropolitan area, drawing an average of 767,000 viewers. The Yanks are averaging a 4.6 rating this season.

With both popular teams now in the pennant races this fall, it just gives another headache to network TV programmers who continue to find it difficult for their new fall series to get sampled.

McGee to do fill-in work in Philadelphia

They snared Iguchi and Aaron Rowland from the White Sox, now they're nabbing our radio stars:"Crazy" Howard McGee, who was unceremoniously dropped from WGCI-FM in Chicago this summer for Steve Harvey, will fill in for WPHI-FM host Colby Colbs for the next four days in Philadelphia beginning next Tuesday. Urban Contemporary WPHI is one of three stations owned by Radio One, which is headed up by former WGCI boss Elroy Smith.

On a somewhat related note, Sam Sylk was let go last week as morning personality at Urban Contemporary WUSL-FM (Power 99) in Philly. His morning show finished behind WPHI and rhythmic outlet WRDW-FM (Wired 96.5), owned by Beasley. Sam Sylk was afternoon personality at WGCI for a few years.

The Fall of Me

Thanks to Sitcoms Online, we've got the complete fall lineup for Weigel's retro TV station WWME-TV, or MeTV. To see the schedule, click here.

As mentioned before, new to the schedule are The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Cosby Show, and Cheers (which is now airing on sister WCIU.) Bonanza and Taxi (debuts 10/1) are also joining the weekday schedule, and T.J. Hooker (William Shatner's "other" series) and 21 Jump Street runs on Saturdays. I Love Lucy and Dick Van Dyke invade Black & White Saturday Night, the non-color programming block that airs on - Saturday night.

The new schedule kicks off on Sept. 17, with the weekend schedule coming Sept. 22.

WGN's, WFLD's new weekday fall lineups

Have WGN's and WFLD's weekday fall lineup, courtesy of Zap2it. Among the changes starting Sept. 10 (unless otherwise noted):

WGN:

-As noted before, Family Guy will air at 6:30 and 10, and Two and a Half Men will air at 6 and 10:30.

- Teacher vs. student - The Steve Wilkos Show will air at 2 p.m. -up against Jerry Springer on WPWR-TV at the same time. Wilkos was the bouncer on Springer breaking up the fights.

- Degrassi: The Next Generation will be stacked on weekends, running from 8:30 a.m to Noon Sunday mornings beginning Sept. 9 (Why? Do we need any more My Wife & Kids reruns?)

- In a surprise, Friends is only airing at 11:30 p.m. The program has been double-runned on the station since its syndication debut in 1998.

- In the lame duck portion of the schedule, Everybody Loves Raymond moves to 12:30 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. (Raymond moves to Fox's duopoly next spring) and Will & Grace's second run gets knocked down to 3:30 a.m. An infomercial has replaced Home Improvement at 3:00 a.m., whose contract to WGN (local and superstation) expired last week (all other local station deals for the show expired three months ago.)

WFLD:

TMZ gets a late fringe slot at 11:35 p.m., replacing a second run of Malcolm in the Middle (Malcolm is running multiple times a day on FX starting this fall.) TMZ is also airing on sister station WPWR at 6:30 p.m.

Sony's new Judge David Young court show landed the 1 and 1:30 afternoon slot, pushing Cristina's Court to WPWR at 9 a.m.

KTVT dumps five good minutes

The CBS-owned station in Dallas dumped the "First Five Minutes"segments because it wants to focus less on crime (what else was the segment filled with?) and it caused a division in the station's newsroom, plus it couldn't get Tony Kornhiser and Michael Wilbon from PTI to anchor (that last bit was a joke, but seriously, PTI's Five Good Minutes interview segment is much better than KTVT's Five Bad Minutes.)

Editor's Note: The station's news director was fired on Friday (8/31/07) after five months on the job.

Updated 2007-09-04 at 09:23

TBS grabs black viewers

And they are doing this on the strength of House Of Payne and the theatrical Diary of a Mad Black Woman. With the broadcast networks abandoning the African-American audience in prime-time (or any audience that isn't a female aged 18-49), TBS has taken up the slack and has benefited greatly, with Payne the numero uno show in black households and Diary has been numero deux, beating out fare on cable and broadcast channels.

The article notes that there are no new shows that feature predominately black casts this fall on the broadcast networks. The only programs that have such casts this fall are all on the CW's Monday night lineup: Everybody Hates Chris, Girlfriends, and The Game. Despite low overall (and declining) ratings, all three still rank in the top 10 in black households, and that's just enough to keep each of those shows on the air.

Also on the TBS beat: Jonathan Katz was tapped to become the general manager of the local WTBS in Atlanta, which will split off from the national TBS Oct. 1 to become WPCH-TV, or Peachtree TV.

What's old is new again

Editor's Note: The link provided in this story may require registration.

Fox-owned WFLD is changing the name of its 7-9 a.m morning show back to Good Day Chicago, the original name of the morning newscast which launched in June 1993. After a slow ratings start, the show changed to Fox Thing In the Morning in January 1994 when Bob Sirott came on board and changed to Fox News In the Morning after he departed.

She'd make a great news anchor

Most of America missed Miss Teen USA South Carolina screw up Friday Night during the Miss Teen Pageant (um, who was crowned again?) So, she got another chance on the Today show on Tuesday, and still blew it.

Fox should sign her up for her own reality TV show where she tries to become an anchorwoman at a small-market TV station. Wait a minute...