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| News & Notes: Steve Bertrand; US99.5; Joe Collins; WSCR; WMVP; Lenny McAllister; WMBI; Pat Harvey; CSN; Much More |
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| Written by Larz | |||
| Saturday, 28 January 2012 18:37 | |||
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In this weekend's News & Notes, a dozen new local media stories, including: Steve Bertrand receives an honor from his alma mater; US99.5's morning team and midday host are up for an ACM award; Joe Collins is thankfully feeling better after a scare; Rick Kaempfer & Brendan Sullivan meet & greet once again; The Score is talking from SoxFest; ESPN1000's Carmen, Jurko & Harry go to the Super Bowl; Lenny McAllister is podcasting and more; WMBI-AM/FM celebrate Black History Month; Jack Landreth gets a new job; Lisa Erspamer now needs a new job; Pat Harvey is honored; and CSN Chicago breaks more records. All of the details are just below...
* * WGN-AM's morning news anchor Steve Bertrand is being honored with the Communicator of the Year Award from the J. William and Mary Diederich College of Communication at Marquette University. According to a press release by WGN Radio, the award "recognizes exceptional professional achievement and is part of the university's annual national awards program honoring distinguished alumni." Bertrand graduated from Marquette University in 1985 with degrees in Journalism and Political Science. He will be receiving his award on April 28 during Alumni National Awards weekend on the university's campus in Milwaukee, WI. Congratulations to Steve Bertrand on this honor!  * * The Academy of Country Music released their full list of nominations for this years ACM Awards. In the category of "On-Air Personality of the Year - Major Market," two out of the five nominees come from Chicago's WUSN-FM: the morning team of Lisa Dent & Ramblin' Ray and midday host Trish Biondo. Surprisingly, even with much of the station's weekday lineup nominated as among the very best in the country, US99.5 itself was not nominated as one of the four nominees as "Radio Station of the Year - Large Market." The full list of nominees can be seen HERE. The winners are scheduled to be announced just prior to the Academy of Country Music Awards, which take place on April 1st. Best of luck to Lisa, Ray and Trish!   * * Best wishes to Metro Traffic/WBBM-AM traffic anchor Joe Collins, who is home recuperating after a tough week. While on the air on WBBM-AM Tuesday afternoon, Collins had what is being described as an "episode." That scary incident landed him in the hospital through Thursday morning, while doctors performed tests to try and figure out what the cause was. While it is not yet known for sure what happened, it was not a stroke or seizure, but possibly a reaction to something still unknown and doctors feel it was an isolated incident. Regardless, he is home and doing better and will be back to work soon.  * * Former Chicago radio producers, turned authors, Rick Kaempfer and Brendan Sullivan will be the featured guests of the monthly "Author Afternoon" event at the Beverly Arts Center (2407 W. 111th St., in Chicago's Beverly/Morgan Park neighborhood) Sunday afternoon at 2:00pm. The duo will be discussing their new novel "The Living Wills" and signing copies of the book. More information can be found HERE.  * * WSCR-AM has been doing live remotes from the annual SoxFest 2012 event at the Palmer House Hilton in downtown Chicago on and off since Friday night. On Sunday, they will be doing so for most of the whole day. Starting at 8:00am, Hub Arkush will be broadcasting live from SoxFest. Then at Noon, Chris Rongey takes over and broadcasts live until 3:00pm.  * * Next Thursday and Friday, WMVP-AM's afternoon team of Carmen, Jurko & Harry will also be doing a live remote... only a little farther south. C,J&H will broadcasting their 2:00pm-6:00pm show live from Indianapolis, IN, site of Super Bowl XLVI.  * * Former WVON-AM host Lenny McAllister is now podcasting. His latest podcasts will be able to be found HERE. The shows, entitled "Getting Ready to Get Right," will act as previews for the upcoming live Internet radio show, "Get Right with Lenny McAllister," which will be found on the same website, LMGILive.com, five days a week starting soon. McAllister continues to contribute written pieces to political websites and be a frequent guest on CNN.  * * Throughout the month of February, Moody Radio's WMBI-FM/AM will celebrate Black History Month with a series of features called "Treasured Moments in Black History." The features will remember African-American people and events in America, both well-known and little-known, that helped shaped history and inspire lives. One new feature will air each weekday, with repeats during the weekends. More information, including a daily schedule on the "Treasured Moments in Black History" specials, can be seen HERE.  * * Former Chicago Producer Jack Landreth has found new work. Starting Monday, Landreth will be the new Program Director for KMBZ-AM/FM in Kansas City, MO. Jack Landreth, a north suburban Chicago native, got his start here locally, working as a Producer for WLS-AM (1985-1992), WLUP-FM (1992-1193), and Paul Harvey's national segments (1992-1993).  * * Lisa Erspamer, who lived and worked in Chicago television for over 15 years with Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions, lastly as a Co-Executive Producer of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," is now out of a job. In November 2009, Erspamer was named as Chief Creative Officer of OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, and was relocated out to California to help oversee the then-new cable/satellite network. Unfortunately, with OWN struggling to find an audience, the station is making major cuts and changes -- one of which including the surprise firing of Erspamer, one of Winfrey's closest friends and associates.  * * Former WGN-TV news anchor Pat Harvey, who worked in Chicago from 1985-1989, has been inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame. The ceremony was held on Thursday at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. Since leaving WGN-TV in the fall of 1989, Pat Harvey has been working on Los Angeles television as a multi-award-winning news anchor and reporter. She is now considered one of the most prominent news anchors in the country.  * * It may be sounding like a broken record, but Comcast SportsNet Chicago... broke another record this past week. Wednesday's airing of the Chicago Bulls game against the Indiana Pacers was not only the highest rated Bulls game in CSN's history, it was also the highest rated regular season game for any team in the history of Comcast SportsNet Chicago. CSN earned a 8.73 household rating (approx. 305,000 households) for its live coverage of the contest, peaking at a 12.13 peak rating during the 9:15pm quarter-hour (over 423,700 households). Of course CSN was the #1 rated television network in the Chicago market from 7:00pm-10:30pm Wednesday night, according to Nielsen Research. So far this season, the Bulls on Comcast SportsNet are currently averaging a 6.25 household rating, a year-to-date increase of 58% compared to last season. 
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