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Fox Power Grab
By JOHN F. KUCZAJ
The announcement Thursday night that Fox was purchasing WPWR-TV was stunning and a bit sad. With Channel 50's sale, only one major independent broadcaster remains in Chicago (Weigel broadcasting's WCIU), and it will be the end of an era once Viacom, Tribune or ABC buys up WCIU. Make no mistake--it WILL happen eventually. I find that sad. I grew up on Chicago UHF independent television.
My earliest TV memories are watching cartoons & kids shows on WSNS-TV 44. Channel 44 was a cool station...they had an eclectic mix of cartoons, White Sox baseball with Harry Caray & Jimmy Piersall, and an odd way of scheduling--I remember that "Get Smart" aired Monday, Wednesday & Friday while "F Troop" aired in the same time period on Tuesday & Thursday. They also had a full slate of Japanese imports: Ultraman, Spectreman and Johnny Sokko & his Giant Robot. Unfortunately, they screwed themselves with "ON TV" and handed the UHF indie crown to Channel 32.
Channel 32 used to be a fun station. Son of Svengoolie was the king and they aired Batman and Emergency in the afternoons. Once Fox bought the station, it became less-cool because it lost its local feel. I was 18 years old in 1987 when the FOX launched...what does that say about what localism means to the young audience?
Channel 66 signed on with some promise of filling the UHF indie void, but once it got going, they had such a hard time paying bills that they had to sell out to Univision. With that sale, WCIU was forced to go independent and as far as independent stations go, they continue to have a comfortable feel. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Thursday night, I was a bit shocked that channel 32 did a fairly lengthy report about the purchase of channel 50. Though they inaccurately stated it was the first duopoly in Chicago (NBC owns channels 5 & 44, Univision owns channels 60 & 66), they did a decent job in explaining the issue to the non-industry person.
One area of speculation has to be where channel 32 finds room for a second station. The facilities at channel 50 are probably out of the question and the facilities at channel 32 have limited expansion possibilities. We've seen NBC build a skyscraper for their broadcast properties and CBS is looking to abandon McClurg Court...what about Fox? Did I hear a clue on Wednesday night's 9pm news show? On Wednesday, a "big" story was the unveiling of the proposed Trump tower at the current Sun-Times building site. The developers are teasing everyone by saying that a media company has already signed on to be a big tenant.
The speculation is that it's the Sun-Times.
I'm thinking it's Fox.
Makes sense to me-they need bigger digs and they can build a totally digital facility from the ground up. Okay, let's take this one step further. If the Sun-Times is also housed in the Trump tower, wouldn't that make things neat and easy for Rupert to add the paper to his portfolio once again?
Things that make me go...D'oh!
CME Book Club - Fast Food Nation
By JOHN F. KUCZAJ
Are you a fast food addict? After reading Eric Schlosser's book "Fast Food Nation," you can never look at fast food in the same way again. That's a good thing. Schlosser, a correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, goes through every aspect of food production in the US and some of it ain't pretty. Since the book was first published in early 2001, there's been a lot of newspaper & TV stories based on some of the books claims. You've probably seen or read one such story. I've heard some interesting criticisms of the book, most notably sour grapes about how the book is no "Jungle" and Schlosser's no Upton Sinclair. I'd have to agree. "The Jungle" is a pro-Communism book and Sinclair was quite pissed off that people ignored that. Schlosser's book may be ponderous at times as he angles for dramatic story in each chapter. Yet, like "The Jungle," once you peel away the packaging, the facts are pretty startling.
The only questionable information in the book had to do with a lab that produces artificial smells & tastes. Schlosser talks of closing his eyes and smelling a grilled hamburger only to open his eyes and see the plastic dipstick on which the scent resides. Schlosser wants us to believe that scents and tastes are perfectly duplicated in the lab and added to your bland fast food. Unfortunately, the complete and utter failure of low-fat and fat-free fast food has debunked that concept. If McDonalds could advertise a Big Mac with one calorie that tasted the same as a full-fat Big Mac, they would have done it.
No, it's not a masterpiece, but I think the average fast food consumer will do themselves a favor by reading it and it is a definite must read for every consumer reporter and most general assignment reporters in the news biz.
Highly recommended!
Bits and Pieces
By JOHN F. KUCZAJ
Despite being a landmark to tackiness, I can't really fault the Sun-Times for hanging a giant banner on the side of their building if it's going to pump some cash into the beleaguered tabloid. However, the banner ad that appeared today for the Trump Casino makes me laugh. There's NO WAY that Trump paid for that billboard. I can only wonder if The Donald "persuaded" David Radler to put the banner up after twisting his arm until Radler proclaimed The Donald his "bitch". Funny Canadians.
For the past week, hundreds of people have been lining up outside the Mexican consulate on Michigan Avenue for some kind of new ID card. Considering the intense heat of the past week, I'm wondering why no one is doing a story about the plight of the Mexicans in line. Maybe Channel 44 or 66 has done something, but the real media has yet to touch the story. The Mexican Consulate doesn't seem to mind torturing people by making them stand in line in the sweltering heat. On a related humorous note, I overheard someone pondering whether the line of people all came in one car or two.
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