-By Katy Bachman
In a market of heritage call letters--WLS ("World's Largest Store,"
referring to the AM station's former owner Sears Roebuck), WGN
("World’s Greatest Newspaper," aka The Chicago Tribune)---the
letters remain, but the heritage is gone. Tribune, a company
synonymous with Chicago now under Sam Zell's unique brand of
management, is undergoing major change to bring profitability to
the parent of the Tribune and WGN TV and radio. Tribune rival
Chicago Sun-Times is also in transition, after four former
Hollinger International execs were convicted of looting the paper.
It could be sold.
At News/Talk WLS-AM, now owned by Citadel Broadcasting, comes
another bloodbath, after Citadel posted more than $800 million in
losses. Stripping the "news" out of the No. 7-ranked radio station,
nine staffers were cut. To satisfy the market's news craving, three
other News and Talk stations remain, including top-rated WGN-AM and
CBS' No. 3-ranked News station WBBM-AM. The diverse radio market,
led by CBS' seven stations and Clear Channel's six, includes two
Sports stations, four Urban stations and five Spanish-language
stations. In November, CBS dumped its FM Talk format on WCKG-FM for
Adult Contemporary, with the new call letters WCFS-FM.
In TV, ABC's WLS continues to lead local news in all dayparts,
followed by NBC's WMAQ and CBS' WBBM. Last April, Fox's WFLD, which
owns a duopoly in the market, jumped into the late news race at 10
p.m., going up against the legacy newscasts. Competition could heat
up as the main anchor on WFLD's leading 9 p.m. newscast, Mark
Suppelsa, hired from WMAQ five years ago, exited the Fox station
last week.
The country's top three out-of-home companies---Clear Channel, CBS
Outdoor and Lamar Advertising--all boast a strong presence in
Chicago. Both Clear Channel and Lamar operate digital networks,
while JC Decaux holds the city's bus shelter contract and Clear
Channel has the contract for the market's two airports.
Vital Stats:
* TV DMA Rank: 3
* Population 2-plus: 9,295,469
* TV Households: 3,469,110
* No. of TV stations (Net/Ind/Public/Local Cable): 11/3/3/2
* No. Cable Households: 2,966,880
* Radio Metro Rank: 3
* Population 12-plus: 7,784,400
* No. of radio stations (rated): 37
The Numbers:
Click here for demo data
Click
here for media usage data
Click here for marketplace data
Chicago
March 17, 2008
-By Katy Bachman
In a market of heritage call letters--WLS ("World's Largest Store," referring to the AM station's former owner Sears Roebuck), WGN ("World’s Greatest Newspaper," aka The Chicago Tribune)---the letters remain, but the heritage is gone. Tribune, a company synonymous with Chicago now under Sam Zell's unique brand of management, is undergoing major change to bring profitability to the parent of the Tribune and WGN TV and radio. Tribune rival Chicago Sun-Times is also in transition, after four former Hollinger International execs were convicted of looting the paper. It could be sold.
At News/Talk WLS-AM, now owned by Citadel Broadcasting, comes another bloodbath, after Citadel posted more than $800 million in losses. Stripping the "news" out of the No. 7-ranked radio station, nine staffers were cut. To satisfy the market's news craving, three other News and Talk stations remain, including top-rated WGN-AM and CBS' No. 3-ranked News station WBBM-AM. The diverse radio market, led by CBS' seven stations and Clear Channel's six, includes two Sports stations, four Urban stations and five Spanish-language stations. In November, CBS dumped its FM Talk format on WCKG-FM for Adult Contemporary, with the new call letters WCFS-FM.
In TV, ABC's WLS continues to lead local news in all dayparts, followed by NBC's WMAQ and CBS' WBBM. Last April, Fox's WFLD, which owns a duopoly in the market, jumped into the late news race at 10 p.m., going up against the legacy newscasts. Competition could heat up as the main anchor on WFLD's leading 9 p.m. newscast, Mark Suppelsa, hired from WMAQ five years ago, exited the Fox station last week.
The country's top three out-of-home companies---Clear Channel, CBS Outdoor and Lamar Advertising--all boast a strong presence in Chicago. Both Clear Channel and Lamar operate digital networks, while JC Decaux holds the city's bus shelter contract and Clear Channel has the contract for the market's two airports.
Vital Stats:
* TV DMA Rank: 3
* Population 2-plus: 9,295,469
* TV Households: 3,469,110
* No. of TV stations (Net/Ind/Public/Local Cable): 11/3/3/2
* No. Cable Households: 2,966,880
* Radio Metro Rank: 3
* Population 12-plus: 7,784,400
* No. of radio stations (rated): 37
The Numbers:
Click here for demo data
Click here for media usage data
Click here for marketplace data
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