Posted by Bud on February 19, 2010 at 12:46:55:
An assortment of news items (updated and annotated) from my Chicago Sun-Times column 25 years ago this week:
-�CBS News has completed a pilot for a �60 Minutes�-type weekly magazine series, covering �contemporary, relevant� issues and geared specifically to viewers in the 20-to-40-year-old age bracket. . . . Bob Sirott, the WBBM-Channel 2 entertainment reporter, is one of four reporters on the pilot (with a profile of martial arts actor Chuck Norris) and could become a regular contributor, if the series wins network approval.� [�West 57th" debuted in August 1985 with correspondents Bob Sirott, Jane Wallace, Meredith Vieira and John Ferrugia. It ran for four years.]
-�Morning man Larry Lujack has emerged the undisputed winner in a behind-scenes power struggle at WLS-AM (890) and WLS-FM (94.7). In a series of meetings last week, Lujack reportedly was given unprecedented authority over his 5:30-to-10 a.m. show and no longer has to check with his superiors in advance about anything he does on the air. . . . �I wouldn�t say I�m totally autonomous,� Lujack said. �If it were really up to me, all I�d play is Waylon Jennings and Buddy Holly records.� � [Two years later Lujack retired from WLS.]
-�Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel are continuing to expand their influence on both coasts. On March 2, the hosts of the syndicated �At the Movies� will turn up as guest-critics on a special edition of NBC�s �Saturday Night Live,� a first-ever festival of film segments aired during the last five years of the comedy series.� [Gene & Roger made at least 10 appearances on �Saturday Night Live� over the years.]
-�Bears linebacker-turned-actor Dick Butkus has emerged as the leading candidate to do color commentary on WGN�s Bears broadcasts this fall. Negotiations are under way.� [Butkus signed with WGN for the Bears� Super Bowl season in 1985 and stayed on in the broadcast booth until 1994.]
-�WFMT-FM (98.7) and Chicago magazine boss Ray Nordstrand is denying that both properties are up so sale, calling the rumors �totally frivolous.� � [Two years later the magazine was sold for $17 million. Nordstrand died of complications after a series of strokes in 2005.]
-�WUSN-FM (99.5) general manager Drew Horowitz is asking listeners to decide whether the station�s �Strip Search Game� is in poor taste. �US-99� afternoon drive jock Bill Garcia asks participants to peel off their clothes if they answer trivia questions incorrectly.� [Horowitz is executive vice president of Bonneville Radio, overseeing Chicago, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Phoenix, St. Louis and Cincinnati operations. Garcia left WUSN at the end of 2008.]
-�Look out for Wally Phillips� second book, a lighthearted guide to living called Way to Go: Surviving in This World Until Something Better Comes Along, published by William Morrow & Co.� [The book, ghost written by WGN boss Dan Fabian, concluded with the words: �Be seeing you . . . out there . . . up there . . . somewhere . . . maybe.� Phillips died of complications from Alzheimer�s disease in 2008.]
-�Anchorman Ron Magers isn�t the only smoker who kicked the habit after health reporter Barry Kaufman�s series last month on WMAQ-Channel 5. A government-funded study reports that 31 percent of the estimated 70,000 viewers who received the series� brochure also managed to quit smoking.� [Recalls Magers: �I had tried to quit countless times before, but this is the one that worked for me. I was one of those smokers who thought he could never quit. I had given up alcohol and other mood-altering chemicals years before, but for me, tobacco was the toughest.�]