Kathy and Judy are gone from WGN. This is mostly off topic but they did host Not for Women Only...

Kathy and Judy are gone from WGN.

This is mostly off topic but they did host Not for Women Only at the Convention and it is the Cubs radio station.

over 2 years ago puckishcubsfan 40 comments 0 recs |

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Guess I can't glare at them as I walk past the WGN Studio on Michigan Ave. anymore.

Why are they gone?

I've committed to tweeting about the Cubs for the rest of the season. (Does that sound as ridiculous as I think it does?) Anyway, if you're on Twitter, you can follow me here.

by daver on May 22, 2009 9:42 AM CDT reply actions

Declining ratings

Hey, it's a new century!

by cowsarecool220 on May 22, 2009 1:11 PM CDT up reply actions

I read something that said radio stations around the country are jettisoning high priced talent

Not sure that applies to Kathy and Judy, but there is widespread movement in the industry to move away from big $$$ radio hosts. In talk radio, sports radio and plain old DJs. I guess that isn’t terribly surprising given what is happening with the rest of the economy. Garry Meier for example is working for a fraction of his old standard pay at WGN. If Steve Dahl ever wants to work again then he too will have to accept a dramatic slice in pay.

Awww, come on guys, it's so simple maybe you need a refresher course. It's all ball bearings ...

by BLou on May 22, 2009 9:51 AM CDT reply actions

Big changes in Chicago radio today

Also, WNUA-95.5 FM is now an all-Spanish station, from “smooth jazz.”

One day I hope to come up with something worthy of this space.

by chilango2 on May 22, 2009 10:14 AM CDT reply actions

Oh no!

Does that mean we will no longer hear Ryan Theriot talk about his manscaping and enormously large feet at the Cubs Convention next year??????

by ak123 on May 22, 2009 10:31 AM CDT reply actions

The show

I listen to them for some laughs, some tears and thoughtful conversation for about 20 years.

I was thinking today of all the things that have happened in my own life while listening to this show. Graduated college, got married, had my kids etc.

And I also liked that when sports news broke they knew they didn’t have a clue and turned it over to Dave Eanet.

Jay is our Quarterback. I REPEAT JAY IS OUR QUARTERBACK. Did I mention we have a Quarterback who happens to be named Jay?.

by puckishcubsfan on May 22, 2009 10:34 AM CDT reply actions

Why was their show cancelled?

I've committed to tweeting about the Cubs for the rest of the season. (Does that sound as ridiculous as I think it does?) Anyway, if you're on Twitter, you can follow me here.

by daver on May 22, 2009 10:52 AM CDT up reply actions

Sam Zell took offense to the three-bean salad recipe they shared on last week's show?!?

Awww, come on guys, it's so simple maybe you need a refresher course. It's all ball bearings ...

by BLou on May 22, 2009 11:11 AM CDT up reply actions

As they said on their show today...

WGN radio is moving in a new direction, First with Garry Meier. Then blowing up their weekend shows, getting rid of all the regular Weekend shows (with the exception of Lou Manfredini on Sat and Rick Kogen and Dean Richards on Sunday, but including Sports Central Weekend edition) and plugging in Jerry Agar, some French guy and Shawn Wasson. THey are trying to become a clone of WLS…Right Wing radio all the time. K & J do not fit in with the new direction of the station, so they are gone.

Kasey

See what old Cubs Scorecards looked like at http://cubsbythenumbers.com/scorecards.html
Also, see the Cubs 2009 schedule at http://cubsbythenumbers.com/sched2009.html

by kaseyi on May 22, 2009 11:13 AM CDT up reply actions

If all that is true...

… they’re likely to suffer a huge drop in ratings.

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al Yellon on May 22, 2009 11:19 AM CDT up reply actions

WGN's GM thinks otherwise

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/chi-sun-phil-0510may10,0,4585493.column

That’s why a radio station, such as Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.’s WGN-AM 720, would start tinkering with its lineup and bring in hosts listeners may or may not universally embrace.

“Let’s say 60 percent of the people want to go along and get along. I’m in a business where all you need is 8 percent of the people to be a megastar,” said Kevin Metheny, WGN’s program director. “Instead of asking people what they think and to share their thoughts with us, we are taking a position and provoking people to respond.”

See what old Cubs Scorecards looked like at http://cubsbythenumbers.com/scorecards.html
Also, see the Cubs 2009 schedule at http://cubsbythenumbers.com/sched2009.html

by kaseyi on May 22, 2009 11:25 AM CDT up reply actions

I mean PD, not GM

See what old Cubs Scorecards looked like at http://cubsbythenumbers.com/scorecards.html
Also, see the Cubs 2009 schedule at http://cubsbythenumbers.com/sched2009.html

by kaseyi on May 22, 2009 11:27 AM CDT up reply actions

Thanks for the response!

I generally listen to ‘GN only for baseball stuff, so it doesn’t affect me too much. But it is a pretty big deal mediawise.

I've committed to tweeting about the Cubs for the rest of the season. (Does that sound as ridiculous as I think it does?) Anyway, if you're on Twitter, you can follow me here.

by daver on May 22, 2009 11:22 AM CDT up reply actions

well...

other than right after Cubs games, they have also dropped the weekend edition of Sports Central…which I think is nuts. If they want to attract a younger crowd, wouldn’t sports be the way to do it? Especially with the Blackhawks doing well…and in the fall when the Bears start up again, there will be no outlet on WGN for people to talk Bears, Hawks or Bulls.

See what old Cubs Scorecards looked like at http://cubsbythenumbers.com/scorecards.html
Also, see the Cubs 2009 schedule at http://cubsbythenumbers.com/sched2009.html

by kaseyi on May 22, 2009 11:29 AM CDT up reply actions

Wow, I agree - that seems like a really bad decision.

They’re going to drive most of their younger weekend listeners to the Score and ESPN.

I've committed to tweeting about the Cubs for the rest of the season. (Does that sound as ridiculous as I think it does?) Anyway, if you're on Twitter, you can follow me here.

by daver on May 22, 2009 11:33 AM CDT up reply actions

It seems like both of those stations (ESPN and Score) are cutting down

on local programming on the weekend and weekday evenings. It seems like each time I turn them on, they are airing national or taped programming.

Hey, it's a new century!

by cowsarecool220 on May 22, 2009 1:14 PM CDT up reply actions

WGN's listenership is not young.

Their target demographic is probably 35-54, and I will bet it’s skewing older than that.

Outside of some sports pbp and some sports talk, find me a young man or woman who actually listens to AM radio regularly — that’s ancient technology to today’s youthful listener.

If WGN is going more ‘righty’ talk, that’s where the AM audience is. They want a slice of that pie which is dominated by ol’ Rushbo, and all of his right-wingnut talk host ‘friends’ are.

Those of you who are parents — do you hear AM radio coming out of your teenager’s rooms…their cars? I’d assume not. More than likely, they are on their Ipod, streaming music on their PC. Tuining in AM 720 isn’t at the top of their ’things to do today" list.

If you want to talk Chicago sports, there are 2 stations. WGN can no longer be the ‘general interest’ station. It’s now a dinosaur. There really is no other giant AM station in America that was programmed in such a manner. That was normal through the 60’s and 70s, but by the late 80s…..big changes in AM radio.

It will soon make sense that Cubs baseball leave WGN, and go to where it can be exploited all day long, by a flagship sportstalker. Not many baseball teams are on Non-sports stations anymore. Same with the Blackhawks — they’ll have to get off WGN-AM eventually. Hell, baseball on the radio no longer gets the ratings it used to get — thanks to so many other ways games are delivered, via mlb.tv, EI, and other packages. Only real hard-core listeners are listening to baseball on radio.

It’s a business decision by new Tribco programmers. They are moving the station where it can best find AM listeners, and sell advertising.

by San Diego Smooth Jazz Man on May 23, 2009 2:31 AM CDT up reply actions

Roe Conn

is not right wing radio and he takes up 4 hours of afternoon time.

by jerry morales rules on May 22, 2009 12:08 PM CDT up reply actions

Yes, but Roe is right-leaning and does little to balance out the rest of the dreck on WLS.

by jolietconvict on May 22, 2009 12:31 PM CDT up reply actions

True

but partisanship is hardly ever the topic on his show. He talks many times more about Drew Peterson or Michael Jackson than he does about politics. Heck, he talks more about American Idol and Dancing with the Stars than he does about politics.

All I’m saying is that Roe Conn is far from “right wing radio”.

by jerry morales rules on May 22, 2009 12:56 PM CDT up reply actions

And let's stop the politics right here.

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al Yellon on May 22, 2009 1:34 PM CDT up reply actions

Oops

Saw this after the John Williams comment.

Jay is our Quarterback. I REPEAT JAY IS OUR QUARTERBACK. Did I mention we have a Quarterback who happens to be named Jay?.

by puckishcubsfan on May 22, 2009 1:45 PM CDT up reply actions

I'm certainly not talking politics here

All I’m saying is that Roe tends to talk about pop culture much, much more than politics. Politics is probably talked about less on his show than it is here!

by jerry morales rules on May 22, 2009 2:18 PM CDT up reply actions

John Williams

John Williams is probably the most liberal voice on Chicago radio.

What I liked about WGN was it was a good mix. Also it wasn’t cookie cutter radio.

Also we have yet to see what will be put in their place. There are 289813028930839080183908138201830283201183308902389021380830128321 rumors out there.

I feel a little vindicated as a few weeks ago when they were both off at the same time (which has never happened for more than a day and this was a week and 2 days) and they brought an outside person for a week I thought it was a sign something was going on and people called me goofy and worse elsewhere. It turns out they found out a couple of weeks ago.

At least it won’t be Jerry Springer.

Jay is our Quarterback. I REPEAT JAY IS OUR QUARTERBACK. Did I mention we have a Quarterback who happens to be named Jay?.

by puckishcubsfan on May 22, 2009 1:43 PM CDT up reply actions

This has pretty much settled my mind that I’m not going to be listening to WGN except for Cubs games anymore. At this rate I can’t wait for the sale to go through so they can get off of WGN. Kevin Metheny, aka Pig Virus, is running the station right into the ground. WGN was the only decent radio station left in Chicago and those days are quickly fading. How someone can think that taking the number one billing radio station in Chicago and blowing it up is a good idea I’ll never know. Sam Zell can take a leap off a tall building as far as I’m concerned.

by jolietconvict on May 22, 2009 12:33 PM CDT reply actions

We'll he's already destroyed the Tribune.

They’ve fired so many people, there’s little to read in the paper anymore. With the huge advertising drop, there’s barely anything left to the paper, literally. Have you seen the paper lately, it’s shunk in size like an athlete off of steroids!

Hey, it's a new century!

by cowsarecool220 on May 22, 2009 1:23 PM CDT up reply actions

They won't be getting off WGN soon..

According to the latest stories on the sale, one of the sticking points is the value of the very long term contracts the CUbs signed with both WGN TV & Radio (10 year contracts is what is being reported) and one of the reasons Zell is not selling 100% of the team is to retain some ownership so he can funnel the broadcasts to WGN

See what old Cubs Scorecards looked like at http://cubsbythenumbers.com/scorecards.html
Also, see the Cubs 2009 schedule at http://cubsbythenumbers.com/sched2009.html

by kaseyi on May 22, 2009 1:29 PM CDT up reply actions

Milt Rosenburg ftw

by dr stabbingworth on May 22, 2009 1:36 PM CDT up reply actions

I’m sure Milt will be the next to go. He’s not “edgy” enough.

by jolietconvict on May 22, 2009 1:39 PM CDT up reply actions

Which is sad

Which is sad because it is the most intelligent 2 hours on radio. He covers every topic out there imaginable and has probably the widest range of guests anywhere.

Spike and Kathy and Judy within a few months of each other.

Jay is our Quarterback. I REPEAT JAY IS OUR QUARTERBACK. Did I mention we have a Quarterback who happens to be named Jay?.

by puckishcubsfan on May 22, 2009 1:45 PM CDT up reply actions

Milt is pretty conservative

If WGN is moving in that direction, he should be fine.

by dr stabbingworth on May 22, 2009 2:29 PM CDT up reply actions

If you ever

If you’ve ever heard the recording they played for a short time during Thursdays at 11 am (which if you listened you know which segment I’m talking about) saying “You tell parents to send their kids into a room with a Barney tape. I was by my Mom’s last week and she sent me into a room with a tape and I’m almost 40” that was me.

Also they played a tape of me for awhile during a segment on Wednesdays called Speak Your piece. A woman had called in complaining they call it the world series but never invite teams from Japan. I called in and complained they never invite the Cubs.

Jay is our Quarterback. I REPEAT JAY IS OUR QUARTERBACK. Did I mention we have a Quarterback who happens to be named Jay?.

by puckishcubsfan on May 22, 2009 1:53 PM CDT reply actions

This is a dollars and cents decision also

Kathy and Judy are being replaced with cheaper talent, following the trend in radio. It’s sorta funny that the rapid decline of newspapers is kinda sorta starting to happen with radio stations. Lots more options for listening to things, whether you’re a sports junkies, into politics, want the time temperature and traffic repeated every 54 seconds or are into whatever variety of music. I listen to much less AM radio then I ever use to. Big reason is that I can’t stand all the political crap where it is constant out-shouting the other guy. The only sportsradio I truly listen to is Mike and Mike in the Morning. But even with that show I have my limits.

Awww, come on guys, it's so simple maybe you need a refresher course. It's all ball bearings ...

by BLou on May 22, 2009 3:04 PM CDT reply actions

Oh, one more thing

I’m a longtime diehard Blackhawks fan. And you want to talk about a criticism of sports radio. Well try being a hockey fan in this town. The talking heads on sports radio in this town know jack shit about hockey and it makes my ears bleed with them trying to pretend as Johnny come latelys. I hate the NBA, and therefore I have never understood the fascination with talking about the friggin Chicago Bulls 24/7. Bulls discussion on sportsradio even trumps the Cubs and Bears, which is ridiculous.

But please, can we get some INTELLIGENT hockey people ocassionally talking the NHL on the radio. It would be nice to have a show to tune in once in awhile.

Awww, come on guys, it's so simple maybe you need a refresher course. It's all ball bearings ...

by BLou on May 22, 2009 3:10 PM CDT up reply actions

Bulls discussion trumps Bears??

Boy, what Chicago sports radio stations are you listening to?

"Every player should be accorded the privilege of at least one season with the Chicago Cubs. That's baseball as it should be played - in God's own sunshine. And that's really living." ~Alvin Dark

by DamonBerryhillsMitt on May 22, 2009 3:30 PM CDT up reply actions

Man, I agree with you again!!

It’s beginning to scare me.

But, BM — the NBA (which I no longer care for) is still a zillion times more popular than the far superior NHL. (See the latest ESPN The Magazine — Bill Simmons’ column. He really nails it.)

I’m sure with the hockey drought in Chicago, the only people that could talk hockey intelligently are Pat Foley and Eddie O. It’s going to take a while for the effect to dribble down so others can talk about the game properly. (Perhaps I should send my resumes to Chicago…)

But, if you wander to XM, “Hockey Night In Canada On The Radio” is a weekly feature and it might be podcasted on cbc.ca. There’s a lot of material there.

Since ESPN only barely discusses the game, and they insist on rehiring Barry Melrose as their ‘expert’ — (an ‘expert’ who was such a miserable coach he was shoved out the door at Tampa Bay after a month) I get most of my hockey info from the cbc, or tsn.com

The Canadian nets are usually way ahead of stateside reporting. CBC was predicting a PHX relocation at midseason. I looked, and could not find that story anywhere in the US — until the end of the season, when it was revealed that the team was suffering major financial setbacks.

See? We can find common ground.

by San Diego Smooth Jazz Man on May 23, 2009 2:46 AM CDT up reply actions

The economy

It’s a shame that WGN radio has to make changes for purposes of cutting payroll. That, as opposed to making changes to have programming that attracts a higher number of listeners. They must not be able to get the sponsorship or advertising revenue that they once did to support the payroll for current programming. I assume WGN is experiencing a revenue shortfall. If not, and it is losses from the newspapers causing this, then they are making a mistake. The Tribune has filed bankruptcy, so choices may be limited.

All that said, I didn’t care for the “Kathy and Judy” show and I liked the weekend Sports Central for the most part.

by AboutTheCubs on May 22, 2009 4:21 PM CDT reply actions

My big hope

I’m crossing my fingers its going to be Nick Digilio. Maybe that’s why he didn’t get the 1-4 slot.

Jay is our Quarterback. I REPEAT JAY IS OUR QUARTERBACK. Did I mention we have a Quarterback who happens to be named Jay?.

by puckishcubsfan on May 22, 2009 5:05 PM CDT reply actions

Thank God

They should have done this years ago. Couldn’t stand their PMS-induced rantings. I will miss them not at all.

Getting rid of the weekend Sports Central, however, is a bad move.

by Not Bruce Froemming on May 23, 2009 12:00 PM CDT reply actions

Good article on this subject in the Tribune Sunday edition - Business Section

Phil Rosenthal I believe wrote the article on how Kathy and Judy are latest victims of how radio stations now track listenership more scientifically and presumably more accurately. Needless to say the new methodology suggests that fewer people listen to Kathy and Judy than was previously understood via the old ways of tracking listeners.

Awww, come on guys, it's so simple maybe you need a refresher course. It's all ball bearings ...

by BLou on May 24, 2009 10:43 PM CDT reply actions