Posted by chicagomedia.org on August 21, 2008 at 08:59:25:
Bob & Tom Ink National Cable TV Deal
One-Hour Best-Of To Air Late Nights On WGN America
Premiere Radio Networks’ “The Bob & Tom Show” becomes the latest radio show to extend its brand to TV. Beginning Nov. 3, Tribune’s WGN America cable channel will air a daily, one-hour, late night best-of version of that day’s syndicated radio morning show. It’s the first original programming created by the recently rebranded cable channel, which reaches 72 million homes and enjoys a massive footprint in the Midwest, where Indianapolis-based Bob & Tom’s enjoy their greatest ratings success.
Tribune senior VP of programming and entertainment Sean Compton says Tribune will shoot the entire show in high definition, using seven robotic cameras, then edit it into a one-hour program to air from midnight- 1:00 a.m. eastern/9- 10:00 p.m. pacific.
Compton is no stranger to Bob & Tom, syndicated by Premiere to more than 150 radio stations. Before joining Tribune in April, he was VP of programming at Premiere during a 16-year run with Clear Channel.
The deal appears to signal a burying of the hatchet in what became a contentious relationship between Clear Channel and Tribune, which lured Compton and a gaggle of other CC execs under new CEO Randy Michaels, who previously ran Clear Channel’s radio division. Last month the two companies settled lawsuits filed by Clear Channel alleging that Tribune unlawfully induced several former CC employees.
(R&R)