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WGN Radio 720 Faces Backlash for Walk of Fame Relocation

The WGN Radio Walk of Fame started seven years ago as a promotional gimmick by former general manager Jimmy deCastro who left the station in 2016.

Ryan Hedrick

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WGN Radio 720 is receiving some backlash from listeners after it was revealed that its Walk of Fame was relocated to a grassy patch adjacent to the station’s transmitter site.

Chicago media writer Robert Feder spoke to the station’s vice president and general manager, Mary Sandberg Boyle who said the plaques will eventually find a new home.

The WGN Radio Walk of Fame started seven years ago as a promotional gimmick by former general manager Jimmy deCastro who left the station in 2016.

The original Walk of Fame was located at Tribune Tower 435 North Michigan Avenue.

Pictures of the current home honoring some of the station’s biggest stars elicited mixed reactions from Feder’s readers.

“Offer individual markers to the honorees or their heirs as an additional (and unexpected) career memento,” suggested one reader. “Rheingold Brewing ended the annual Miss Rheingold program after 26 years. All good things, etc., etc.”

“Pioneer Court [outside Tribune Tower] is torn up and we had to get them out of the ground,” Boyle said. “We don’t have a showcase studio at 303 so the sidewalk here doesn’t make much sense. We’ve talked about a lot of options but haven’t settled on anything yet.”

WGN is owned and operated by Nexstar Media Group took over in 2019 – the same year the last group of honorees was inducted.

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News Audio

Mike Gallagher Mesmerized By Reach of ‘Tucker on Twitter’

“He is going to reach more people on Twitter than he ever did with his TV show.”

Barrett News Media

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Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson debuted his digital video program Tucker on Twitter Tuesday, and radio host Mike Gallagher shared his surprise at the reach of the program on the social media platform.

“He is back on Twitter. He had a scathing takedown of the mainstream media. More than 10 million people have viewed it already. It is unbelievable,” The Mike Gallagher Show host shared Wednesday. “He is going to reach more people on Twitter than he ever did with his TV show.”

Gallagher then played a clip of Carlson’s discussing the lack of reporting about where the money the US government has sent to Ukraine to fight the war against Russia has been allocated. Carlson said the media’s lack of interest in the story is disappointing, claiming “in journalism, curiosity is the gravest crime.”

“What a profound thing. Typical Tucker Carlson. In journalism, curiosity is the big crime. You are not allowed to be curious about COVID. We’re not allowed to ask about a vaccine. How dare you say anything about election integrity,” said Gallagher. “No, that is the greatest crime and you need to be shut down. You need to be shut down big time.”

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Cumulus Denies Allegations Made in Lawsuit From Bob Boccia

The former morning host is seeking damages of at least $75,000 after he claims his contract was breached.

Barrett News Media

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Early last month, former News Talk 98.9 The Roar of Memphis morning host Bob Boccia — known as “Sideshow Bob” — sued Cumulus Media claiming he was discriminated against after refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine. The company has now denied any wrongdoing.

Boccia claimed that due to suffering from Crohn’s Disease and his status as a “devout Catholic” should have given him both a medical and religious exemption. However, Cumulus claims the host never sought an exemption from its vaccine, and alleges it never agreed that he wouldn’t be required to take the shot.

The company says it provided Boccia with reasonable accommodation, but it could not give an exemption to him without altering the safety of other employees. It went on to say that Boccia, who was ultimately fired for refusing the vaccine, was let go “for legitimate business reasons based on safety requirements which are job-related and consistent with business necessity”.

The former morning host is seeking damages of at least $75,000 after he claims his contract was breached. Cumulus argues that because Boccia has received income from other avenues since his departure, he has simply failed to seek employment as part of a ploy to garner sympathy for the suit.

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Megyn Kelly: Jeff Zucker Ruined CNN, Chris Licht Is Just Struggling to Fix It

“None of it works. It’s a recipe for disaster, and the ratings are showing it.”

Barrett News Media

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The profile of CNN CEO Chris Licht from The Atlantic continues to reverberate around the news media world, but SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly questions why Licht is the one taking all of the blame for CNN’s struggles.

During The Megyn Kelly Show Tuesday, the former Fox News host said she believes former CNN head Jeff Zucker is responsible for where the network currently finds itself, and took issue with comments he made to The New York Times.

“Jeff Zucker is…clearly trying to say ‘Chris Licht sucks and that all the CNNers are calling me saying how bad he is’. But Jeff Zucker is the one who ruined CNN,” Kelly said. “Chris Licht isn’t the one who ruined it, he’s just the one that’s struggling to fix it again.”

She then argued that while Licht isn’t responsible for the recent downturn in CNN’s ratings, the mission he has been put on by Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav to return the network to its strictly news-gathering roots is a difficult one because Americans haven’t forgotten the shift CNN took during the Trump presidency.

“What Chris Licht is trying to do is take a bunch of avowed leftists, and make them fair and balanced reporters now, and stop them from being themselves,” Kelly argued. “He’s trying to undo the programming that Jeff Zucker let loose before realizing that all he had left was a bunch of wannabe MSNBC anchors and now those horses have left the barn.

“And now Chris Licht is trying to shove those horses back in the barn and fool the American people that they never left the barn and that they’re totally fair and balanced and you should trust them because now they’re going to say the right things. None of it works. It’s a recipe for disaster, and the ratings are showing it.”

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