WBBM Scraps Newscasts, Talent

WBBM Chicago is doing away with its weekend morning newscasts, reports the Chicago Tribune, along with talent such as Joanie Lum and Bill Zwecker and assistant news director Todd Woolman.

Phil Rosenthal reports:

“We need to aggressively develop the quality of our news programs and simultaneously, because of the economic environment we’re working in, we need to reduce the operating costs of the organization,” said Channel 2 boss Bruno Cohen, who called the moves “a local decision.”

Cohen came in for Joe Ahern at the CBS O&O in October.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.