It was 30 years ago, almost to the moment of this post, that John Hinckley opened fire on President Ronald Reagan outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. There will be plenty of retrospectives and recaps and mentions of Jodie Foster in the press today (which we're sure she's thrilled about) but only FuzzyMemories can bring that coverage back home to Chicago. more ›

If you are among the legions of Chicagoans toting an iPhone, there is no excuse for being out of touch with the news these days. Until recently, Chicago was not well represented in the iTunes store. In fact, what should have been the flagship of the Second City’s local news offerings was an embarrassment with a woeful and limited app from the Chicago Tribune. But this week’s rollout of a reconceptualized app from the folks in Michigan Avenue’s gothic tower is just the latest in a groundswell of Chicago media offerings for Apple devices. Here’s a quick rundown: more ›

With his federal corruption trial slated to start, well, tomorrow (more on that later), ex-governor Rod Blagojevich has had his weekly Sunday radio show pulled from the WLS airwaves for the duration of the trial. Operations Director Drew Hayes said, "Out of respect for the legal process, WLS radio is putting the Rod Blagojevich Show on 'hiatus' effective immediately. After the trial has concluded, we will review the status of the program." But, according to Hayes, that won't stop Blagojevich from making appearances on the "Don Wade & Roma" show, as he did this morning. Well, that's a relief. more ›

Today marks the 73rd anniversary of the Hindenburg disaster, when the German zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenburg burst into flames while trying to dock in Lakehurst, New Jersey and leading to the deaths of 36 people (35 on board, 1 on the ground). But what does this have to do with Chicago? The (in)famous call of "Oh, the humanity!" was made by Herb Morrison, who was covering the event for Chicago's WLS. more ›

• Roe Conn, of WLS 890 AM, will have a new partner starting April 12: Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper. The show will be called “The Roe Conn Show with Richard Roeper,” but Michael Damsky, president and general manager of WLS, told Robert Feder, “I anticipate that we’ll hear a lot of the shorthand ‘Roe and Roeper.’"
• Coming soon to all Chicago Police squad cars: tasers. Currently, there are 280 tasers in use by the CPD but only sergeants and field training officers are allowed to carry them; the expansion will add 380 more and every squad car assigned to a beat will receive one. CPD Supt. Jody Weis said, "It's a level of force that I want to authorize to use before the situation escalates. We want to use every other option before we use lethal force." Of course, as the Tribune points out, the announcement came shortly after a man died after being tasered by police in suburban Midlothian (though the official cause of death has not been determined).
• In happier news, Time Out Chicago has a great feature on Jeff Jenkins, lead local trainer of the Humane Society’s End Dogfighting campaign and the Pit Bull Training Team, and his battle to, well, end dogfighting.

Michael Damsky, president and general manager of WLS, is our new hero for pulling “Mancow” Muller off the Chicago airwaves in a radio station shake-up. Co-host Pat Cassidy is also out, but he's expected to return to anchor WBBM. We reckon he's probably happy to no longer live under the fear he may be "waterboarded" at any given moment to improve ratings. Robert Feder has the whole story. more ›

If you haven't gotten your fill of Rod Blagojevich over the last nine months, than you're crazy. Also, you'll have the chance to listen to The Hair blabber on and on courtesy of WLS-AM 890, who have signed the former governor to host a talk show the next two Sundays. Airing from noon until 2 p.m. this Sunday and next Sunday, we assume Blagojevich will talk mostly about himself and how he's innocent and how he was railroaded. In other Blago news, it looks like his campaign office on the North Side has officially been shuttered, according to WBEZ, and the space will soon be up for rent. Well, once the landlord makes sure all the FBI's bugs are gone. more ›

Last week, Erich "Mancow" Muller, shock jock at 890 AM WLS, allowed himself to be waterboarded. This led to a reaction from Keith Olbermann and even Mancow appearing on Olbermann's show this week. But today Gawker is reporting that it might have been staged. It's a rather complicated explanation, including several email exchanges between PR people, but what it comes down to is that a PR person said it was going to look real but actually be staged, then she told Gawker that it was real, and then Mancow himself told Gawker "simulated" was more of the wording he'd prefer. The folks at Gawker even take a look at his waterboarding versus that of writer Christopher Hitchens. We're no experts so we won't judge on which version is correct, if there is such a thing - either way looks awful. Also, if he were to stage it, we'd be inclined to think he'd stage it to favor his prior belief that it wasn't torture. [via Gapers Block] more ›

While former governor Rod Blagojevich was paying Karl a visit, Gov. Quinn was preparing to counter Blago's attacks on him. Sure enough, Quinn appeared on WGN 720 AM with John Williams, calling Blago, "yesterday's tomatoes." SNAP! Quinn also admitted he listened to Blago's appearance for about half-an-hour and took questions from listeners. You can listen to Quinn being interviewed here: Part 1 (MP3) and Part 2 (MP3). more ›

The collective group of Chicago radio obsessives that make up part of the Chicagoist staff have posted in the past about Kevin Matthews, Steve & Garry, the Loop collectively, the Blaze, and Mancow. One man we hadn't written about was "Chicago Ed" Schwartz, longtime late-night king of Chicago radio. No one dominated overnight Chicago radio like Schwartz, and it's a shame his first mention on this site is for the occasion of his passing yesterday. more ›

Governor Rod Blagojevich's impeachment trial gets underway on Monday and things are, what else, a hot mess. So what's going on in the World of Blago as the trial approaches? more ›

It's official -- the Cow is now... returning to Chicago radio. WLS 890 has announced that the radio personality everyone loves to hate, Mancow Muller, will begin broadcasting October 27th in the 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. slot, currently filled by conservative host Jerry Agar. In our interview with Muller last year he had some pretty harsh words for FM radio, so it's not surprising that he eventually wound up on an AM powerhouse. He also said at the time that offers had been coming in weekly and he could "be on [in Chicago] tomorrow" -- so the question is, if that's true, did he wait too long? more ›

“I miss the beat,” says Bill Cameron. “But hopefully I'll be able to get back to it sooner rather than later.” Cameron is no longer on that beat because he was let go by his employers, WLS Radio, a couple Fridays back in what's being called the Leap Day Massacre. So, seeing as how he had some extra time on his hands, we decided to get in touch with him and talk about nearly 40 years of experience covering Chicago politics. [Full disclosure: Your humble author used to work with Cameron at WLS.] more ›