The O.J. Simpson case claimed another victim this week when WBBM-Ch. 2 “News Extra” executive producer Justine Schmidt was forced to resign after station officials discovered she had sent unsupervised college interns to the O’Hare Plaza Hotel police site.
Schmidt temporarily will be replaced by assistant news director Bill Carey until a new “News Extra” boss can be named by news director Mark Toney.
While Toney first denied the interns’ assignment when he was asked about it nearly a month ago, an internal investigation later showed Schmidt had sent the college students, who only are supposed to observe station doings.
While some in the Channel 2 newsroom feel Schmidt’s dismissal was overdue because the 12-person unit wasn’t producing the number of pieces it should, Toney disputed the unit’s lack of direction. “I don’t consider this a major problem,” he said.
More Top Picks Best Pottery Wheels Under 500 Dollars
In with the new: Group W named Weezie Kramer on Tuesday to replace Rick Starr as general manager of WMAQ-AM 670. Kramer, who had been sales manager and station manager, said: “I don’t have any big plans. I want to get into the job first.” For the time being, she said, she plans to keep the station’s news-all-day, sports-all-night format, despite the drop in WMAQ’s latest ratings.
As for Starr, “basically Dan (Group W Radio president Mason) and I didn’t get along,” he said. “It was my view that you couldn’t do (half-news and half-sports) well. I was close to going out the door four or five months ago. (`Sports Huddle’ host) Chris Cross talked me out of it.”
Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk: Neal Sabin, formerly program director at WPWR-Ch. 50, isn’t taking the Three Stooges with him to WCIU-Ch. 26. “I worked very hard to make sure all (the Channel 50) programming was locked in for a long time,” said Sabin, who turned the Stooges into prime-time stars during his 11 years at Channel 50 before becoming general manager of Channel 26 earlier this week. “I’ll be starting from scratch. We’re not going to be a clone of WPWR. We’ll take the next step.”
When independent WGBO-Ch. 66 becomes an affiliate of Spanish-language Univision by Jan. 1, there should be some programming material left over. But Sabin also warned: “We won’t be a clone of WGBO, either. I’m seeing (WCIU) as a truly independent Chicago station. It already produces more local programming than any Chicago TV station.” WCIU will keep its “Stock Market Observer” financial package as part of the mix.
Morning zoo news: “Mancow’s Morning Madhouse,” which will run from 5:30 to 10 a.m. weekdays, debuts Thursday on WWBZ-FM 103.5. “It’ll be a very, very high-profile radio show,” said new WWBZ program director Dave Richards. “Mancow’s (Muller) not afraid of doing things to win the hearts of Chicagoans.” Be warned. . . . In an early legal victory for the former WLUP-AM and Evergreen Media Corp., a New York State judge has thrown out two important elements of Howard Stern’s nearly $50 million lawsuit. Stern’s suit claimed fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract, the first two of which were tossed out by the judge, leaving a garden-variety case of breach of contract. WLUP had signed Stern to a three-year syndication deal in September 1992, then terminated the shock jock Aug. 20, 1993, amid uninspired ratings and FCC moves against Stern for alleged indecencies.
Programming notes: WMAQ-Ch. 5 sends up a newsmagazine trial balloon when Mark Suppelsa and Nesita Kwan host “Channel 5 News: A Special Edition,” featuring reports by Carol Marin, Renee Ferguson, Dave Savini and cameraman Joe Smeck at 6 p.m. Saturday.