Archive for April, 2009
April 23rd, 2009
Memphis native Charles Vance will join the WTVO Channel 17 News at Six and Ten (Comcast 4) as co-anchor on Monday.
He will anchor with Nicole Kilmer. Vance replaces Steve Stadelman on the 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts. Stadelman continues to anchor the 5 p.m. news with Kilmer and in January started anchoring the 5 a.m. WTVO Morning News.
Vance was an anchor and reporter in Champaign the past three years.
In other television news, WREX-13 (Comcast 3) on April 20 seated a new, but familiar, anchor on its morning newscast: Laura Gibbs, who had been a reporter at the station. WREX also expanded its morning news show to start at 5 a.m. instead of 5:30 a.m. Former anchor of 13 News Today, Marissa Alter, is reporting at WREX.
April 23rd, 2009
This cnn.com story tells why we’re fascinated with Susan Boyle, the matronly looking, beautifully voiced singer in “Britian’s Got Talent,” who has become an Internet sensation.
(Us Magazine)
Peter Bregman writes that Boyle is a “phenomenal role model for us because she is us, in all our awkward ordinariness and amazing extraordinariness.”
Tell about your Susan Boyle moment(s).
I’ll share two of mine: Two years ago, when I won a stock car race against other women media drivers at Rockford Speedway. It’s shocking because my kids have always told me I drive like an old lady. And I was so uneasy in the borrowed car I was driving, that I couldn’t even undo the (albeit, altered) seatbelt to get out to get my trophy.
And last fall, I was the People’s Choice at a Dancing with the Rockford Stars fundraiser for Family Counseling Services. I didn’t win favor with my dance moves, despite having taken 10 lessons at Arthur Murray. Rather, the people liked my beer-barrel-polka/hokey-pokey/chicken-dance routine because they connected with it.
April 22nd, 2009
United Airlines new policy on charging some overweight people for two seats rankles Lisa Breisch, a psychotherapist and director of Club Round of Loves Park. 
In an e-mail, she calls the policy of United and other airlines “horrible.” She says the seat sizes are “ridiculously small even for ‘average-sized’ people,” that the airlines should seat larger customers next to empty seats if there are any at no extra charge and that the airlines should upgrade larger customers to the bigger, first class seats for free or at a discount.
“My mother and I (both plus size) were able to get first-class seating through Aeromexico on a recent trip to Cancun for only $50 each. The seats are larger and more comfortable. … I also requested a seat belt extender with much courtesy and discreetness by the airline stewardess. … Now, if one airline can do this, why can’t another?”
April 22nd, 2009
The latest copies of Entertainment Weekly and Newsweek feature the Tinted Windows, the new power pop supergroup that includes Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos of the Rockford area.
The EW story rates the group’s self-titled debut album, out yesterday, as a B+.
April 20th, 2009
WREX-13 (Comcast 3) this morning started its morning newscast at its new time of 5 a.m. rather than 5:30 a.m., joining the other two local TV morning shows at WIFR-23, and WTVO-17, who have had 5 a.m. start times for awhile now.
And Laura Gibbs is the morning anchor, replacing Marissa Alter, who is serving as a reporter at the station.
(Register Star photo of Laura Gibbs)
April 17th, 2009
An update on the online quest to try to get KISS to hold a show at the MetroCentre in Rockford.
As of 10 a.m. today, Rockford was 79 on the list. Canadian cities were in the top three spots. Fargo, N.D., was 41; Green Bay, 51; Rockford, 79. But Rockford has been moving up since the Wednesday start of the quest. Go to my blog and scroll down to the “Vote online for KISS to maybe come to MetroCentre” post for more details.
April 16th, 2009
John Madden, the most honored broadcaster in TV history, will retire, according to this MSNBC.com story.
Frederick M. Brown /Getty Images
April 16th, 2009
Check out a sample of the atmospheric guitar riffs that Rick Nielsen of Rockford, Cheap Trick’s guitarist, created for The Conduit videogame to be released in June for play on the Wii. It’s spacey cool.
April 16th, 2009
Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc., the nation’s second-largest mall operator that owns or operates six major shopping centers in the Chicago area, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection early today, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Just so you know, that’s not the company that owns CherryVale Mall in Cherry Valley. CBL & Associates Properties Inc. owns CherryVale.
General Growth said it “intends to continue operating all of its shopping centers during the bankruptcy process. Those include Lincolnshire Commons in Lincolnshire, Northbrook Court in Northbrook, Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook, Spring Hill Mall in West Dundee and Water Tower Place on the Magnificent Mile. It also manages Golf Mill Shopping Center in Niles.”
April 15th, 2009
KISS might return to the MetroCentre in Rockford for a fifth time soon if the costumed glam hard-rockers get enough votes online.
KISS is pitting cities against each other to help the band route its next tour. You can vote once by going to metrocentre.com. You also can post the voting link to your MySpace page or Web site to encourage others to vote.
Matt Mohr, MetroCentre spokesman, said he is unsure when the tour might take place or even if KISS might play in Rockford. But if Rockford is among the top vote-getters, it could make it easier to book the band for a show, he said.
Led by frontman Gene Simmons, KISS is known more for its theatrics than its first Top 10 hit, the ballad, “Beth” in 1976. KISS played at the MetroCentre in 1982, 1986, 1998 and 2000.
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