Chicago - A message from the station manager

Monstrous Movie Flashback Starring Bag O’Laughs

By Fuzzy Memories TV

“Here is the open for WFLD Channel 32’s Monstrous Movie. This is an earlier version (featuring a chilling, maniacal laugh) than the one previously posted from 1982. Notice the Kaiser Broadcasting era 32 logo.
“According to knowledgeable sources (Mr. Rich Koz) – ‘the first announcer is Ron Beattie, who left 32 [in 1980] . . . the laughing in the background is a stupid old novelty item called Bag O’Laughs – that, when touched, played the demented laughter (hence the tinny quality) – then, the specific v.o. about the film is Jim Barton. I’m guessing the taped open was still used after Ron left.’
“This aired on local Chicago TV on Saturday, July 25th, 1981. at 1:30pm!”

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Posted on October 31, 2012

A Toronto TV News Report About A Canadian Trucker Killed In Chicago

Wife Issues Warning To Travelers Coming Here

“After a long day on the road hauling freight from Canada, Gary Clarke headed to his brother’s home in Englewood for a quick overnight visit before heading back north,” the Tribune reported earlier this month.
“As Clarke locked up the truck [that] Tuesday in an empty lot next to the home, a group approached and demanded money, police said.
“Clarke said he didn’t have any cash and someone pulled out a gun and fired, according to Clarke’s older brother Andrew Jackson.
“‘He started crying out for Jesus,’ said Jackson, 41, who was standing outside when the shooting occurred. ‘When I heard him say (that), I knew something was wrong.’
“Police found Clarke unresponsive at 8:15 p.m inside the white freight truck. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. The cause of death was listed as a gunshot wound to the hip.”
On Friday, Global Toronto aired this report.

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Posted on October 29, 2012

Help Save Classic Chicago TV!

By Fuzzy Memories TV

Note: The Beachwood Reporter is a big fan of Fuzzy Memories TV and we use their material quite often. They posted this to YouTube on Wednesday. Please support them any way you can.
For decades, television has brought us some of the most unforgettable moments in history, yet many of them were either never recorded, or erased and reused, never to be seen again.
The Museum Of Classic Chicago Television (fuzzymemories.tv) is working hard to preserve many of these great moments, much of which aired in Chicago, the nation’s third-largest media market, and a city with its own unique media heritage, both on radio and television.

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Posted on October 25, 2012

Afghanistan Unplugged via Joliet Community TV

By Ward Ambrose

“Look at Afghanistan people and lifestyle. Also US service personnal perils serving in Afghanistan. No narraration. Audio not change. Just raw footage. This was edited for JCTV Joliet, IL.”

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Posted on October 24, 2012

Free The Files Tracks $294 Million In TV Ads, With Obama Topping Buyer List

By Amanda Zamora/ProPublica

In just two weeks, volunteers for our Free the Files project have liberated information on $294 million in ad buys made in swing states since Aug. 2.
The spending data comes from nearly 4,600 political ad contracts collected in a Federal Communications Commission database. The buys were made by candidates, super PACs, social welfare nonprofits and other groups at TV stations in 33 major markets
Though not comprehensive and based on ad purchases that are sometimes revised, the data provides a previously unattainable snapshot of political spending in the final weeks of the campaign.
Of the contracts reviewed so far, $64.3 million reflects buys by the Obama campaign, which spent more than any other group and about four times the amount spent by the Romney campaign.

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Posted on October 15, 2012

Reporting Recipe: Four Stories You Can Write Using Free the Files

By Justin Elliott/ProPublica

We’ve been writing a lot about the newly available TV station ad files that offer never-before-available details on political spending.
And ProPublica readers around the country have been helping sort through the data in our Free the Files app.
We thought it would be useful to explain a few ways we and other media have used the files, and how other reporters might do the same.

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Posted on October 11, 2012

Free The Files Volunteers Unlock $160 Million In Ad Buys In First Week

By Amanda Zamora/ProPublica

In the first seven days since we rebooted Free The Files, nearly 350 people have “freed” a political ad contract from the Federal Communications Commission database, unlocking more than $160 million in ad spending by 325 groups in more than 30 swing markets.
Our top contributor alone has freed an astounding 1,300 files. What is becoming of all this ad data?
A look at what we’ve learned in the last week:

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Posted on October 9, 2012

Beachwood Exclusive: More Chicago TV Shows On The Way

Beals, Wendt, Epstein, Geraci

“How many bad shows are they going to set in Chicago?” our very own Mike Luce wondered last week in reaction to Chicago Fire. “Wasn’t Chicago Code enough?”
No, the Beachwood has learned. The following ideas are in development at major networks near you.
* Jennifer Beals as Rahm Emanuel in Flashdance Chicago. Just a big city mayor on a Saturday night, lookin’ for the fight of his life.
* George Wendt in Sears. See what happens when Norm Peterson is hired to turn around a struggling American icon.
* CSI: CTU. The education of a mayor.
* Chicago Load. Cameras follow Jay Cutler through a full season.
* Chicago Disability. Chris Hansen uses illicit chat rooms to lure unsuspecting cops drawing disability to a park to throw the ball around, then confronts them.

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Posted on October 8, 2012