New Digs
John Hogan
has been named chief executive of Clear Channel Radio, the country's largest station group. He replaces Randy Michaels, who was shifted to Clear Channel Worldwide's Internet division in July. Hogan previously was the radio division's COO. He has overseen 15 of Clear Channel's radio regions, including Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston and Dallas. Clear Channel Radio owns more than 1,200 stations. ...
Former Cartoon Network chief Betty Cohen
is exiting AOL Time Warner
about a year after she stepped down from the kids channel. Cohen had been working on a new multimedia kids project for AOL; she's now free to shop the idea to other investors. ...
Replacing Joel Cheatwood
as WCBS-TV New York
news director is Dianne Doctor, who had been news director at WNBC(TV) there. The station group said Cheatwood will continue with the group, overseeing news research and special projects. …
Valari Staab
has been named president and general manager of ABC-owned KGO-TV San Francisco, replacing Joe Ahern, who resigned to run WBBM-TV Chicago. Staab was previously president and general manager of WTVD-TV Raleigh-Durham, N.C. ...
HBO
has upped network veteran Carolyn Strauss
to executive vice president of original programming. Strauss, who oversees the network's original series, specials and late-night fare, is adding miniseries to her watch.
Syndie talk
The first full week of August marked the start of the back-to-school shopping season, and ratings were soft for the week ended Aug. 11. Top talk and court shows were down from the week before.
Top talker OprahWinfrey Show
was down 12%, to a 5.2. No. 2 Live With Regis and Kelly
was off 3%, at a 3.4.
Among court shows, Judge Judy
dropped 8%, to a 4.8, while Judge Joe Brown
slipped 3% to a 3.0. ...
Speaking of Judge Joe Brown, in its first outing of double runs at 3-4 p.m. on WNBC
—leading into an hour of Paramount's court leader, Judge Judy
—the show recorded a solid 4.3 rating/12 share, then jumped to a 4.8/13 in its second day. Paramount Domestic TV President John Nogawski
says NBC's ability to lock up the shows—they have both been renewed on WNBC through 2006—should allay fears that Paramount's sibling relationship with CBS would give co-owned stations an inside track. ...
Looking ahead, former President Bill Clinton
is in talks again to host his own show, according to The New York Times. The difference this time around: CBS
is on the other side of the table. Over the spring and summer, Clinton had met with NBC. …
Looking back and ahead, a half-hour music video featuring KISS
and the cast of That '70s Show
will air on VH1 Aug. 30. After its cable play, the special, produced by Carsey-Werner
as part of a promo for the show, is being offered to stations as a kick-off to the Sept. 16 launch of the That '70s Show
in syndication on more than 200 stations.
Telemundo to the hoop
NBC
may have dropped the ball on NBA
coverage, but its co-owned network, Telemundo, hasn't. The network has signed a deal to air NBA and WNBA
games in Spanish. The three-season pact also includes a weekly highlight show. Telemundo will air 15 NBA games and 10 WNBA games.
Let's get series
The National Geographic Channel
is adding six series this fall. Three Monday-night shows debut Sept. 30: Dogs With Jobs, offbeat stories of working canines; Phobia, causes and cures; and Taboo, rituals of different cultures. Two Thursday-night series debut Oct. 3: Nature's Nightmares, bats and sewer rats; Built for the Kill, about nature's predators. Surviving West Point, a behind-the-scenes look at a year at the academy debuts Saturday, Oct. 5. …
Leave the tears and fears to Lifetime; Oxygen
is going for the funnybone with two Sunday-night comedies debuting Sunday, Sept. 22. Half-hour O2Be,
from Comedy Central Daily Show
alums Lizz Winstead
and Brian Unger, is billed as a satire of morning TV and parodies self-help, fashion and relationship advice. Girls Behaving Badly
is a Candid Camera-style sketch comedy with a cast of female comics.
CLARIFICATION
Eric Frankel, president of Warner Bros.
domestic cable distribution, administers the rights to a cable and satellite program library of more than 5,000 films, 750 series and 560 TV movies, as the Aug. 19 Fifth Estater profile pointed out. But the article may have left the incorrect impression that that is the size of Warner Bros.' entire library, which comprises more than 6,500 films, 36,000 TV titles and 14,000 animated titles.
