Just as it provided more evidence of its important role in covering the Arab World, Al Jazeera – with the first video of dead Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddhafi – the international news outlet took another step toward reaching American TV viewers.
Chicago's main public TV outlet, WTTW-TV, has picked up new programming from the Qatar-based news outlet starting Oct. 31, starting with a weekend half hour on WTTW's Channel 11 and weeknights on its main digital channel.
Al Jazeera's English service has been a leader in covering the "Arab Spring" of uprisings that have hit the Arab world. But for
Al Jazeera's live news feed is easily available on-line through its website and through an iPad app. But it deserves wider exposure on more traditional outlets.
Naima and her mom: If you've been around Milwaukee for a while and your musical tastes skewed toward jazz, you may be more acquainted with Adekola Adedapo – at least until her equally talented daughter, Naima Adedapo made it to the finals on the last round of Fox's "American Idol."
Now that Naima's free from her "Idol" duties, she joining her mom at 6 p.m. at the University of Milwaukee's Zelazo Center Theater, 2419 E. Kenwood Blvd. for a benefit concert of jazz and reggae to help out high school students who wish to study jazz, and the Ko-Thi Dance Company.
Here's where to find ticket information ($10 for students, $25 for adults).
On TV: The latest "carriage" dispute involves DirecTV subscribers, who could lose Fox channels, both local and national, if an agreement is not reached over a financial deal by Nov. 1. As usual, expect this to be wrapped up before anybody loses any channels.
- The good news is that the season finale of "Jersey Shore" ended up down in the ratings by two million from the season opener and 13 percent lower than last year's season finale, according to Nielsen Media Research numbers. Some 6.6 million people tuned in to see the last episode from Italy.
- Now that his cable show, TNT's "Memphis Beat," is done, Jason Lee tells EOnline he wants to do a "My Name is Earl" big screen movie.
- Veteran CBS News correspondent Robert Pierpoint has died at the age of 86, from complications following hip surgery. He spent 40 years from the network, starting with reports from the Korean War for Edward R. Murrow's "See it Now." Here's CBS' story on his career.
- Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, best known for his marital indiscretions, has been signed by Fox News Channel as a commentator.
The final return of "Chuck": NBC's "Chuck" returns to the lineup at 7 p.m. Friday on Channel 4 for what's supposed to be its final season, and the network is offering this extended update/promo to get your ready:
Tim Cuprisin is the media columnist for OnMilwaukee.com. He's been a journalist for 30 years, starting in 1979 as a police reporter at the old City News Bureau of Chicago, a legendary wire service that's the reputed source of the journalistic maxim "if your mother says she loves you, check it out." He spent a couple years in the mean streets of his native Chicago, and then moved on to the Green Bay Press-Gazette and USA Today, before coming to the Milwaukee Journal in 1986.
A general assignment reporter, Cuprisin traveled Eastern Europe on several projects, starting with a look at Poland after five years of martial law, and a tour of six countries in the region after the Berlin Wall opened and Communism fell. He spent six weeks traversing the lands of the former Yugoslavia in 1994, linking Milwaukee Serbs, Croats and Bosnians with their war-torn homeland.
In the fall of 1994, a lifetime of serious television viewing earned him a daily column in the Milwaukee Journal (and, later the Journal Sentinel) focusing on TV and radio. For 15 years, he has chronicled the changes rocking broadcasting, both nationally and in Milwaukee, an effort he continues at OnMilwaukee.com.
When he's not watching TV, Cuprisin enjoys tending to his vegetable garden in the backyard of his home in Whitefish Bay, cooking and traveling.
