The program, described by Ch. 2 chief Bruno Cohen as a, “sports and business information program,” is clearly a work in progress, but some of the program’s fundamental flaws emerged on day one.

Jiggetts acts as the maestro of this misfit orchestra, trying to direct the flow of the conversation, launching new topics, and handing off to Carlson and Kleist for the information elements. Unfortunately, as affable as Jiggetts may be, he lacks the gravitas to effectively wrangle the personalities seated around the table. All too often, North would chime in at inopportune times, clearly derailing the program’s flow. The role of moderator would be better handled by a veteran TV broadcaster who has experience handling this type of situation.

In many respects, North has been the show’s selling point since its inception. The boisterous former sports jock apparently didn’t learn his lesson when he tried to expand his intellectual portfolio on The Score. North can talk sports with the best of them, but once he steps out of those bounds, he gets lost. It came off as creepy when North began ogling Beyoncé during the Grammy re-cap portion of this morning’s show.

Both Savage and Hegedus seem a little shell-shocked by their participation in their gabfest. When called upon to offer their expertise on financial topics, they both performed admirably. It was the transitions to each of them that continued to sound forced and contrived. It’s hard for North and Jiggetts to feign any interest the Dow Jones or foreign markets.

Carlson seemed a little too enthusiastic to be a part of the show, which can probably be expected for the first day. However, Carlson will, in many ways, need to act as the glue that holds the whole thing together, since she has the most television news experience.

Perhaps the worst part of the new show is the aesthetics. Much had been made of the elaborate set built at Ch. 2’s new studios for the show. The cast sits around an enormous seven-foot table, painted to resemble a dart board. A rotating “Monster Cam” has been dropped in the center of the table, and it spins around during the show for strange, low-angle shots of the show’s participants. This rotating camera looks odd in just about every shot, as it protrudes from the center of the table like some kind of weird retro sci-fi set piece. Its presence requires that all the other shots have to be too tight in order to crop it out, which means that just about every shot is an uncomfortable close-up.

It’s also worth nothing that the shows graphics are all green, rather than the traditional CBS 2 blue. I guess this is because green is the color money … and monsters.

It was clear today that the show’s crew was woefully unprepared for the freewheeling nature of the format, as too many times the wrong camera was on the air or Carlson didn’t have her copy loaded into the teleprompter or mics weren’t properly mixed.

After one day, the jury is still out on both the concept and the execution of “Monsters & Money in the Morning.” The concept may be viable with the right participants and the right production values, but it’s still too early to tell if any of those pieces are in place.

Phil Rosenthal offers a more generous review — and running commentary — of the show’s first day here.

Rob Feder also gives the show a lot more credit than I do.

This move, along with the Blackhawks’ deal with WGN-TV, signals a marked change in direction for hockey broadcasting in Chicago. For decades, the Hawks blacked out all home games, greatly limiting the exposure of its product to an otherwise hockey-friendly town. The Wolves have enjoyed quite a bit of success on and off the ice in the past few seasons, and this deal will undoubtedly bolster the team’s profile.

For a complete list of which games will be aired on WPWR-TV, click here.

Imagine, then, how awkward it could be if Coppock sat down on the WGN-TV set and came face-to-face with Tomasulo. Well, that’s exactly what happened today. It was clearly an awkward moment for Tomasulo, who wasn’t quite sure how to handle Coppock, who did his best to soften his criticism.

Tomasulo blogs about the experience here.

Sirott’s contract reportedly promised a substantial pay increase with his promotion— a stipulation clearly written in a different economic climate. The station simply could not afford the bump that Sirott would require to take the promotion, and Sirott was unwilling to come to terms with new economic realities facing television and radio stations.

In a memo to staffers, station manager and VP of news Frank Whittaker announced Sirott’s departure.

Rosenthal reports in the Trib here. Lazre has the story for the Sun-Times here.

Ch. 5 will use a rotating cast of anchors alongside Allison Rosati until a permanent replacement can be found. According to Rosenthal:

The station may also consider a solo-anchor format at 10 p.m., as CBS-owned WBBM-Ch. 2 has done recently with Rob Johnson.

There isn’t a worse idea than this one. While Rosati has been a durable fixture on the 10pm newscast, she doesn’t possess the type of gravitas that viewers expect from their 10pm anchors. She fit well with Saunders, but she would be completely out of her league as a solo anchor.

Meanwhile, Sirott’s future is uncertain. He is scheduled to take a vacation from his radio gig on WGN-AM until July 1. There had been some speculation that his noontime radio show would disappear once he took over the 10pm anchor duties on Ch. 5. With all of the shake-ups at WGN, it wouldn’t be a surprise to hear that Sirott would be the odd man out in that station’s ongoing re-shuffling.

Sirott’s long broadcasting pedigree in Chicago includes three stints at WMAQ-TV, starting as a page in 1966, while still a high school student. He’s also well-known for his time at WLS-AM during the 1970’s. He jumped to WBBM-TV and CBS’ West 57th before a second stint at Ch.5. He also hosted FOX Thing in the Morning on WFLD-TV in the 1990s. More recently, Sirott hosted Chicago Tonight on WTTW-TV before jumping back to Ch. 5.

It comes as something of a surprise that WMAQ execs weren’t better prepared for the inevitable transition once Saunders finally called it quits. Stations have been wrestling with declining revenue for months now, and no one should have expected Sirott to accept a haircut after being promised otherwise. His departure leaves a clear vacuum on the 10pm newscast that will likely persist for the short-term.

Part of the strategy is to capture viewers who might not normally watch television in the morning by providing a slimmed down version at night. The natural consequence would be that those same viewers would likely leave their TVs tuned to Comcast SportsNet the following morning, potentially greatly expanding the reach of the program.

The move coincides with the launch for ChicagoSportsWebio.com — North’s new online radio venture that simulcasts the “Monsters” show, a will feature a full line-up of sports talkers when it expands on April 6.

Cohen hired Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. to find sublease tenants. And he struck a deal with Flashpoint Academy, a school for digital film production, to have partial use of the station’s Studio B, which isn’t visible to the public.

David Matthews, executive vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle, said the two studios, each about 5,000 square feet, are drawing interest because of the specialized nature of the spaces. He said CBS also wants to sublease 10,000 square feet of orthodox office space on the building’s fifth floor.

“To the extent that somebody wants Studio A, we’re all ears,” he said.

Ch. 2 was late to the game when they proposed and built their street-level studio under the guidance of former general manager Joe Ahern. Both Ch. 5 and Ch. 7 already had their studios operational, and in the case of Ch. 7, at least, the studio was being used more more effectively.

When Ch. 2 left its old facility, they put together this piece that details some of the history of the old building:

To promote the move to the new facility, here’s a promo that station produced:

And here’s the final sign-off from Ch. 2’s morning news from the old building at McClurg Court.

In a prepared speech that left his colleagues stunned, Saunders painted Feder as a racist, claiming that Feder, “diminished the accomplishments of black talent while placing the spotlight on our deficiencies,” according to multiple sources present at the meeting.

Saunders went on to note that honoring Feder at the meeting during Black History Month was like inviting David Duke to, “serve as mohel at a circumcision.”

Saunders offered up a list of examples that he claimed demonstrated that Feder systematically targeted African-American media personalities for their perceived deficiencies. That list included names such as Lester Holt, Felicia Middlebrooks, and Diann Burns.

With his long television career coming to a close later this year, it’s clear that Saunders felt that this was his best opportunity to air his grievances with one of his biggest public critics.

It’s hard to know exactly what is going on inside of Saunders’ head. Maybe he sees the end of his career looming and felt like he needed to right a wrong. Maybe he felt like the honor that Feder was receiving shouldn’t have been given. Maybe he genuinely feels that Feder’s coverage had been unfair.

Regardless of Saunders’ state of mind, it was incredibly in appropriate for a man of his position and stature to behave like he did. His remarks were clearly premeditated. He timed his tirade to coincide with a meeting that would include dozens of prominent Chicago media personalities. He was trying humiliate Feder.

For someone as respected as Saunders, this kind of attack seems not only out of character but also completely misplaced. There may be a time and place to unleash your frustrations. A meeting of a broadcast union is not that time or place.

Did Saunders ever call Feder and share his sentiments about Feder’s coverage? Did Saunders ever talk with his fellow broadcasters and make an effort to check his feelings? Does Saunders realize that any criticism directed at him from Feder was not exclusive. During his decades of work at the Sun-Times, Feder was certainly an equal opportunity critic.

Just ask Steve Dahl, Jim Pastor, Joe Ahern, the Hollander brothers, Rover, Jay Mariotti — all white guys — about what it’s like to be on the business end of a scathing Feder column.

Saunders might not have liked the fact that, at times, Feder went after him or Middlebrooks or Burns. But in each of those instances, Feder’s criticism was warranted. In Saunders’ case, Feder pointed out, repeatedly, that the lead anchor of the NBC affiliates 10pm newscast was, essentially, AWOL for long stretches, with no explanation. Saunders was too prideful to cop to the fact that he was struggling with vocal chord problems. Instead, he’d disappear for weeks at a time, with no explanation. All along, Saunders left his television station and his colleagues in the lurch, just ask Mark Suppelsa, who should have ascended to the 10pm anchor chair in 2002 but was stuck behind the arrogant and increasingly incompetent.

Perhaps Saunders should have spent less time reading his news clippings and more time watching his doddering, incoherent, stumbling delivery on the Ch. 5’s newscasts.

UPDATE: Here’s the audio from Feder talking with Mancow & Cassidy on WLS (hat tip)

Rosenthal has details in the Trib:

“I realized I had to get back into this,” said Fowler, who on Tuesday was named vice president and news director of Fox-owned WFLD-Ch. 32. “It was excruciating not to be involved, covering the story, because it was such a good story.”

Fowler referred to the arrest of Gov. Balgojevich as a motivating factor that propelled her back into the TV news game. It didn’t hurt that WFLD’s new director Andrew Finlayson decided to move on to other challenges within the company.

Fowler has a long track record in Chicago news, having spent time at WLS-TV and WGN-TV before her most recent stint at Ch. 2.

Many challenges await Fowler in her new role at FOX Chicago, including the challenge of remaking her image. Many staffers at Ch. 2 openly celebrated upon her departure, as she was not well-liked among her subordinates. In addition, Ch. 32’s news products, while showing some promise, have continued to lag behind the competition, despite a wealth of talent and a powerful news brand.

Reaction to the move has been muted, as indicated by comments like these, from Ternce Henderson on his blog:

This move is a questionable one as Fowler is liable in a still-pending lawsuit filed by Amy Jacobson, who was caught at the Stebic house in 2007 in videotape shot by WBBM. Fowler couldn’t improve ratings at WBBM, so what makes anyone think she can improve the news ratings at WFLD?

Just days before he was set to close the book on an impressive career by covering President Obama’s inauguration, Shaw told the Trib’s Phil Rosenthal that he’s not sure he’s ready to walk away:

“I don’t think I understood the visceral impact of [Barack Obama's] election,” said Shaw, 60, who joined WLS in 1983 after stints at WMAQ-Ch. 5, the Chicago Sun-Times and City News. “Secondly, who ever anticipated the governor being raided by the FBI? It recharged my batteries in a way I hadn’t expected.”

Shaw went on to say that the recent economic crisis has affected his retirement accounts and the value of the North Side home that he and his wife also operate as a bed-and-breakfast. Those factors combined with a political landscape that all of a sudden looks a lot more appealing have caused Shaw to reconsider his decision. But his ambivalence puts WLS-TV Ch. 7 in a tough spot.

WLS last month formally announced Shaw’s retirement and named general assignment veteran Thomas his successor. It threw a farewell party for him last week before he left for D.C.

“We have not closed the door at Channel 7 on a continuing role, but I think Emily and Jennifer and Andy Shaw, we went through a lot of back-and-forth on this,” Shaw said. “They have suffered my Hamlet-esque ambivalence about: Am I staying, am I going, blah, blah, blah. All of us need a break from that. . . . Then after I’m gone a few weeks, when I come back [from Florida and Colombia], who knows where everybody will be?”

Shaw is the Chicago market at a time when opportunities like the ones he’s had for the duration of his career are hard to find. There will certainly not be a permanent role for him at Ch.7, and it’s unlikely that he’ll be able to land a full-time position at any of the local radio stations or newspapers, who are having a tougher time in the current economy than TV stations.

Here’s one of those moments during his career that Andy Shaw certainly wishes no one would remember: