Lewis Lazare: WFLD - Robert Feder

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: By Lewis Lazare : Media & Marketing Columnist : Dec 10, 2010 02:06AM : Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32 is in negotiations to bring back meteorologist Tammie Souza, sources said. Souza previously worked at WFLD under former general manager Pat Mullen. Souza also was a weekend weather reporter at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 prior to joining Channel 32. Souza is now the chief meteorologist at WTSP-Channel 10 in Tampa, Fla. : WFLD needs more bodies in its weather department. Amy Freeze is the lead weather reporter. Bill Bellis will join the WFLD weather team in late February. : The station also has renewed general assignment reporter Darlene Hill’s contract. Hill became a star at WFLD when she managed to obtain a copy of a video of the brutal beating of student Derrion Albert. Hill was the lead reporter on the Albert story, and she was instrumental in helping WFLD win a prestigious George Peabody Award for its coverage. : The station confirmed that special projects reporter Mark Saxenmeyer will leave WFLD late this month after a 17-year run. His contract was not renewed. : The ongoing flux in WFLD’s news department ranks and the absence of any major lift in the news ratings continue to unnerve more than a few people who still work there. A closed-door meeting early Thursday of WFLD general manager Michael Renda and news director Carol Fowler with Dennis Swanson, the executive who oversees all Fox-owned TV stations, prompted another wave of speculation about what might happen next. Knowledgeable sources close to developments said the meeting was called to discuss the revamp of the station’s news programming. : Feder moves to Time Out : Former Sun-Times radio and television columnist Robert Feder is joining the Chicago Time Out organization Jan. 3. Feder will have the title “media critic” and will pen a daily blog on the company’s website. Feder also will have a presence in the company’s weekly magazine that covers the broad cultural and entertainment scene in Chicago and includes copious listings of events. “We’re still working out exactly what his column will look like in the magazine,” said Time Out editor in chief Frank Sennett, who indicated Feder’s print column might include the best nuggets from a week’s worth of blog postings. : For the past year Feder wrote a daily blog that appeared on the Vocalo.org.

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