Posted by chicagomedia.org on February 11, 2009 at 11:35:08:
TV's Mark Suppelsa connects to 5,000 friends on Facebook
By William Hageman | Tribune reporter
February 11, 2009
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When Mark Suppelsa joined "The Eric & Kathy Show" on WTMX-FM 101.9 last fall, the radio hosts encouraged him to get on Facebook.
He reluctantly agreed. Now they can't get him off it.
His Facebook account has 5,000 friends -- the limit for the type of account he has -- and he has nearly 2,500 people waiting. (Facebook charges for a higher friend limit.) In the beginning, they were all from the morning radio show. But he has been using Facebook to lure some friends to his other gig, as co-anchor on WGN-Ch. 9's 5:30 and 9 p.m. newscasts.
"I started to promote us on my status line. 'Radio's over, see you on TV,' " Suppelsa said. He's constantly updating his status line and communicating with his friends -- not only while on the radio, but also during his newscasts on WGN.
"I keep it fairly light," he says. "If we're doing something like Blagojevich, I might ask a question. Or 'Here comes Tom Skilling. He's got a lot of makeup on his coat. Dust him off!' "
The night before, he said, co-anchor Allison Payne had dropped her makeup basket and it made a loud noise during the telecast. Immediately, he heard from one of his Facebook friends: "What broke?"
Suppelsa says he avoids other Facebook sites, such as "I Want to Marry Mark Suppelsa." When he's off the air, he says, he shuts Facebook down "because it is work."