WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

Are some people really trying to make a federal case out of Oprah Winfrey's retirement? Believe it or not, the subject came up this week at a hearing of the Federal Trade Commission in Washington.

To say that WBBM-Channel 2 has nothing to lose by flushing its morning show down the toilet is an understatement. Last month the CBS-owned station averaged a paltry 0.8 rating from 5 to 7 a.m. weekdays.

In a world where radio stations air Christmas tunes around the clock from Halloween to New Year's, can you imagine a full-time channel playing nothing but Hanukkah music?

As far as I'm concerned, the Loop hasn't been a real Chicago radio station since last March. That's when Emmis Communications, owner of classic rock WLUP-FM (97.9), fired most of the people who had any brains and outsourced all programming, imaging and branding functions to St. Louis.

I never imagined that something I wrote would cause a painful public rift between two of Chicago's most prominent media luminaries (who also happen to be two of the colleagues I respect and admire most in the world).

This just in: Jonathon Brandmeier, one of the last of Chicago radio's million-dollar superstars, is signing off at the Loop. After four years this time around as morning personality at classic rock WLUP-FM (97.9), Brandmeier is expected to part company with the Emmis Communications station.

With a tip of the hat to legendary broadcaster and all-around great guy Roy Leonard, whose Turkey of the Year Awards were a Thanksgiving Day tradition for decades, we hereby bestow our Chicago media Turkeys to a cornucopia of worthy recipients:Warner Saunders, just three months shy