Steve Scott's Blog

Hello all. If you check here regularly - or at all - you've probably noticed that I've become pretty lax in updating my blog.

I always wondered if my blog would eventually become the adult version of a kid's holiday gift: You're really excited about it when you first get it...but then, you start to play with it less and less as new stuff comes along...and, eventually, it ends up on a shelf in the closet, where you only see it while reaching for something else.

Well, that's kind of what happened.

Unlike a couple of friends, who have recently deleted their blogs altogether, I have no plans to do that. And, who knows...if you check back here sometime in the near future, you're liable to find a flurry of new posts. But, regular updates - which had become fewer and far between the past month and so - will no longer be a priority.

I hope friends and family will stay in touch with me at steve.e.scott@abc.com (although that email address will likely change in late 2006, when the sale of ABC Radio to Citadel Broadcasting becomes official).

Thanks for checking in...and, please do take a look every now and then. You never know what you may see!

Steve

Goodbye...

Hello...

The deal that had been rumored for months became official today. The Walt Disney Company, parent company of ABC and WLS, has sold ABC Radio to Citadel Broadcasting Corporation.

You can read the story here.

When the deal becomes final later this year, WLS and ABC Radio will no longer be part of Disney. Other Disney broadcasting entities, including ABC News and our current sister station, WLS-TV, will remain with the company. Sadly, it means that WLS-AM and WLS-TV will no longer be sister stations.

I'm very sorry to see WLS lose our association with ABC and Disney. We will remain affiliated with ABC News Radio...even though it's difficult to say if we'll still be sister properties.

In the meantime, we will all continue to just do our jobs.

I'm sure we'll learn more in the weeks and months to come.

Peace Activist Cindy Sheehan arrested at the Capitol, shortly before President Bush's State of the Union Address.

Here's the story.

Federal investigators have released this dramatic photo of the final split second before a twin engine plane crashed Monday night near Palwaukee Airport in Wheeling.

The photo was captured by a security camera at a construction company near the airport. The plane crashed into the company's storage yard and burst into flames. All four people onboard the plane were killed, and the aircraft virtually disintegrated on impact.

The Feds are using this photo - plus eyewitness accounts - to try to determine why the Cessna 421B, which appeared to be on a normal approach to Palwaukee, suddenly spiraled into the ground.

WMAQ-TV (NBC5) has an excellent slideshow, including security camera images immediately before - and immediately after - the plane hit the ground.

Among those killed were Kenneth Knudson, founder of the Sybaris Clubs International resort chain...and, Michael Waugh, a manager at Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab in Chicago.

ABC World News Tonight co-anchor Bob Woodruff and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, have been seriously wounded by an IED (bomb) near Baghdad. As of this writing, both Woodruff and Vogt are out of surgery and in stable condition.

You can get the very latest information here.

No one ever said covering a war was easy...or safe. But, journalists need to be there to serve as the eyes and ears for the rest of the world. Many of you know that I have been working to try to get to Iraq to do stories on Illinois servicemen and women. This incident, while certainly sobering, does not weaken my resolve to try to get over there and spotlight the work our Illinois service personnel are doing.

A quick footnote about the Woodruff/Vogt incident...ironically, Bob Woodruff and his family were close friends with NBC's David Bloom, who died of a blood clot while on assignment in Iraq in 2003.

Congratulations to WLS talk host Eileen Byrne on her engagement to her long-time beau, Jeff.

Eileen and Jeff got engaged over the weekend in Florida.

Both are great people...I wish them many years of happiness!

I don't know what was in the water at the United Center Wednesday night...but the Bulls/Knicks game was one of the strangest I've seen in a long time.

It was like Friday the 13th, New Year's Eve and a full moon...all rolled into one.

First, the Bulls' Chris Duhon - one of the nicest, most mild-mannered guys you'll ever see - gets into a fight with the Knicks' much larger Maurice Taylor. Typical basketball fight...lots of shoving, but no real damage done.

But, the real strange moment came in overtime...when former Bull Antonio Davis jumped onto the scorer's table and directly over me to go into the stands. Davis says he saw his wife being hassled by a man who Davis said had had too much to drink. Again, no real damage was done...but it has brought unwarranted comparisons to that ugly incident in Detroit last season.

All I know is that I suddenly looked up out of the corner of my eye...and here was this huge blue blur jumping over me to get into the stands.

The NBA has very strict rules about players going into the stands...and the officials had no choice but to eject Davis from the game. But if, as he says, he was only trying to protect his wife from some drunk...wouldn't most of us do the same thing? "AD" is one of the classiest players in the NBA...he's not some punk (see Maurice Taylor in top photo) looking for trouble. Davis will likely be fined...and possibly suspended. But there's no comparing what happened here with the Pacers/Pistons brawl in Detroit.

Oh, by the way...the Bulls won the game, 106-104, on a Ben Gordon jumper at the buzzer in overtime.