​INFO JUNKIE: SCOOP SCORER

May 29, 2006

 

As president of Chicago Sport and Social Clubs Inc., Jason Erkes, 36, has a surprising hole in his reading list: “I’ve never sat down and read an entire sports magazine or sports section in my life.” The former political reporter remains hooked on news. His list: While still in bed: “Today” on NBC, although Katie Couric’s departure casts a shadow. “She’s part of the fun in the morning.”

I go straight to the gossip and politics and entertainment” in the Sun-Times, including columnists Michael Sneed, Stella Foster and Bill Zwecker. “The Tribune has basically eliminated those (types of) columns.”

Breaking news e-mails from CNN.com, MSNBC.com and NBC5.com. “I’m usually shouting out of my office: ‘Hey, did you hear they’re bombing . . .’ wherever. The reporter is still in me.”

“I subscribe to the theory that all politics is local.” Hence: Time Out Chicago, Chicago Scene, Chicago Magazine, CS. He recently started writing a fitness column for Today’s Chicago Woman.

E-mails from DailyCandy.com touting new consumer tchotchkes: a designer dress, handmade peanut butters, caffeinated lip balm. “It’s geared toward women, but it tells you something new, some style or trend.”

CoolerEmail.com: “I read stories about what the trends are in e-mail marketing and open-rates and when the best times to contact people are — because pretty much everything we do is e-mail based.”

Books, rarely. “My mind is always going fast, and when I sit down to read a book, I tend to read the same chapter over and over and over again.”

By Dan Weissmann