Couch Critic, And Mother of Rick Kaplan, Hazel Kaplan, Dies

From the Chicago Tribune‘s Phil Rosenthal:

Hazel Kaplan, the mother of “CBS Evening News” executive producer Rick Kaplan, died over the weekend. She was 90.

Even if you didn’t encounter her during her days as an area real-estate agent, you might remember her from a February column I wrote.

Ms. Kaplan called then-WBBM boss Joe Ahern to complain after Channel 2 pre-empted “The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric” for expanded coverage to the shootings at Northern Illinois University.

“You have ratings trouble. You know why? It’s because viewers are tuning in to see Rikki’s show at 5:30 and they don’t see it there,” she said, according to Ahern, who noted that he “didn’t want to tell her it’s actually Katie’s show.”