Love Dave, Mary with the news and the camaraderie. Same too bill and Wendy, trump haters, Agree. [16], In 1939, Carole Mathews, the "Miss Chicago" of 1938, launched a WGN radio program entitled Breakfast Time with Carole Mathews. -. The station will also launch a limited-edition centennial beer dubbed Chicagos Very Own golden lager, which will be available beginning Friday at Metropolitan Brewing in Chicago and at other retailers. However, his run-ins with WGN management makes them feel his antics werent worth it. WGN Radio personality Bob Sirott sat down with Samuelson for a trip down memory lane. At the Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival, you will find a palate-dazzling smorgasbord of cuisines and cocktails in which to indulge. Lisa Dent, who's been a popular Chicago radio personality for two decades, will sign on as Monday-through-Friday afternoon host at WGN 720-AM in the new year. Here's WGN's weekday lineup, starting January 3: 4 to 6 a.m. WGN-TV simulcast Glad Steve C is gone. If they would smarten up and get rid of him I just might start listening again. Morning producer Mary Boyle was appointed General Manager of the station after former Station Manager Todd Manley was terminated on the first day of Nextar's takeover. In a week filled with numerous Chicago media changes, heres another one and this turns out to be the biggest one of them all. I absolutely loved Biff left and Wendy Snyder..both so very smart, informative and clever.funny so I dont get at all Anna devlontes(boring because tries to hard and missing the clever funny and synicale flare) getting in with less of these qualities!!? Local hosts on WGN include morning host Bob Sirott along with John Williams, Lisa Dent, John Records Landecker, Rollye James and Dave Plier. This 50 watt transmitter was built up from component parts by station engineers and was moved over to the Drake Hotel at the latter part of 1922. Not only did the station have all of the front-line talent that was really world class, we had the Cubs and the Bears and two helicopters and an in-house weather guy, and on and on and on, said Fabian. And thats all you hear all morning which is why I left. During the "Golden Age of Radio," Mutual was the home of The Lone Ranger, The Adventures of Superman and The Shadow. But in recent years, it has added some nationally syndicated talk shows at night. Jonathan Brandmeier and Garry Meier were released and their programs canceled immediately, with repeat shows airing through the end of December. The station is profitable, she said, but declined to disclose revenue. WGN Radio picks up White Sox", "New Owner Close At Hand For Chicago's WGN Radio", "Nexstar CEO expects WGN will team with other Illinois stations", "ABC News Pres. Agree with canning Cochrane. Allen, Bernie - Retired from radio, living in Chicago. Happy Bob is back and working solo. Compton worked for Clear Channel Radio under Randy Michaels and made the transition with him to Tribune when Sam Zell bought the company in 2007. Phillips, Collins and Leonard have all moved on to that radio booth in the sky, and the Cubs pulled up stakes for CBS Radio and their new home at the Score nearly a decade ago. Elliott Jenkins, left, and Thorne Donnelly, right, are the original owners of WDAP, the predecessor to WGN radio. He got what he deserved! Conn joined WGN as afternoon host in 2015 after 25 years at Cumulus Media news/talk WLS 890-AM. WGN is a commercial AM radio station in Chicago, Illinois, with studios on the 18th floor of 303 East Wacker Drive in the Chicago Loop. WGN still conducts itself as if it were the Voice of Chicago, as if it were the station of record. The station also streams its programming on its website and supplies podcasts as well. [9] In 1926, WGN broadcast Sam & Henry, a daily serial with comic elements created and performed by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll. And nobody else could come close to having as much of that stuff as we had.. I have to say that I am very disappointed in this move. I suppose Sirott doesnt feel the same way because if he did, he wouldnt have signed a deal so he can get up at 3 a.m. every day to do a morning show. Did the Blackhawks get enough for Patrick Kane? Just because someone new comes in doesnt mean they have to change things. TV Shows. WGN ranks 11th in Chicago with a 3.1 share in April, according to the most recent Nielsen ratings. The transaction and concurring privatization of the company was completed upon termination of Tribune stock at the close of trading on December 20, 2007. Robservations: Bertrand, Landecker round out new WGN Radio lineup, My childhood dream became the honor of a lifetime, Robservations: Sun-Times moving to Old Post Office; ABC 7 opens weekend anchor slot; Medill tracks local news decline, Robservations: StreetWise raises cover price; Sventoonie takes a break; Friends of Chicago Reporter mark 50. He sounded lost and confused. Glad Steve C is gone. [44], On April 1, 2007, Chicago-based real estate investor Sam Zell announced plans to purchase the Tribune Company in an $8.2-billion leveraged buyout that gave Tribune employees stock and effective ownership of the company. Chicago media message boards exploded with traffic and posts, many excited over a possible permanent Meier presence on the station. What I don't understand, though, is why they so seldom give ousted personalities the chance to say goodbye and thanks to their listeners. It had to be somebody who was in the moment and who got the fact of what we were doing, Fabian said. I agree with you completely AND your mother! Now you can get anything you want, anytime you want, anywhere you want and you dont have to wait for radio or television to do it for you. How long can you hear about Ross, Abigail, and the same ol s Nobody cares. Wallace M Rogerson conducted the Keep Fit to Music programme. I never could understand why WGN put him on the air so he could promote his mortgage business disguised as giving advice to people. Fabian, who hired morning drive successors Collins and ODell, said the key to success at WGN was not necessarily a big voice. Cochran becomes the highest-rated host to be canned in Chicago radio in years; in 2007, Howard McGee was released from WGCI despite finishing first in adults 18-34 in morning drive and was replaced by Steve Harveys syndicated morning show (McGee has since returned to Chicago radio in a weekend/fill-in role at WVAZ-FM, WGCIs sister station.). Still like Roes insanity on the drive home. SHARE. Boyle said the decision was out of our hands and predated her tenure at the top, but she bears no ill will toward the team or WSCR-AM 670, the successor play-by-play station. Franklyn MacCormack (birth name was Franklin H. McCormick) was born March 8, 1906, in Waterloo, Iowa and became an outstanding American radio personality from the 1930s into the 1970s . This is and has been a good /great organization other than the takeover by Sam Zell (What a horror). OMG hope its Bob & Marianne Overnight hosts Steve King and Johnnie Putman left WGN on December 9 after a week-long series of live "Farewell Celebration" shows. I really miss,Nkck Digilio. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. John Williams (including the Wintrust Business Lunch at noon) Over the last decade, his Miller. I listen every morning while driving to work from 5:30 to 7am and had to change to a another station as his comments did NOT Make my day as a Customer Service Manager. If us older generation folks are tuning out, just what listeners are you catering to? [18] In July 1941, WGN was given tentative permission to operate FM station W59C[19] on 45.9 MHz,[20] pending the outcome of an FCC review whether newspaper ownership of radio stations should be restricted. The decision to replace Cochran with Sirott stunned many local media observers, given Cochran finished third in the all-important morning drive daypart in the last Nielsen PPM report. In the fall of 1937, WGN was one of several Chicago radio stations to donate airtime to Chicago Public Schools for a pioneering program in which the school district provided elementary school students with distance education amid a polio outbreak-related school closure. Steve Cochrans firing was the last straw. Cochran was re-hired in 2013 for morning drive after spending a few years at Salems WIND-AM. John Williams pulls us in to listen. The disc jockey became important in Chicago radio during the 1930s, well before the term "disc jockey" was coined in the 1940s. Larry Wert has said he has not decided on naming a successor to DeCastro, so for now the sales and programming operations will report directly to Wert. In 2008, Kevin Metheny was hired by then Tribune CEO Randy Michaels as program director at WGN-AM 720 and charged with shaking up a Chicago radio institution and expanding its still large but aging audience. In black-appeal radio, the disc jockey role was pioneered both locally and nationally by Jack L. Cooper, who began playing . brick (/brik/) verb. Above: A few of the WGN Radio Newsroom reporters (I to r) Steve Bertrand, Dave Stewart, Rod Sierra and Wes Bleed. The Nexstar Media news/talk station announced the move Thursday as part of a new weekday lineup starting January 3. [65], Tribune Media was acquired by Nexstar Media Group for $4.1 billion in September 2019, marking the first time since 1924 that WGN radio would not be owned by any iteration of the Tribune Company. Dee Dee Myers (former White House Press Secretary; now a political commentator for MSNBC) Rob Reynolds (now a correspondent for Al Jazeera English) Al Roker (now weatherman for the Today show on NBC) Marci Rossell (was contributor for Squawk Box until she left CNBC in 2003) Carol Roth (Closing Bell, host of The Noon Show on WGN Radio) Text is available under the Creative Commons . This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Cochran has also been employed at the former WPNT and WLUP-AM. WGN Radio is commemorating its anniversary with a TV documentary airing at 7 p.m. Thursday on sister station WGN-Ch. Given Cochran had a solid track record and WGN ranked third in mornings, replacing him with Sirott doesnt make sense. You get the news, but its all about the plus and the plus is personality, the plus is fun, the plus is lets talk about this issue a little bit, Sirott said. What the hell is wrong with WGN? In 1961, the WGN radio and television stations moved to a studio facility on West Bradley Place in the North Center neighborhood, a move undertaken for civil defense concerns in order to provide the station a safe base to broadcast in case of a hostile attack targeting downtown Chicago. Like Cochran, Sirotts resume is quite long an alum of WLS during its Musicradio era and WBBM-FM during its progressive rock era and worked for four local television stations in a variety of roles and a stint as a correspondent for CBS West 57th newsmagaine in the mid-1980s. [59] On May 21, WGN Radio announced that their schedule would change again effective May 27, 2014, which includes the return of John Williams to the airwaves of WGN Radio that he will pretty much do the show live from Minneapolis, while still doing his afternoon show on WCCO 830. While Brandmeier was reportedly not under contract with Tribune Media at the time of his release, Meier's contract with Tribune continued through September 2015. Veteran Chicago News Anchor Bill Kurtis was replaced in his role as voiceover talent by New York based voiceover artist Steve Kamer. Still crying about Wendy & Bill! Over many decades, WGN was a "full service" radio station. Prior to the sale's closure, WGN-TV was one of two commercial television stations in the Chicago market, not counting network-owned stations, to have never been involved in an ownership transaction (along with WCIU-TV, which has been owned by Weigel Broadcasting since its February 1964 sign-on). For the 2018 and 2019 seasons, WGN was the flagship station for the Major League Baseball Chicago White Sox. He said he plans to focus on The Content Factory, his Evanston-based national syndication and new media company, and to expand into the area of sports representation. As first reported by Robert Feder Friday morning, WGN-AM morning personality Steve Cochran was dropped from the station and replaced by a returning Bob Sirott, wholl take over January 6. Age discrimination MUST be eliminated and a person recognized for their TALENT up beat , and positive so refreshing at this stressful time. After all, success in radio is based on building and maintaining connections between hosts and the audience. The station gained some early listeners, including Chicago Tribune publisher Col. Robert McCormick, who wrote to his mother, you cannot help being thrilled at the little box that picks sounds from the air, according to a WGN history published by the station in 1961. [65] WLS 890 AM previously had the contract to carry the White Sox, but its parent company, Cumulus Media, ran into financial problems and gave up the rights to White Sox broadcasts. One major issue was Cochran not coming to work on time and starting late for his show. I listened to Sirrot back in the 70s, didnt like him then, and again when he filled in last week on WGN. The Nexstar Media news/talk station announced the move Thursday as part of a new weekday lineup starting January 3. And yesthe ever present I am right and you are wrong my way or nothing, THE last wordALWAYSand the continuous bashing of the current administrationWAY TOO POLITICAL for a morning drive personality Age: 58. Bring back Bill & Wendy! [11] WTAS was deleted,[12] and the other two stations were merged with a dual call letter assignment of WGN-WLIB, although the latter call sign would be rarely if ever used. Other initiatives that did not fare well included The Game, WGNs short-lived foray into FM sports talk radio, which lasted less than a year in 2014. Please Dont bring Sirott back! Steve Bertrand has always been committed to reporting the news in a fair and thoughtful way. Out effective immediately is afternoon personality Roe Conn, whose contract runs through the end of the year. Last edited on 22 February 2023, at 02:08, Sousa Archives and Center for American Music, University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, "Double Call Letters Are Being Eliminated", "Chicago Tribune - Historical Newspapers", "Perspective | In Chicago, schools closed during a 1937 polio epidemic and kids learned from home over the radio", "Actions of the Federal Communications Commission: Decisions. At their best, these connections come to feel personal, almost like a friendship. Those plaques have since been distributed to families of the honorees, winding up in closets and gardens across the city. Weekend hosts Jerry Agar and the "News Junkie" Sean Wasson left the station, in a shift towards more general and less controversial talk programming. It was granted the sequentially issued call letters WDAP to Mid West Radio Central, Inc. in Chicago. Chicago, IL . [10], By the fall of 1928, the owners of the Tribune company and its sister publication, Liberty magazine, controlled two stations in addition to WGN in the Chicago area: WLIB and WTAS. Maybe he did some good things but good grief who needed it when you had to listen to him! The Best Talk Show Hosts Of Daytime, Late Night, and All Time. Following the 2014 season, Cubs radio broadcasts moved to 780 AM WBBM.[69]. Dont need the negativity heading into work. Clarence Dittman, and WGN radio announcer Jack Brickhouse broadcast from the Chicago airport tarmac in 1942. In the spring of 1986, as Phillips was ceding the morning show to Collins after nearly 20 years, he still had a 15.7 audience share, nearly double the nearest competitor. Hope its soon! I was happy for Pete that he would get a morning show, but I had this bad feeling it was a bad move/risk/ Mornings as we know are a very competitive and no offense to 97.1 The Drive or its listeners, but its a music station for people that like type/genre of music. Required fields are marked *. Column: No one is in custody is an unfortunately overused phrase that should be banished, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. Dark day for WGN. A lot of companies, they have heritage stations, but they dont necessarily put a lot of value on that history, Harrison said. Radio Ink. Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, a radio trade publication, called WGN a national treasure among radio stations for embracing its heritage, something most other legacy radio stations have long since abandoned. 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