Media
Media: June 2021 • “Steve King’s Cult 45”
People in Chicago know Steve King for his four–decade run as a radio DJ and talk show host (WLS, WGN), but before his legendary radio career began, he was doing something else entirely. “I was a full-time musician. That was my career in the early ‘60s. Even when I first got into radio (1966), If […]
Media: May 2021 • “Call Him Dash”
First of all, let’s get an explanation of the name. The night jock at WTMX is named Dash. “All my life, when I told people my name,” he explains, “I would say Jordan Gabriel Orman-Weiss. The dash was part of my last name. That’s where the name Dash comes from.” Secondly, Dash is a […]
Media: April 2021
It’s hard to describe everything Jon Hansen brings to Chicago media. He’s really a Jon-of-all-trades, able to shift from television to radio to just about anything else that requires a microphone. First and foremost, he’s one of the stars of the nightly gabfest (6-7 pm), The Jam on WCIU-TV. “It’s your Twitter feed on […]
Media: March 2021
Bob Sirott has been part of the Chicago media landscape now for a half-century. “Geez, don’t remind me,” he says. “Yeah, that’s true. 1971 was the first year on the air at WBBM-FM. First, it was just doing weekends, and fill-ins, and summer stuff, and at the end of the summer, they either rewarded […]
Media: February 2021
Former Partridge Family star Danny Bonaduce had an extremely memorable run on Chicago radio during the mid-90s. Still, since his time here, Danny has done radio in Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and now for the last decade, he’s been the morning man in Seattle at KZOK (102.5FM). “I think this is my longest run […]
Media: January 2021
After twenty-plus high-profile years in radio and television, Melissa Forman is an important part of the Chicago media landscape. “Twenty-plus years?” she responds. “Yikes. It’s going fast. My Dad always said to me: ‘Life is like a roll of toilet paper. In the beginning, it moves slowly, and in the end, it moves very […]
Media: December 2020
2020 was a rough year everywhere, but we lost some of our all-time greatest broadcasters in Chicago. Television greats like Sheldon Cooper (WGN-TV general manager), Lee Phillip Bell (The Lee Phillip Show), Bob Petty (Channel 7/ABC anchor/reporter), Dick Johnson (anchor at Channel 5/NBC), Jerry Taft (longtime Channel 7/ABC weatherman), and Joel Daly (iconic Channel 7/ABC […]
Media: November 2020
When you have already been inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, the National Radio Hall of Fame, and you are featured in the radio wing of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, you might think that there isn’t really anything left to accomplish. But when John Records Landecker recently got […]
Media: October 2020
When Richard Milne was told he was replacing Lin Brehmer as the WXRT morning host in February, he knew the implications. “I’m the 5th ever XRT morning man in 48 years,” he says, ticking off the others: Scott McConnell, Garry Lee Wright, Terri Hemmert, and Lin Brehmer. “I’ve admired all of those people, but I […]
Media: September 2020
Fred Weintraub, co-host of The Hannah & Fred show on WCGO-AM 1590 and executive producer of sports at Weigel Broadcasting (WCIU-TV), lives a life that is very different from your average broadcaster. “I’m a Chicago-born and bred kid,” Fred says, “But for the last 13 years I’ve been living between London and Singapore and Chicago. […]
Media: August 2020
Andy Masur knows his new gig as radio play-by-play man (WGN Radio) for the White Sox is a great opportunity, but he also realizes who he is following. “There’s a little pressure because it’s not so easy to replace someone like Ed Farmer (who passed away a few months ago). I don’t ever feel you […]
Media: July 2020
When John Williams arrived at WGN in 1997, he was thrilled because he grew up listening to the station. “I grew up listening to Wally (Phillips) and Roy (Leonard) and Kathy (O’Malley) and Judy (Markey) and Bob (Collins). I thought Roy was one of the most capable interviewers I ever heard. Wally was one of the most seamless broadcasters I ever heard. Bob Collins had the most […]
Media – June 2020
Marc Silverman was already having a tough go of it, trying to do a sports talk radio show (Waddle & Silvy, afternoons, ESPN Radio AM 1000) in a time with no live sports, when he began to suspect there might be something wrong with his health. “I didn’t really have any symptoms. I wasn’t feeling […]
Media – May 2020
The Mix Morning show (WTMX, 101.9FM) is now officially called Eric in the Morning with Melissa and Whip. After an unprecedented run of success during morning drive time in Chicago, everyone knows Eric Ferguson, the star of the show. Most also know Melissa McGurren, a trusted co-host for many years. But who in the world […]
Media – April 2020
Steve Darnall remembers the exact moment he became obsessed with old time radio. “It was 1977, and I was driving in the car with my dad. I asked him to turn on the radio, and he turned on Chuck Shayden’s program, which aired old-time shows from the Golden Age of Radio. Dad told me that […]
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