Fox Chicago hires Mike Flannery, CBS2's political ace since 1980

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Posted by Bud on March 29, 2010 at 16:18:08:

Mike Flannery, WBBM-Ch. 2's political editor since 1980, has become the latest with a tie to the CBS-owned station to head to Fox-owned WFLD-Ch. 32.

Flannery, a former Chicago Sun-Times labor and political reporter who has covered City Hall, Springfield and all elections for CBS-owned WBBM for 30 years, will help fill the void left by Jack Conaty's December exit.

Channel 2 staffers were told on Monday that Flannery's final day with the station will be Wednesday and that he is expected to join WFLD around July 1. Flannery's Channel 32 contract is still being finalized, sources say.

"I respect Mike’s decision to leave," Jeff Kiernan, Channel 2's vice president and news director, said in a statement. "His contributions to WBBM-TV over the last 30 years have been extensive and we wish him well."

Conaty, who was part of the team that launched Channel 32's news organization in 1987, was its lead political correspondent until the station decided not to renew his contract.

Flannery falls into a recent pattern of WFLD news boss Carol Fowler, a former news director at WBBM and Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.'s WGN-Ch. 9, bringing former colleagues to join her at Channel 32?
Fowler earlier this month hired reporter Joanie Lum, who she worked with at Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.'s WGN and later hired at WBBM. Sun-Times columnist Bill Zwecker, who had worked for Fowler at WBBM, was hired to provide WFLD celebrity reports in January.

Todd Woolman, who was Fowler's assistant news director at WBBM but was dropped by the CBS-owned station last April, also is under consideration for a post at Fox-owned Channel 32.

Trivia: In the May 15, 1980 Tribune report of WBBM's hire of Flannery from the Sun-Times, it said his start date at Channel 2 would be June 1, 1980. The other big TV debut that day? The launch of Ted Turner's Cable News Network. (On the other hand, June 1 was a Sunday in 1980, so it's far more likely he actually started on June 2 no matter what his contract said, a fact corroborated by Robert Feder's 2000 Sun-Times column on Flannery's 20th anniversary at the station.)

Linkback (Phil Rosenthal, Chicago Tribune)

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: Mike Flannery, WBBM-Ch. 2's political editor since 1980, has become the latest with a tie to the CBS-owned station to head to Fox-owned WFLD-Ch. 32. : Flannery, a former Chicago Sun-Times labor and political reporter who has covered City Hall, Springfield and all elections for CBS-owned WBBM for 30 years, will help fill the void left by Jack Conaty's December exit. : Channel 2 staffers were told on Monday that Flannery's final day with the station will be Wednesday and that he is expected to join WFLD around July 1. Flannery's Channel 32 contract is still being finalized, sources say. : "I respect Mike’s decision to leave," Jeff Kiernan, Channel 2's vice president and news director, said in a statement. "His contributions to WBBM-TV over the last 30 years have been extensive and we wish him well." : : Conaty, who was part of the team that launched Channel 32's news organization in 1987, was its lead political correspondent until the station decided not to renew his contract. : Flannery falls into a recent pattern of WFLD news boss Carol Fowler, a former news director at WBBM and Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.'s WGN-Ch. 9, bringing former colleagues to join her at Channel 32? : Fowler earlier this month hired reporter Joanie Lum, who she worked with at Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.'s WGN and later hired at WBBM. Sun-Times columnist Bill Zwecker, who had worked for Fowler at WBBM, was hired to provide WFLD celebrity reports in January. : Todd Woolman, who was Fowler's assistant news director at WBBM but was dropped by the CBS-owned station last April, also is under consideration for a post at Fox-owned Channel 32. : Trivia: In the May 15, 1980 Tribune report of WBBM's hire of Flannery from the Sun-Times, it said his start date at Channel 2 would be June 1, 1980. The other big TV debut that day? The launch of Ted Turner's Cable News Network. (On the other hand, June 1 was a Sunday in 1980, so it's far more likely he actually started on June 2 no matter what his contract said, a fact corroborated by Robert Feder's 2000 Sun-Times column on Flannery's 20th anniversary at the station.)

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