WGN Radio Is In Trouble

Subject:

Comments:
: This is but yet another post concerning WGN radio. I would not write about this matter if I did not care. : I have been a WGN radio listener since a teenager. Therefore I am not pleased to write this post. At every point in my life WGN radio was there with me. In times of great political intrigue in Illinois or the nation I turned to WGN for insight and commentary. When sick with colds late at night and unable to sleep I headed to AM 720. When traveling back and forth between Sturgeon Bay and home in the 1980s or between Madison and home in the years thereafter the voices of the hosts and callers made my travels faster and more lively. In fact James Warren on Sunday night during his time there was always the best at keeping me thinking and up-to-date on politics. At home every radio was preset to WGN. I fell asleep with the station and the first broadcast of each day was from Chicago. : And then..and then.. : Bad corporate decisions, a desire to compete for an audience that is not a natural base for the station, and some jarring on-air personalities including the new morning man has brought many to ask what is happening to our beloved WGN Radio? : Among the changes in the past two years, the lists includes: : - allowing Spike O'Dell, their #1 rated morning show host to completely leave the station : - bungling the hiring of his replacement, by first offering it to Steve Cochran, but then giving it to John Williams, after Cochran didn't immediately jump for joy at the lowball offer given to him : - after giving John Williams the morning slot, they then took it away from him just a few months later : - they brought in a complete unknown to be the morning show host. While Greg Jarrett is competent, talented voice and had an impressive resume, his only connection to Chicago was that he once worked with Tribune CEO Randy Michaels in Florida. : - Kathy & Judy, the beloved female hosts of the mid-morning show were removed from the air with almost a full year left on their contract, to make room for John Williams, who they yanked off of the morning show. There was no attempt to move the duo to a different time shift, angering fans, many of whom have not listened to the station since : - when John Williams moved to the morning show, his shift was left with no host for almost four full months. A seemingly unending roster of fill-in hosts, many of whom had no business on Chicago's airwaves took over, plummeting ratings and angering fans even more : - Garry Meier was finally hired to take over the early afternoon spot. While this move brought a new audience to WGN, it took a long time before the WGN faithful finally warmed up to his style of humor : - soon after Kevin Metheny was brought on board to be WGN's Program Director, he went on Steve Cochran's radio show and said on the air, "I like you. I just don’t like your show." Way to improve station morale, Mr. New Boss… : - Wes Bleed, the talented News Director who had loyally been with the station since the 80s was let go : - Many weekend shows where cut from the schedule, including Steve Dale's popular Pet World program and the weekend edition of Sports Central : - these weekend shows were replaced by divisive political agenda shows, hosted by Jerry Agar, Shawn Wasson, and Simon Badinter : - the usual fill-in hosts, such as Nick Digilio and Dan Deibert, where now being passed over for fill-in duties to give the controversial political talkers more air time : - some on air hosts were shaken up when their longtime producers were fired with no notice : - numerous memos were often sent to staffers, angering them to the point the memos were ridiculed on the air and leaked out to journalists like Robert Feder. These memos micromanaged every aspect of the on air staffs' every breath, telling them how they could & could not talk with callers and even telling them to not worry about being truthful, just be "edgy" : - a new weekend show was added that was little more than a three-to-four hour infomercial for the Tribune Company's blogsite, ChicagoNow, featuring mostly non-radio people talking on the radio and plugging their blogs : - Bill Leff was hired on a part-time basis for fill-ins and as host of the ChicagoNow infomercial, a hire that was pretty universally cheered. However, after being passed over for many fill-in jobs for the political talkers and not being happy as hosting a show where he had to constantly train (and in at least one case, fight with) non-radio people, he abruptly quit : - then there was the hiring of one particular non-radio person to be a radio show host for the historic WGN radio: convicted felon and disgraced Chicago politician, Jim Laski.

Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL:

Enter verification code: