Posted by WMAQ-AM NEWS HUDDLE on October 04, 2010 at 01:26:05:
"Pat Cassidy is the morning co-anchor at WBBM-AM, Newsradio 780.
Rick: By the dawn's early light. That's how I know that I'm listening to Pat Cassidy. What is the origin of your use of that phrase?
Pat: It's from the national anthem of course, and I'm on when the dawn is just lighting. I was looking for some kind of signature line, and I'm a patriotic guy on top of it all, and just tried it, and it stuck around all these years. I do get ribbed by my co-workers occasionally when I say it when it's still pitch black outside, like in the winter, but I've been saying it now for 35 years. Once in awhile I space out, and forget to say it, and people notice. We get calls about it."