Posted by chicagomedia.org on July 09, 2008 at 14:04:37:
Job opening
O'Dell's plan to retire from WGN prompts talk about his successor
Let the guessing game begin about who'll take over the biggest radio job in town.
With six months to go on his deal as morning personality at news/talk WGN-AM (720), Spike O'Dell is getting ready to call it quits from the top-rated Tribune Co.-owned station.
Although he could choose to work past December, sources said O'Dell already has told his bosses that he plans to retire from his $1 million a year gig at the end of the year.
O'Dell has made no secret of his unhappiness at having to get up at 2 in the morning and his lack of enthusiasm to continue.
"Some people may think I'm nuts," he told the Tribune in an interview last year. "But that's my plan and I'm sticking with it."
Among insiders at WGN, no one is considered to have a lock on the morning job, but names at the top of the list would include afternoon host Steve Cochran, midday host John Williams and noon show host Bob Sirott, who doubles as a news anchor at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5.
Outsiders vying for the job? Just about anyone in radio.
O'Dell, 54, joined WGN in 1987 as afternoon personality and moved up to the top job after morning kingpin Bob Collins was killed when the small plane he was piloting crashed in February 2000. O'Dell was signed to his first million-dollar deal in 2006.
In Arbitron's latest quarterly survey, his morning show ranked No. 1 with an 8.1 percent share.
(Feder)