Imagine a Chicago Media Hall of Fame..

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: No shortage of nominees for local media hall of fame : With Howard Stern and Steve Dahl snubbed again in voting this year, and other major impact players such as Studs Terkel not even nominated, the so-called National Radio Hall of Fame remains as incomplete as Chicago's half-built Museum of Broadcast Communications, which may house it someday yet. : Which got me thinking. : If I were starting a Chicago Media Hall of Fame, who would I put in it and who would I snub? : Would I be wrong to not want to include too many current media people? What about those who were a big deal once but faded with time? : Let's start with TV hosts Dave Garroway, Oprah Winfrey and Phil Donahue; publishers Hugh Hefner and John H. Johnson; newscasters Floyd Kalber, John Drury, Fahey Flynn, Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson. : Other easy calls include sports announcers Harry Caray, Bob Elson and Jack Brickhouse; movie critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel; pioneering sportswriter Wendell Smith; newspaper columnists Mike Royko, Eppie (Ann Landers) Lederer and Irv Kupcinet; radio's Wally Phillips, Howard Miller, Tom Joyner, Dick Biondi, Larry Lujack and Dahl; commentator Paul Harvey, newsman Orion Samuelson and raconteur Terkel. : Throw in Bob Bell and Roy Brown of "Bozo's Circus" and Frances Horwich of "Miss Frances' Ding Dong School"; Ray Rayner, Chauncey and Chelveston the duck; Bill Jackson, Dirty Dragon and the Blob; Frazier Thomas and Garfield Goose; Burr Tillstrom and the Kuklapolitan Players. : Publishers aplenty : Can't forget the Tribune's Col. Robert McCormick and Joseph Medill, the Chicago Daily News' Victor Lawson, the Sun-Times' Marshall Field III, the Defender's Robert S. Abbott and John H. Sengstacke, and the Daily Herald's Hosea Paddock. : Brent Musburger, Bernard Shaw, John Chancellor, Lester Holt, Jane Pauley, Greg Gumbel, Mike Wallace, Hugh Downs, Elizabeth Vargas, Marlin Perkins of "Wild Kingdom," Carole Simpson, Deborah Norville, Chris Wallace and Don Cornelius of "Soul Train" fame merit spots. : The executive/management wing would include Brandon Tartikoff, Dennis Swanson, Van Gordon Sauter, Bob Wussler, Fred Silverman, Rick Ludwin, Lew Erlicht, John Severino, Ed Joyce, Fred Eychaner, Jim de Castro, Ray Nordstrand, Steve Friedman, Jack Rosenberg, Bob Pittman, Les Brownlee, Peter Lund, Eric Ober, Red Quinlan, Erik Sorenson, Les Crystal, Bob Mulholland, Leonard and Phil Chess, Bill McCarter, Marv Dyson and Norm Winer and Dan Lee, who made WXRT what it still is today. : Then there's Eddie Einhorn, who took college basketball, previously a regional TV attraction, and made it a national event 40 years ago. And Bernard and Rita Jacobs, who literally put WFMT-FM on the air. : Irna Phillips, considered the mother of the soap opera, has to be included. : Sportswriters David Israel, John Schulian, Ring Lardner, Hugh Fullerton, Jerome Holtzman, Bob Verdi and Taylor Bell also merit inclusion, as do Ben Bentley, Bill Jauss, Bill Gleason and the original "Sportswriters" program. : The critic wing should have the "terror of the tube" Gary Deeb and Ron Powers, as well as Claudia Cassidy and Richard Christiansen. : Weathermen making the cut are John Coleman, Tom Skilling, Harry Volkman and Clint Youle. : Radio stars Jonathon Brandmeier, Bob Collins, Ken Nordine, Franklyn MacCormack, Steve Harvey, Herb Kent, Dan Sorkin, Yvonne Daniels, Jim Bohannon, Eddie Schwartz, Ira Glass and Peter Sagal. : We need pitchmen Al Parker and Linn Burton for certain. : Then there is Cubs TV producer and director Arne Harris, guerrilla video journalist and "Image Union" creator Tom Weinberg (my cousin), commentator Len O'Connor, "Chicago Week in Review" host Joel Weisman, "Svengoolie" and radio personality Jerry G. Bishop, racetrack announcer Phil Georgeff, interviewer John Callaway, "Soundstage" creator Ken Ehrlich, and Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht, who immortalized Chicago journalism with "The Front Page." : Editorial cartoonists Bill Mauldin, Jeff MacNelly, John Fischetti, Jack Higgins, Dick Locher and Vaughn Shoemaker, who created the character of John Q. Public. Editors Clayton Kirkpatrick, Ann Marie Lipinski, Arnold Dornfield, Arch Ward, Bernie Judge, Paul Zimbrakos, Harry Romanoff and James Hoge. : Old-time radio gives us Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll of "Amos and Andy," Don McNeill of "The Breakfast Club," Jim and Marian Jordan of "Fibber McGee and Molly," George D. Hay of "The National Barn Dance" and pioneer Josephine White. : Columnists count too : Honored columnists will include Jack Mabley, Clarence Page, Joan Beck, Ray Coffey, Georgie Ann Geyer, Herb Lyons, Robert Novak, Richard Roeper, Sidney J. Harris, Aaron Gold, Tom Fitzpatrick, Roger Simon, Dorsey Connors, Bob Greene and Cecil Adams of "The Straight Dope." : Reporters to be enshrined include William Gaines, Les Brownlee, Art Petacque, Keyes Beech, William Mullen, Peter Gorner, Aldo Beckman, Peter Lisagor, M.W. Newman, Paul Salopek and Jack McPhaul, who inspired "Call Northside 777." Newscasters should include Jim Ruddle, Russ Ewing, Jorie Lueloff and Harry Porterfield. : Let's not forget comic creators Harold Gray ("Little Orphan Annie") and Chester Gould ("Dick Tracy"). : Family matters : A family section will include commentators Clifton and Frayn Utley and their daughter-in-law, Carol Marin; newspapermen Herman Kogan and Rick Kogan; broadcasting exec John Weigel and columnist/broadcaster son Tim Weigel; newscasters Frank Reynolds and Dean Reynolds; soap producers Bill Bell and Lee Phillip Bell; sportscasters Johnny and Jeannie Morris; Paul Harvey's wife, Lynne, and son, Paul Jr.; and second-generation magazine publishers Christie Hefner and Linda Johnson Rice. : And then there's Edwin Lahey, who secured his inclusion with the opening line of his 1936 Chicago Daily News report on the death of murderer Richard Loeb, killed by a fellow prisoner who said Loeb hit on him: "Richard Loeb, the well-known student of English, yesterday ended his sentence with a proposition." : I know I'm forgetting some people. Frankly, I can't decide whether I should include Jerry Springer, Jenny Jones, Pat O'Brien and Maury Povich. : As I said, any list like this is merely an argument starter. Feel free to suggest your own additions and omissions in the comments section online, by e-mail or even old-fashioned card or letter to me at the Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. : : (Rosenthal)

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