More on Tribune's Rick Kogan

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: Rick Kogan knows newspapers, Chicago : 11/29/2008, 2:18 pm : Letters from Chicago: Jacquee Thomas : Rick Kogan is rooted in Chicago and in the newspaper biz. : He was named after Riccardo's, a restaurant and bar at Hubbard and State streets, where newspaper folks like his father, Herman Kogan, hung out to tipple and talk about current events and breaking stories. They couldn't leave their work at the office. The establishment now is called Stefani's. : When I asked to interview Kogan, he suggested we meet there. He didn't say his namesake came from the place. My research served that information. Kogan, I realized, has a quiet, resonating passion. It is woven in his writings. : And it was woven in our conversation. Being a newspaperman was in his blood, he told me. His grandfather, an immigrant from Russia, sold newspapers from a Humboldt Park neighborhood newsstand. His father was a reporter for the Sun-Times; his mother worked at the Chicago Tribune. : When he was a kid, his father took him and his brother to the newsroom, where he witnessed the workings and excitement. From early on, he knew he wanted to be a newspaperman. "There was nothing else I wanted to do." : He sold his first story at age 16, to the Sun-Times. Between that, and his later esteemed career, he worked as a Chicago cab driver and as a lifeguard. In 1970, he spent a year in Spain, and during that time he sold a book review to the Chicago Tribune. : "I got $80 for it," he said. "That was enough for two months rent." : Later, back in Chicago, he was offered a job at the Daily News, yet couldn't take it because his father was working for the competitor, the Sun-Times. : Taking a job with a competing newspaper was like betraying a religion. However, reporters from all Windy City newspapers could brush shoulders at Riccardo's, or Stefani's, depending on the era, and they did. : Rick Kogan's father retired from the Sun-Times, and the junior Mr. Kogan could accept a job at the Daily News. Soon after, the Sun-Times took over the Daily News. Rick Kogan was put on the "Panorama" staff, an arts and entertainment section his father created. : He became friends with newspaper cohorts, including columnist Mike Royko, movie reviewer Roger Ebert and Ann "Eppie" Landers. He was friends with his parents' long time pal, noted author and radio personality Studs Terkel. : He was among the Sun-Times staff who left disgruntled in 1984 when Rupert Murdoch bought the paper and brought with him a sensationalistic style. The new ownership and style turned out to be temporary. : Meanwhile Kogan was hired by the Chicago Tribune as a television critic. He hosted radio shows, on WBBM, then on WLUP. : Changes : What's happening in the newspaper biz, I asked Kogan. : "The 50-cent newspaper is the most astonishing bargain of my lifetime," he said, with all the information presented at the fingertips. "And it's available anywhere in the city." : Yet the delivery system is prehistoric and expensive, and traditional newspapers are simply dying. : Journalism won't die, he said. However people coming in today are attracted to it as a profession rather than a passion. : Legendary newspaper personalities like Chicago columnist Mike Royko, advice columnist Ann Landers and entertainment columnist Irv Kupcinet couldn't get in the door of a modern newspaper. : Royko was a gritty, opinionated Chicagoan; Landers resurrected the advice column; and Kupcinet founded celebrity coverage more earthily and long before the likes of "Entertainment Tonight." : Among Kogan's endeared memories: : "Being a youngster in the business and going into Riccardo's, and it was filled with reporters who were interested in life," he said. "One by one, they started to vanish." : (The Times)

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