Posted by chicagomedia.org on February 06, 2009 at 07:17:55:
Ahern back again?
Is former Channel 2 news director heading to Channel 32? Stay tuned
February 6, 2009
BY LEWIS LAZARE Sun-Times Columnist
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Is he ready for a comeback? One of the juiciest rumors now spreading within local broadcast news circles -- a group that loves to chew on the latest and most tantalizing bits of gossip -- is the possible return of Joe Ahern to the local broadcasting business.
Sources say that Ahern could at some point soon wind up back in the saddle as general manager at Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32, immediately reuniting him with Carol Fowler.
This week Fowler took over as news director at WFLD after being let go as news director at CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2 shortly after Ahern was unceremoniously ousted as general manager last October.
The reason anyone is talking about Ahern's possible return to the local broadcast scene can be summed up in two words: Dennis Swanson. Ahern and Swanson, who is now president of station operations for Fox Television Stations Group, go way back. Ahern succeeded Swanson as general manager at ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7 back in the 1980s. Swanson also brought Ahern back to Chicago to Channel 2 in 2002.
When Ahern was reached at lunch Thursday, he expressed surprise at the rumored Channel 32 scenario. But after getting over the shock of it all, he did concede: "I suppose anything is possible."
Ah.
In the meantime, Ahern said he is enjoying his current situation, working on a pro bono basis as a consultant for the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid in a number of ways.
When asked if he missed broadcasting after being away from it for a few months, Ahern said, "My days are full."
But even as he said that, there seemed to be a certain wistful longing to get back in the local TV fray.