One of the great joys of my life has been listening to WGN Radio in Chicago. It was a station unduplicated across American airwaves. It sounds corny, but it was like having family and friends within reach of the dial, whatever the time of day:
Wally Phillips, Bob Collins and Spike O'Dell in the morning; Roy Leonard's celebrity interviews; Orion and Max with biz and farm reports; Larry Schreiner chasing cops; Steve Cochran chasing laughs; news, weather, traffic and sports from the likes of Lyle Dean, Wes Bleed, Dave Stewart, Andrea Darlas, Dick Sutliffe, Tom Peterson, Judy Pielach, Trooper Linc Hampton, Steve Bertrand, Leslie Keiling, Jack Brickhouse, Vince Lloyd and Lou Boudreau, Pat Hughes, Chuck Swirsky, David Kaplan, Dave Eanet.
There were truly one-of-a-kind shows: Kathy and Judy, and Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg. And the quirky: Steve and Johnnie, the Al and/or Ed show, and "Chicago Ed" Schwartz. Paul Harvey was a hometown broadcaster at WGN. (I'm too young to remember Franklyn MacCormack's Meisterbrau Showcase.)
Not to mention broadcasts of Cubs baseball since 1948.
"The Voice of Chicago." "Live Coverage of Your Lifetime." "The radio home of millions throughout North America." "The sound that says Chicago."
This may sound like a paid ad. It isn't. It also may sound like an obituary. If WGN isn't already dead, it's on life support.
A new and grossly misdirected management has badly underestimated us listeners and rendered WGN just another blathering voice. John Williams is valiantly carrying on (while moonlighting at the Twin Cities' WCCO), and Uncle Milt is still illuminating the would-be intelligencia. But WGN once brought us warmth and wit; now it's just a conduit for politically opinionated outsiders who, at best, are vanilla and forgettable.
I suppose I shouldn't take a radio station's programming so personally. But WGN succeeded at capturing the ears and hearts of millions of us over the years.
Related:
The past month has begun a great journey, as I have been introduced to three wonderful congregations whose stories and lives I will be sharing as their new pastor.
