WGN Radio adds high-flying traffic

Sarah Jindra

Sarah Jindra

Sarah Jindra, the airborne traffic ace for Tribune Media WGN-Channel 9, will double as radio traffic reporter for Roe Conn’s afternoon show on news/talk WGN AM 720.

Todd Manley, vice president of programming and content at WGN, announced Wednesday that Jindra will deliver traffic reports from Skycam 9 twice each hour from 3 to 7 p.m. weekdays, starting next week. She’ll continue to report breaking news and traffic for Channel 9’s 4 and 5 p.m. weekdays newscasts.

Calling it “a bold new chapter in collective journalism for WGN Radio and TV,” Manley said the realignment coincides with a new contract with Radiate Media and an expanded talent-sharing arrangement with the co-owned station. Other TV personalities regularly deployed on WGN Radio include chief meteorologist Tom Skilling, news anchor Mark Suppelsa and entertainment reporter Dean Richards.

Jindra, who joined Radiate Media in 2008, has been reporting traffic for Tribune Media CLTV and Channel 9 since 2012. She previously appeared on Chicago Public Media WBEZ FM 91.5 and NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5.

Starting Monday, WGN’s new weekday traffic reporting lineup will be:

  • 5 to 9 a.m. Mary VanDeVelde
  • 9 a.m. to noon Jill Egan
  • noon to 3 p.m. Sara Engel
  • 3 to 7 p.m. Sarah Jindra
  • 7 to 10 p.m. Eric Solomon
  • 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Esmeralda Leon

Under the new arrangement, Radiate Media part-timers no longer will provide weekend reports. Instead weekend traffic updates will be delivered by WGN Radio news anchors.

Jill Urchak

Jill Urchak

Exiting WGN will be evening traffic reporter Jill Urchak. “Warmth, edge and depth rarely come in one package,” Manley told staffers in a memo. “In Jill Urchak you get all of that, and more. I fully expect Jill to return to us as an on-air contributor down the road.”

On her Facebook page, Urchak wrote: “Tomorrow night will be my last night on WGN. This business can really stink sometimes, but my services are so longer needed. I will miss my co-workers/friends.”