John Coleman

John Coleman, the father of The Weather Channel and the court jester of “happy talk” news in Chicago, is calling it quits after more than 60 years in the weather business.

Coleman, 79, spent the last 20 years as chief meteorologist at KUSI-TV in San Diego. He surprised his colleagues by announcing his retirement Thursday while he was out of town attending a tropical weather conference in South Padre Island, Texas. Continue reading →

Alison Cuddy

Alison Cuddy, veteran arts and culture reporter at Chicago Public Media WBEZ FM 91.5 and former host of “Eight Forty-Eight,” has been named program director of the Chicago Humanities Festival.

Starting May 5, she will join the festival staff full-time, working closely with executive director Phillip Bahar and artistic director Matti Bunzl. Since 2009, Cuddy has served as a moderator for the organization’s events. Continue reading →

David Letterman and Stephen Colbert

Chicago may be Jimmy Fallon’s kind of town, but David Letterman and Stephen Colbert have plenty of faithful viewers here too.

News of CBS signing Colbert to a five-year deal Thursday to succeed David Letterman as host of “The Late Show” in 2015 elicited high fives among fans in Chicago, where Colbert trained at Second City after graduating from Northwestern University. Since 2005, he’s been host and executive producer of “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central. Continue reading →

It would be hard to imagine anyone in television better than Bob Vorwald to capture the majesty and the magic of Wrigley Field on its centennial.

The veteran Chicago sports producer and longtime director of production at Tribune Broadcasting WGN-Channel 9 has fashioned “Wrigley 100: A Century Celebration,” a beautifully crafted two-hour homage to The Friendly Confines, premiering at 7 p.m. April 20 (with a rebroadcast at 4 p.m. April 26 on Channel 9 and WGN America). It’s narrated by Steve Cochran, morning personality at WGN AM 720. Continue reading →

Shila Nathan

Shila Nathan, a former morning co-host at two stations in Philadelphia, has been named afternoon personality at WUSN FM 99.5, the CBS Radio country music station.

Starting April 18, she succeeds Drew Walker, who shifted to middays at US 99.5 last January. Since then, weekend host Ryan McKiddy had been filling in from 3 to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Continue reading →

WLS engineers (1932)

WLS AM 890 wasn’t always a Republican propaganda machine or a vomitorium for all the commercials Cumulus Media could cram into every hour. For most of its 90 years on the air, it was a pretty great radio station.

Nine decades to the day after Sears, Roebuck and Company began broadcasting WLS (for “World’s Largest Store”) — on April 12, 1924 — Steve Darnall will devote a special edition of “Those Were the Days” to the station’s glorious and influential past. Continue reading →

DJ MoonDawg

The two top-rated evening shows on Chicago radio aren’t resting on their laurels. Clear Channel programmers changed their nighttime lineups this week at both urban contemporary WGCI FM 107.5 and urban adult-contemporary WVAZ FM 102.7.

DJ MoonDawg, a rising star among hip hop deejays, has been named host of WGCI’s new evening show from 7 p.m. to midnight Monday through Friday. He succeeds Al B. Sylk, who left the station, and Chris Michaels, who shifts to V103. Continue reading →

Wayne Besen

Famed gay rights activist and author Wayne Besen is joining the weekend lineup of Chicago’s progressive talk radio station.

Starting April 19, Besen’s “I've Got Issues” will air from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturdays on Newsweb Radio’s WCPT AM 820 (simulcast on WCPY FM 92.5, WCPT FM 92.7 and WCPQ FM 99.9). Continue reading →

Joe Walsh

Joe Walsh, the former suburban Chicago congressman who morphed into a radio talk show host, is biting into the Big Apple.

While he continues to hold forth from 5 to 8 p.m. weekdays on news/talk WIND AM 560, parent company Salem Communications has added Walsh to the staff of its New York news/talk outlet, WNYM AM. Continue reading →

A Luddite to the very end, Chicago radio great Larry Lujack never took an interest in e-mail, text messaging or social media. If Ol’ Uncle Lar had something to write, it would come out of his typewriter and find its recipient by snail mail or fax.

Now the typewriter that launched a thousand “Animal Stories” can be yours. Continue reading →