{"id":13293,"date":"2017-01-30T16:00:11","date_gmt":"2017-01-30T22:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=13293"},"modified":"2017-01-30T22:30:46","modified_gmt":"2017-01-31T04:30:46","slug":"john-williams-returning-wgn-weekday-lineup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2017\/01\/30\/john-williams-returning-wgn-weekday-lineup\/","title":{"rendered":"John Williams returning to WGN weekday lineup; 'Kathy & Judy' canceled"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"John<\/a>

<\/a> John Williams<\/p><\/div>\n

All hail \u201cKing John.\u201d So long, Kathy & Judy.<\/p>\n

John Williams, a mainstay of WGN AM 720<\/a> since 1997, will return to the Monday-through-Friday lineup with a new two-hour afternoon show, the Tribune Broadcasting news\/talk station announced Monday.<\/p>\n

Starting March 13, Williams will be on from 1 to 3 p.m. weekdays. The Saturday show he has hosted from 1 to 3 p.m. will move to a new time slot \u2014 from 10 a.m. to noon \u2014 replacing the team of Kathy O\u2019Malley and Judy Markey. Williams also will continue his\u00a0weekly podcast.<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled to have John back home again every weekday on WGN,\u201d said Todd Manley, vice president of content and programming at WGN. \u201cThere\u2019s never been a better time for his brand of inventive and intelligent talk.\"<\/p>\n

Since 2010, Williams has been hosting afternoons on WCCO in Minneapolis. Since 2012 he has lived in Minneapolis and broadcast remotely on WGN. With his tenure on WCCO coming to an end, Williams and his wife are moving back to Chicago.<\/p>\n

To accommodate the addition, WGN will reduce Wendy Snyder and Bill Leff\u2019s midday show to two hours \u2014 from 10 a.m. to noon. Snyder and Leff will host a live \"bonus hour\u201d airing only on the WGNplus.com<\/a>\u00a0stream at noon. Steve Bertrand\u2019s \u201cWintrust Business Lunch\u201d will continue to air at noon on WGN.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thrilled about my new adventure on WGN Radio,\u201d Williams said Monday. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t call it a return; I\u2019ve been talking on WGN for all but a couple of the last 20 years. More recently, my Saturday show, weekly podcast and staged president shows have kept me in front of WGN Radio\u2019s listeners.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd moving back to Chicago will certainly get me closer to the action, to my family and friends. Plus, if you do what I do, you want to do it on WGN. The team in their hallways is now more creative, aggressive and forward thinking than any station in America,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Judy<\/a>

Judy Markey and Kathy O'Malley<\/p><\/div>\n

With Williams replacing \u201cThe Kathy & Judy Show\u201d on Saturdays, his current weekend slot will be filled by two new programs \u2014 \u201cThe Innovation Hour,\u201d a business show focused on Chicago innovators, at 1 p.m., and \u201cOn the Road with Dane Neal,\u201d an automotive show, at 2 p.m.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the second time O\u2019Malley and Markey \u2014 beloved by listeners who know them as \"The Girlfriends\" \u2014 have been dropped by the station. Their first run together ended in 2009 after 20 years in middays. They returned as weekend hosts in 2013 and were inducted in the WGN Radio Walk of Fame in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just think it\u2019s pretty funny that we got fired on the same day we got a ratings bonus,\u201d O\u2019Malley said Monday. \u201cBut we feel really bad for our girlfriends. It\u2019s just a sadness and we know that and we feel it too.\u201d<\/p>\n

With gracious words for their successor, O\u2019Malley said she and Markey had only good wishes for Williams. \u201cIf anybody can keep the girlfriends listening on a Saturday morning, it\u2019s John Williams,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re really happy for him that he\u2019s coming home to WGN.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manley said in a statement: \u201cWe\u2019re excited about the Saturday changes and want to express how incredibly grateful we are to Kathy and Judy for their contributions to the WGN family. We will look for every opportunity to continue their legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams, 57, a Joliet native and Southern Illinois University graduate, once worked as a college intern for WGN morning superstar Wally Phillips. After stops in Plano and Peoria and an initial four-year run at WCCO, he was hired as midday personality at WGN in 1997. He subsequently hosted afternoons and, for a short time \u2014 between Spike O\u2019Dell and Greg Jarrett \u2014 mornings.<\/p>\n

Here is a video posted by WGN Radio in 2014:<\/p>\n