{"id":1951,"date":"2014-01-05T22:00:48","date_gmt":"2014-01-06T04:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=1951"},"modified":"2014-01-06T00:02:12","modified_gmt":"2014-01-06T06:02:12","slug":"wgns-late-nights-to-start-earlier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2014\/01\/05\/wgns-late-nights-to-start-earlier\/","title":{"rendered":"WGN\u2019s late-nights to start earlier"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Scott<\/a>

<\/a> Scott Miller (left) and Pete McMurray<\/p><\/div>\n

You gotta love Pete McMurray. And starting Monday, there\u2019ll be an hour more to love him each night on WGN AM 720.<\/a><\/p>\n

The veteran Chicago radio personality, who\u2019s been hosting from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. weeknights since September, will now hit the air at 10 p.m. \u2014 trimming one hour from David Kaplan\u2019s sports show on the Tribune Broadcasting news\/talk station.<\/p>\n

\u201cI'll work eight days a week for these guys,\u201d McMurray told me. \u201cI love them, love WGN Radio, and it's without a doubt the most fun I've ever<\/em> had doing radio. I believe in [general manager] Jimmy deCastro. If he wants me to scrub toilets? No problem. I'll grab my bucket. Just tell me where to go!\"<\/p>\n

Todd Manley, vice president of creative content at WGN, cited McMurray\u2019s ratings performance in part for the expansion of his show.\u00a0\u201cPete has become our all-purpose star in a variety of fill-in roles,\u201d Manley said. \u201cI think he gets what we\u2019re trying to do very well, especially in providing lots of video content. Between Pete and [producer] Scott Miller, they do an amazing job of booking great guests and being about the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

McMurray, who got his start at WWCT in his native Peoria, has enjoyed a high profile in Chicago ever since he came to the old WCKG in 1998. His 16-year run here has included two stints on WCKG, two on WLUP FM 97.9, two on WIQI\/WKQX FM 101.1, and an ongoing role as co-host of the NBC 5 magazine show \u201c24\/7: City Secrets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The earlier start for the late-night show coincides with a new multiyear deal for Kaplan, who turned down an offer to jump to CBS Radio sports\/talk WSCR AM 670. In renewing with WGN, where he\u2019s worked since 1995, Kaplan is expected to figure prominently into what deCastro called \u201cour multidimensional future.\u201d His show will air from 7 to 10 p.m.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/a>

David Plier<\/p><\/div>\n

Manley also confirmed the promotion of fill-in host David Plier to permanent Saturday overnight personality, effective immediately. He\u2019s officially been assigned to host from 2 to 5 a.m. Sundays \u2014 following Amy Guth\u2019s \u201cRedEye Remix\u201d <\/a>from midnight to 2 a.m.<\/p>\n

Plier, who\u2019s been filling in at WGN since 2012, is CEO of Retail First Corp., a northwest suburban-based advertising, marketing and retail environment company. He\u2019s also vice president and a longtime board member of the Museum of Broadcast Communications.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeedless to say, I am honored to be a small part of this legendary station and tremendously excited to permanently have a weekly show,\u201d Plier said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You gotta love Pete McMurray. And starting Monday, there\u2019ll be an hour more to love him each night on WGN AM 720. The veteran Chicago radio personality, who\u2019s been hosting from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. weeknights since September, will now hit the air at 10 p.m. \u2014 trimming one hour from David Kaplan\u2019s sports... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1951"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1951"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1959,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1951\/revisions\/1959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}