{"id":24416,"date":"2020-02-05T16:00:08","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T22:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=24416"},"modified":"2020-02-05T20:24:35","modified_gmt":"2020-02-06T02:24:35","slug":"music-critic-greg-kot-leaving-chicago-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2020\/02\/05\/music-critic-greg-kot-leaving-chicago-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Music critic Greg Kot leaving Chicago Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

<\/a> Greg Kot<\/p><\/div>\n

Greg Kot, the nationally renowned authority on popular music for the Chicago Tribune,<\/a> is leaving the newspaper after 40 years \u2014 including the last 30 as music critic.<\/p>\n

Kot, 62, is the highest-profile personality so far to announce his departure from the Tribune under a voluntary buyout plan<\/a> offered to employees of Tribune Publishing newspapers. His last day will be Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s bittersweet,\u201d Kot told me Wednesday. \u201cI received a lot of latitude from the Trib to define my job and cover the music beat the way I wanted to, and I considered it a privilege. It was an honor. And I wanted to do that job 100 percent to the best of my ability at all times.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019m at a point in my life now that I felt that I couldn\u2019t devote that kind of time to it with the intensity that it requires as a 24\/7 kind of job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kot said his immediate plans include caring for his elderly father and continuing to operate Over The Edge,<\/a>\u00a0his Chicago-based business that helps prepare boys and girls to play competitive basketball.<\/p>\n

Along with former Sun-Times rock critic Jim DeRogatis, Kot also will continue to co-host \u201cSound Opinions,\u201d<\/a> the nationally syndicated rock 'n' roll talk show produced by Chicago Public Media WBEZ 91.5-FM. \"Sound Opinions\" airs at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.<\/p>\n

In an interesting footnote, also accepting a buyout from the Tribune is senior arts and entertainment editor Carm\u00e9l Carrillo, who is married to DeRogatis.<\/p>\n

A native of Syracuse, New York, and graduate of Marquette University, Kot worked for the Quad City Times in Davenport, Iowa, before joining the Tribune as a copy editor in 1980. Ten years later he was promoted to music critic and quickly established his reputation as a trusted and insightful writer on popular music across many genres.<\/p>\n

He is the author or co-author of numerous books, including I'll Take You There: Mavis Staples, the Staple Singers, and the Music the Music That Shaped the Civil Rights Era; Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music<\/em> and Wilco: Learning How to Die.<\/em><\/p>\n

Kot said he doesn\u2019t know whether his position will be filled at the Tribune, but he hopes so.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a huge music town and not having a full-time music critic would be a huge loss,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Chicago music scene deserves nothing less.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greg Kot, the nationally renowned authority on popular music for the Chicago Tribune, is leaving the newspaper after 40 years \u2014 including the last 30 as music critic. Kot, 62, is the highest-profile personality so far to announce his departure from the Tribune under a voluntary buyout plan offered to employees of Tribune Publishing newspapers.... 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\/24416"}],"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=24416"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24425,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24416\/revisions\/24425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}