{"id":26009,"date":"2020-06-29T06:00:07","date_gmt":"2020-06-29T11:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=26009"},"modified":"2020-06-29T07:06:06","modified_gmt":"2020-06-29T12:06:06","slug":"joe-donlon-bows-hunt-new-top-anchor-wgn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2020\/06\/29\/joe-donlon-bows-hunt-new-top-anchor-wgn\/","title":{"rendered":"As Joe Donlon bows out, 'the hunt is on' for new top anchor at WGN"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

<\/a> Joe Donlon<\/p><\/div>\n

If all goes as planned, the next time we\u2019ll see Joe Donlon is September 1 when he debuts with Marni Hughes as the Monday-through-Friday anchor team on \u201cNews Nation,\u201d the national nightly newscast<\/a> coming to WGN America.<\/p>\n

The question now is who will replace Donlon at WGN-Channel 9 <\/a>where he\u2019s been co-anchor of the 5, 6, 9 and 10 p.m. newscasts with Micah Materre since 2018. Nexstar Media Group owns both WGN America cable network and WGN locally.<\/p>\n

If there's a short list of would-be successors, no one who knows is saying. In fact, they won't even say who'll be filling in tonight.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe has been a great co-anchor these last two years, and we wish him every success at \u2018News Nation,\u2019\u201d Dominick Stasi, news director of WGN, told me after Donlon's sign-off Friday night. \u201cThe hunt is on and we are looking at many qualified candidates. We will be rotating anchors alongside Micah in the meantime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donlon, 57, who grew up in Ferguson, Missouri, and graduated from Marquette University in Milwaukee, spent 21 years as a top anchor in Portland, Oregon, before he was tapped to replace Mark Suppelsa at \"Chicago's Very Own.\"<\/p>\n

Two years is hardly enough time to become a household word in Chicago, but Donlon acquitted himself admirably and demonstrated a particular gift for sensitive storytelling. (Here is the link.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

He also can legitimately say he went out a winner.\u00a0In June \u2014 for the first time ever \u2014 WGN's 10 p.m. newscast tied for second place (with NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5) among adults between 25 and 54.<\/p>\n

Partial credit for WGN's 90 percent ratings jump undoubtedly goes to the station's L.A.-style helicopter coverage<\/a> of an hourlong police chase of a homicide suspect June 3, which was narrated by Donlon and Materre.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to thank the amazing staff at WGN,\u201d Donlon said in a message posted earlier on Facebook.<\/a> \u201cYou put your arms around me and welcomed me into your tight knit family. It\u2019s such a special place. Every day is a dance party.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Erik Runge<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The good news is, I\u2019ll still be in the family \u2014 just upstairs in a different newsroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other news at WGN, two per-diem staffers have been promoted to full-time general assignment reporters.<\/p>\n

Erik Runge, who joined WGN in 2013 from Fox-owned KMSP in Minneapolis, will be reporting for \"WGN Morning News\" and \"WGN Midday News.\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Shannon Halligan<\/p><\/div>\n

And Shannon Halligan, who joined WGN and the former CLTV as a news and traffic reporter in 2016, will be traffic reporter for \"WGN Evening News\" and a news reporter for other newscasts. Halligan, a Chicago area native who grew up in Schaumburg and attended James B. Conant High School, previously worked for NBC affiliate KSHB in Kansas City, Missouri.<\/p>\n

\"Both have made strong contributions to the WGN News team and we look forward to more solid reporting from both,\" Stasi said.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s comment of the day:<\/a> Steve DuBose:<\/strong> Nice picture of Bruno Kirby . . .<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If all goes as planned, the next time we\u2019ll see Joe Donlon is September 1 when he debuts with Marni Hughes as the Monday-through-Friday anchor team on \u201cNews Nation,\u201d the national nightly newscast coming to WGN America. The question now is who will replace Donlon at WGN-Channel 9 where he\u2019s been co-anchor of the 5,... 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\/26009"}],"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=26009"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26023,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26009\/revisions\/26023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}