{"id":4678,"date":"2014-08-25T06:00:46","date_gmt":"2014-08-25T11:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=4678"},"modified":"2014-08-25T06:04:12","modified_gmt":"2014-08-25T11:04:12","slug":"wgn-welcomes-outside-the-loop-creator-back-inside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2014\/08\/25\/wgn-welcomes-outside-the-loop-creator-back-inside\/","title":{"rendered":"WGN welcomes \u2018Outside the Loop\u2019 creator back inside"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mike<\/a>

<\/a> Mike Stephen<\/p><\/div>\n

Mike Stephen, an acclaimed storyteller who began as an intern for Spike O\u2019Dell at WGN AM 720 <\/a>and went on to host and produce one of Chicago\u2019s longest-running and most ambitious podcasts,<\/a> is returning to his radio roots.<\/p>\n

Starting October 4, Stephen\u2019s \u201cOutside the Loop Radio\u201d<\/a> will air from 6 to 7 a.m. Saturdays on the Tribune Broadcasting news\/talk station, leading in to WGN\u2019s \u201cMr. Fix It with Lou Manfredini.\u201d<\/p>\n

Billed as \u201cChicago\u2019s Almost Above-Ground Audio Magazine,\u201d the award-winning weekly podcast features interviews with local newsmakers on everything from arts and politics to the environment and food. Launched in 2006, it began airing the following year on Loyola University\u2019s WLUW FM 88.7.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMike leads the next generation of urbanologists,\u201d Todd Manley, vice president of content and programming at WGN, said in a statement. \u201c \u2018OTL\u2019 is a show rich with curiosity about neighbors and<\/em> neighborhoods. It\u2019ll be right at home on Chicago\u2019s fencepost for conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen, who was born and raised in west suburban Elmwood Park and graduated from Loyola University, first joined WGN as O\u2019Dell\u2019s morning show intern and later worked as a producer for a variety of hosts, including Manfredini, Rick Kogan and Nick Digilio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up on WGN and learned so much of what I know about radio during my six years producing there,\u201d Stephen said. \u201cTo now be joining the station as a host is an absolute dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s in store? \u201cListeners can expect to learn things about their city they never knew and to have fun in the process.\u00a0I'm thrilled that as I begin my eighth year of \u2018Outside the Loop,\u2019 it will now be amplified by the country's greatest radio station.\u201d<\/p>\n

To accommodate Stephen\u2019s show, WGN will move \u201cThe Frank Fontana Show\u201d to Sundays and expand it to two hours, airing from 1 to 3 p.m. following Dean Richards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mike Stephen, an acclaimed storyteller who began as an intern for Spike O\u2019Dell at WGN AM 720 and went on to host and produce one of Chicago\u2019s longest-running and most ambitious podcasts, is returning to his radio roots. Starting October 4, Stephen\u2019s \u201cOutside the Loop Radio\u201d will air from 6 to 7 a.m. Saturdays on... 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\/4678"}],"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=4678"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4689,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4678\/revisions\/4689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}