{"id":8668,"date":"2015-08-27T15:00:23","date_gmt":"2015-08-27T20:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=8668"},"modified":"2015-08-27T16:25:45","modified_gmt":"2015-08-27T21:25:45","slug":"wxrts-norm-winer-overwhelmed-by-citys-tribute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2015\/08\/27\/wxrts-norm-winer-overwhelmed-by-citys-tribute\/","title":{"rendered":"WXRT\u2019s Norm Winer \u2018overwhelmed\u2019 by Chicago tribute"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Norm<\/a>

<\/a> Norm Winer<\/p><\/div>\n

Norm Winer marked his 36th anniversary Thursday as program director of WXRT FM 93.1,<\/a> an astonishing achievement in Chicago radio \u2014 or practically anywhere else for that matter.<\/p>\n

Not bad for a guy who was hoping to last two or three years when he first showed up at the seminal adult album alternative station in August 1979.<\/p>\n

Under CBS Radio ownership (some would say despite<\/em> CBS Radio ownership), WXRT remains a potent force in the music world and a vital contributor to Chicago\u2019s cultural life, thanks in large part to Winer\u2019s vision and leadership over nearly four decades.<\/p>\n

Winer, 66, will be honored next month by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events with its Fifth Star Award.<\/a> He\u2019ll be the first broadcaster to receive the citation, founded in 2014 to honor outstanding Chicago arts and cultural institutions.<\/p>\n

\"WXRT\"<\/a>

WXRT<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cFew program directors are as closely identified with a major market commercial radio station,\u201d the award announcement said of Winer. \u201cIn a radio world often focused on playing the hits, WXRT has for decades brought new artists and music to the ears of Chicagoans. While others regularly change format and personnel, the station has remained remarkably consistent, while staying at the forefront of new music in Chicago and the world, and no one is more responsible for this than Winer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honored along with Winer September 16 at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park will be The Joffrey Ballet, architect Stanley Tigerman, author Sandra Cisneros, musician Ella Jenkins and aspiring graphic artist Abdullah Quick. The event, featuring tribute videos and live performances, is free and open to the public.<\/p>\n

To have survived in a market as competitive as Chicago \u2014 let alone to receive such a prestigious award from his adopted city \u2014 says a lot about the Brooklyn-born, Brandeis-educated Winer. It also may say something about the much-maligned<\/a> business of radio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m totally overwhelmed by this honor,\u201d Winer said Thursday. \u201cIn doing radio for a living \u2014 being a so-called \u2018professional broadcaster\u2019 \u2014 we can\u2019t verbalize our aspirations of having our jobs viewed as art. And for a person in the media who happens to love their job as much as I do, to have my professional efforts be viewed as contributing to the amazing legacy of the arts of the city, is absolutely, quite literally, humbling.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the latest Nielsen Audio survey, WXRT ranks eighth overall with a 3.6 percent share and cumulative weekly audience of 1,120,700. Among men between 35 and 64, the station ranks third with a 4.8 share and 326,300 cume. Last year WXRT was one of the few to increase its revenue,<\/a> billing an estimated $16.9 million, according to Miller, Kaplan, Arase & Co.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Norm Winer marked his 36th anniversary Thursday as program director of WXRT FM 93.1, an astonishing achievement in Chicago radio \u2014 or practically anywhere else for that matter. Not bad for a guy who was hoping to last two or three years when he first showed up at the seminal adult album alternative station in... 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\/8668"}],"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=8668"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8678,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8668\/revisions\/8678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}