WGN, Chicago Brings John Williams Back for Weekday Show. The Joliet, Illinois native has been hosting a weekend show – Saturdays from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm – since he left weekdays at WGN back in 2015 to focus on his WCCO, Minneapolis PM drive program. Now, with the WCCO contract coming to an end,
John Williams returns
to Chicago to host the daily 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm program, plus a Saturday show at the new 10:00 am to
12:00 noon time, effective March 13. To make room for Williams, WGN trims the daily
Bill Leff and
Wendy Snyder show to 10:00 am to 12:00 noon. WGN VP of programming
Todd Manley states, "When we learned there was an opportunity to bring John back to Chicago full time we had to jump on it. There has never been a better time to have more of his inventive and intelligent talk on the station." The station also makes a change to Saturdays with the cancellation of the
Kathy O'Malley and
Judy Markey program. Manley says, "We're excited about the Saturday changes and want to express how incredibly grateful we are to Kathy and Judy for their contributions to the WGN family. We will look for every opportunity to continue their legacy." The change at WCCO wraps a seven-year stint in afternoons for Williams.
CBS RADIO has not announced its plans for filling the afternoon slot on WCCO.
Dave Ramsey Brings Smart Money Tour to Orange County. On Monday (1/30), nationally syndicated radio star Dave Ramsey presented his Smart Money event at Mariners Church in Irvine, California, speaking about how to win with money, get out of debt and invest for the future. Ramsey's daughter, best-selling author and speaker Rachel Cruze, joined him on stage. Ramsey and Southern California affiliate KEIB, Los Angeles "The Patriot" promoted the event. KEIB program director Robin Bertolucci states, "It's no secret Dave Ramsey has an extremely successful show but when you see him interact and connect with his listeners in person it adds another layer of understanding as to why he is so successful. Dave's listeners and sponsors love and trust him and we here at KEIB are always thrilled when he brings his show to town." In addition to yesterday's event, Ramsey will join nationally recognized speaker Christy Wright for the Business Boutique 1 Day event in Irvine today (1/31). Business Boutique 1-Day is a brand-new event designed to equip attendees with what they need to successfully start and run their own business. Pictured above are (from l-r): Bill Denton, vice president of sales for iHeartMedia Los Angeles; Robin Bertolucci; Dave Ramsey; and Darren McMillan, vice president of sales for iHeartMedia.
Trump Travel Ban, National Security Council Controversy, Trump Supreme Court Nominee, Quebec City Mosque Attack, Iran Missile Test, SAG Awards Speeches, Pac Man Inventor Dies, and Super Bowl Build-Up Among Top News/Talk Stories Yesterday (1/30). President Donald Trump's ban on travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries, the related protests, and the firing of acting Attorney General Sally Yates; the controversy over Trump's inclusion of White House adviser Stephen K. Bannon on the National Security Council's principals committee; Trump's announcement he'll name his nominee for the Supreme Court at 8:00 this evening; the deaths of six after a shooting at a mosque in Quebec City; the reaction to Iran's Sunday missile test and the expected UN hearing on the matter today; the flap over political speeches at Sunday's Screen Actors Guild awards; the man whose company created Pac Man dies at 91; and the build-up to Super Bowl LI were some of the most-talked-about stories on news/talk radio yesterday, according to ongoing research from TALKERS magazine.
Is It Possible to Teach Media and Politics in Today's Environment without Expressing (or Being Accused of) Expressing a Significant Degree of Bias? This is just one of several key questions that are explored in an extremely candid conversation between
TALKERS founder
Michael Harrison and veteran talk radio programmer
David Bernstein posted today (1/31) on this week's installment of the award-winning
PodcastOne series "Up
Close and Far Out with Michael Harrison." Bernstein's stellar career in radio includes stints as program director of such politically diverse powerhouses as WTIC in Hartford, WPRO in Providence, WRKO and WBZ in Boston, and a 10 year run at WOR in New York. He even served for a brief period as VP/programming at
Air America. Today, he is the general manager of the experimental "workshop" platform
TalkersRadio and going into his second full year as an adjunct professor of media studies at
Caldwell University in New Jersey. Harrison and Bernstein explore the characteristics, habits and challenges facing Millennials with a focus on those considering careers in the media. The discussion includes an analysis of the public's across the board obsession with politics inspired by the rise of
Donald Trump permeating all aspects of daily American life. Don't miss this one! To listen to the podcast in its entirety, please click
here or click the "Up Close and Far Out" player box located in the right-hand column on every page of Talkers.com.
