Free Republic

Larry Lujack, the legendary Chicago radio personality known as "Superjock" and "Uncle Lar," died Wednesday in New Mexico, his wife said. He was 73. Judith "Jude" Lujack told the Tribune her husband had been in hospice care for three days and died of esophageal cancer.

89 WLS celebrated the life, the career and the memory of Don Wade in a special broadcast last Sunday. You can listen to the podcast of this show, hosted by WLS Newsman John Dempsey. When WLSam changed from a music format to Talk Radio in 1989, Don Wade and Roma were the only air talent asked to remain and try their skill at becoming morning talk show hosts. Suddenly Don's rapier wit, piercing analysis and passionate oratory roared to the surface. He was a natural. Agree or disagree, listeners were riveted to his thought-provoking, persuasive, even maddening dissections of the...

For nearly 30 years, the husband-and-wife team of “Don Wade and Roma” entertained and informed WLS-AM (890) listeners with a longevity unique in Chicago radio history. But on Sunday night, the station’s website shared the sad news from Roma Wade that “my hero, my best friend, my soulmate” had passed away “in my loving arms.’’ By 10 p.m., 10,000 well-wishers had sent emails to Roma Wade via the getwelldon@gmail.com email address on the WLS-AM (890) website, said the station’s program manager, Tracy Slutzkin. Mr. Wade, 72, died Friday morning in Florida following a nearly yearlong battle with brain cancer. His...

Don Wade, a pillar of Chicago radio, has died of a brain tumor, about a year after the condition forced the morning show host off the air. He was 72. Mr. Wade spent 55 years in broadcasting, 27 of them at WLS-AM 890, according to a statement Sunday on the station's website confirming his Friday death. In recent years, he worked mornings co-hosting "The Don Wade & Roma Show" with his wife. Colleagues said Mr. Wade was a relentless researcher who would wake up in the middle of the night to get ready for his 5 a.m. show. The "lovable...

On Friday, Sept 6, 2013, the world lost one of radio's greatest talents, Don Wade. Don went out as he lived and broadcasted, like a lion. As Dylan Thomas described: "Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage, rage against the dying light." Indeed he did. After 55 years of broadcasting, culminating in 27 legendary years at WLS, the rock of Chicago, only a devastating health blow could have pried that microphone from his hands. With his adoring wife, co-host and co-conspirator at his side, Don waged a mighty year-long battle against the deadly brain tumor which finally...

Prayers and well-wishes have been pouring in to news/talk WLS-AM (890) since listeners learned Monday about morning host Don Wade’s upcoming surgery to remove a growth from his brain. “The response has truly been overwhelming,” said Donna Baker, vice president and market manager of Cumulus Media in Chicago. “Many thousands have written in — and they’re really heartwarming. This man has friends who are praying for him all over the world.” Wade, 71, who has hosted mornings on WLS with his wife, Roma, since 1989, is scheduled for surgery Thursday in Chicago. The station has an email account at: getwelldon@gmail.com.

WLS Don & Roma should have the audio up later today. David Gregory from Meet the Depressed MSNBC was being asked about Holder and issues with Obama. Gregory became very irate that he would be actually questioned about his lack of questioning of his Democrat guests. I don't think David Gregory will be back on their morning show very soon. LOL.

As radio firings go, Cisco Cotto’s was one for the books. Just after finishing his midday airshift one Friday last July, Cotto was summoned to meet with his bosses at WLS-AM (890), the Citadel Broadcasting news/talk station where he’d worked for eight of the previous 11 years, first as a news anchor and reporter and more recently as a talk show host. There he was told that even though his ratings were excellent and his show was consistently profitable, Cotto was being let go — effective immediately — to make room for the duo of Bruce Wolf and Dan Proft,...

Don Wade and Roma will be relating the story at 7:20AM this morning about documents surfacing that show Barry Obama registered in college as a foreign student in order to get financial aid. Listen live at LISTEN LIVE LINK.

http://igold.isra.org/

Thanks to JamesTHarris for putting this clip up on Youtube. Sit back and enjoy a Fleebagger Meltdown even though it is painful to listen to...

Amy Jacobson officially joins the ranks of Chicago radio talk show hosts on March 24, when she debuts as co-host along with Big John Howell of the morning drive show on WIND-AM (560). She replaces Cisco Cotto, who earlier this year left WIND initially to co-host news/talk WLS-AM's (890) afternoon drive show with Roe Conn. But Cotto was quickly moved from the Conn show to a mid-morning berth at WLS. On Saturday, Jacobson resigned from WLS-AM (890), where since last spring she had done news and traffic reports first for Conn and then for the station's former mid-morning hosts Mancow...

It’s definitely not an easy time in the Blagojevich household. Rod Blagojevich has been impeached by the Illinois state House and faces an impeachment trial in the Senate. He faces Federal charges of trying to sell President Obama’s former US Senate seat, among other legal and ethical issues. Even Illinois First Lady Patricia Blagojevich was recently fired from her $100,000-a-year job as a fundraiser for a Chicago homeless agency. But “Blago” may have options. Citadel-owned talk station WLS-AM (890) in Chicago has offered Blagojevich his own Sunday talk show, but with one string attached – he must resign as Governor....

Just a note to say I hope all the Roe Conn fans out there caught his fill-in for Glenn Beck on CNN Headline News tonight. Though a trifle stiff (who wouldn't be?) and sans Jim, Bill, and Christina, Roe did a good job. He'd be a great substitute host for Beck anytime. That having been said, here's hoping this doesn't lead to too many "bigger things." We who make our workdays better listening to Roe and company on WLS like him right where he is.

While we gear up for our next major pieces, here's a roundup of the latest fodder: --- Did Al Franken really mock a disabled Vietnam Vet during a recent Asheville radio interview? BoreAmerica has the details, we'd like to hear the audio of this interview, if the host could please make it available. BoreAmerica also believes Janeane Garofalo has a promising future doing public service announcements, especially for booster seats. --- Lots of tension at ABC Radio, as worried staffers ponder who will be taking over some of America's largest talk radio stations (KGO, KSFO, WLS, WBAP, WABC, WMAL and...

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX THU NOV 10, 2005 10:33:08 ET XXXXX ABC NEARS SALE OF RADIO NETWORK, STATIONS; FINAL BIDS DUE THIS WEEK **Exclusive** DISNEYABC CEO Robert Iger is prepared to sign off on the sale of the network's ABC radio network and ABC radio stations, top sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT. Negotiations between DISNEY and three major suitors have intensified in recent weeks; contenders were asked by bankers representing ABC to meet via phone to discuss their final questions. Final bids are due this week, a top source says, with DISNEY then having a 15 day window to accept...

What's it going to take to get talk radio out of this increasingly-dismal ratings slump? The Radio Equalizer is tired of the post-election cycle excuse, since better-programmed stations are falling a bit less, while incompetently-managed outlets are getting creamed. The emerging Spring 2005 figures paint an especially bleak picture that must serve as an urgent industry wake-up call. Spring and fall Arbitron releases are considered the most important for media buyers, a loose parallel to TV's "Sweeps" months.

Newly released Arbitron radio ratings bring some questions to mind, such as: --- Will Air America's apologists finally come up with a fresh batch of excuses, after insisting more time was needed for it to catch on? Isn't that one getting stale? --- Will some of the traditional talk stations, now showing audience declines, make changes soon?

Jay Marvin 'happy to be out' as WLS talk show host December 29, 2004 BY ROBERT FEDER Jay Marvin, the liberal firebrand who offered a semblance of balance to the conservative spin on news/talk WLS-AM (890), was forced out Tuesday as midday host at the Disney/ABC-owned station. Eileen Byrne, who had been Marvin's co-host from 9 to 11 a.m. weekdays, will continue solo when she returns from vacation. John Gallagher, president and general manager of WLS, said the decision to cut Marvin was made because the show "hasn't produced what it was designed to achieve." It was unclear whether the...

The new all-conservative team of Teri O'Brien and Art Wallis is better than the somewhat conservative Don Wade and the liberal Roma. • Many more of the segments are about politics; • there seem to be less commercials; • both the new comers are social conservatives, which Don was not; • don't have to turn the channel when Roma whips out her little red book; • Teri doesn't coddle liberal guests like Don