WGN Radio Timeline

1960

September 26 - Orion Samuelson is named WGN's Farm Service Director, beginning a career that would continue well into the next century.

1961

January - WGN moves to a combined radio and television facility at 2501 Bradley Place on Chicago's north side. At the official dedication ceremony in June, the complex is called "the country's largest and finest broadcasting facility housing a single radio and television company."

1962

May 18 - WGN celebrates its 40th Anniversary with a live three-hour broadcast hosted by Jack Brickhouse, Pierre Andre and Eddie Hubbard, featuring Robert Trendler and the WGN Orchestra and special guests including Quin Ryan, Bob Elson and Shirley Bell.

Summer - Orion Samuelson broadcasts from the Illinois State Fair. The annual broadcasts would continue for over four decades.

1963

November 22 - In the midst of a routine broadcast of the noontime program Country Fair, Orion Samuelson is handed a bulletin. As he reads the words "President Kennedy has been shot and seriously wounded," he and his WGN listeners get their first indication of the tragedy unfolding in Dallas.

1965

January - Wally Phillips begins a 21 1/2 year reign as the king of Chicago morning radio. Wally's style includes innovative "candid telephone" bits and carefully choreographed interactions with a variety of recorded voices and sounds. He combines entertainment, humor, information and public service including the founding of the Neediest Kids Christmas Fund, later known as the WGN Radio Neediest Kids Fund, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation.

1967

January 26-27 - Chicago is buried under 23 inches of snow in 18 hours, with peak snowfall of 4-6 inches per hour. Many WGN Radio staff members stay at the station for several days to help provide coverage, and trafficopter reporters Irv Hayden and Ed Peterson provide traffic reports and inform authorities of accidents and motorists in need of assistance.

July - Roy Leonard makes the permanent move from Boston to host the mid-day broadcast.

1968

May 9 - On the fourth night of a new program called Extension 720, host Norman Ross welcomes a panel to discuss the topic of "Show Business Personalities' Endorsements of Political Candidates." Among the guests is University of Chicago professor Dr. Milton Rosenberg.

1971

March 17 - Marilyn Miller is named producer of the Wally Phillips Show and is believed to be the first female morning drive time producer in radio. She would remain Wally's producer until his retirement and would continue with the station after that working in the Human Resources department.

June 12 - Popular all-night music host Franklyn MacCormack suffers a heart attack during the broadcast of his Meister Brau Showcase. He would die the next day. Decades later, MacCormack remains the subject of numerous listener requests and questions.

August - Bill Berg becomes the new afternoon drive host.

1972

October 30 - Wally Phillips is on the air when he receives a phone call from the scene of Chicago's worst rail accident, a high speed collision between an Illinois Central commuter train and another IC train stopped at the 27th Street station killing 45 people and injuring hundreds more. WGN's coverage would include reports from witnesses on the scene and from trafficopter reporters high overhead.

1973

July - Milt Rosenberg becomes the permanent host of Extension 720. Previous hosts, mostly on a rotating basis, included Dan Price (the regular host for a time), Norman Ross, Jerry Tolbert, Bob Cromie, Jack Brickhouse and Orion Samuelson.

1974

January 2 - WGN wins the President's Trophy at the 85th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, for a float called "Happiness is a Golden Anniversary," to mark the station's first 50 years.

April 1 - Bob Collins joins WGN Radio as a new afternoon host.

1975

October 1 - On the night of the Ali/Frazier "Thrilla in Manila" bout, a group of sports journalists from print media gathers in a WGN studio for the debut of a new program. The Sportswriters, featuring Ben Bentley, Bill Jauss, Bill Gleason and George Langford among others over the years, would be a fixture on WGN until 1993, usually on late Sunday afternoons. Years later, some people would say they could still smell cigar smoke in Studio C.

1979

May 25 - Larry Schriener reports from the scene of the worst aviation disaster in U.S. history, as American Airlines flight 191, a DC-10, loses an engine and crashes shortly after taking off from O'Hare Airport, killing all 271 people on board and two on the ground.

On to the 1980s...