[il-talk] Jonathon Brandmeier Coming to WGN

Wed Dec 7 06:28:37 UTC 2011

I thought Feder retired.  I haven't read his column in a few years. Anyway I am into the stations below 92 which he probably does not cover. 

I do not need any insanity today.  

-----Original Message-----
From: "Connie Davis" <connie.davis at rcn.com>
Sender: il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2011 22:47:03 
To: 'Hap Holly'<hap at therainreport.com>; 'NFB of Illinois Mailing List'<il-talk at nfbnet.org>
Reply-To: NFB of Illinois Mailing List <il-talk at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [il-talk] Jonathon Brandmeier Coming to WGN

I saw this on Facebook. I follow Robert Feder.

Connie 

-----Original Message-----
From: il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Hap Holly
Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2011 8:55 PM
To: NFB of Illinois Mailing List
Subject: [il-talk] Jonathon Brandmeier Coming to WGN

*Yes, this is off topic admitedly. However, as much as so many of us listen
to radio and have for years, I thought some of you might find this Robert
Feder piece of interest. And in case you aren't aware, Steve King and Jonny
Putnum are leaving WGN aftger more than 20 years of being the #1 overnight
show in Chicago on WGN.*

Brandmeier on WGN: 'This is the perfect home for me'
Posted in Chicago Media blog by Robert Feder on Dec 5, 2011 at 12:00am 

Jonathon Brandmeier

Will Johnny B. change WGN - or will WGN change Johnny B.?

On that question hinges the future of the Chicago Tribune's 87-year-old
radio flagship and millions of dollars in advertising revenue. Ready or not,
after a courtship that began more than 20 years ago in a secret meeting at
the Fairmont Hotel, Jonathon Brandmeier and news/talk WGN-AM (720) finally
consummated the deal that few believed would ever get done.

When he steps into the Michigan Avenue showcase studio and cracks open the
microphone Friday, the 55-year-old Chicago radio icon and pride of Fond du
Lac, Wisconsin, will become WGN's fourth morning personality in three years,
following Greg Jarrett (who was fired), John Williams (who moved to middays)
and Spike O'Dell (who retired).

But in substance and spirit, Johnny B. has more in common with their two
predecessors - the late Radio Hall of Famers Wally Phillips and Bob Collins,
whose immense talents and double-digit audience shares defined WGN and
dominated morning radio in Chicago for decades. Both no doubt would be proud
to share their mantle with Brandmeier.

"This is the perfect home for me," he says on the eve of his 5:30-to-9am
weekday show's debut. "It was one of the first things in my life that I
didn't have to overthink."

Unlike the lengthy and meticulous preparations that preceded his earlier
jobs - including two stints at the Loop and one at the former WCKG - this
time Johnny B. is hanging loose. As of Sunday, he still hadn't signed his
contract. He still hadn't met everyone he'll be working with (although he
did manage to bring back his old audio producer, Hector Soriano). And he
still hadn't settled on a million other details. But none of that seems to
faze him. "All I'm focused on is the product - talking into the mic and
taking calls and getting a kick out of it," he says. "Sometimes you just
have to strip it down so you can get back to where you were. That's how I
started, and that's what I do."

Such is the urgency to set things straight at WGN after years of decline and
decay that his new bosses insisted Brandmeier start at once and work it out
on the fly. "When you're talking about an opportunity like this, if you
waver on it, they will move on you. They're not fooling around. They have a
business. They're not going to wait around."

Even as they hustled Jarrett and morning show producer Jim Wiser out the
door, WGN bosses refused to confirm another major realignment - the ouster
of husband-and-wife overnight hosts Steve King and Johnnie Putman after more
than 26 years. Preferring to let Steve & Johnnie announce their departure on
the air, the station stonewalled inquiries on the promotion of Bill Leff,
who takes over from midnight to 5:30am weekdays on December 12. ("We're more
than OK with the way things have worked out," King said, kicking off a week
of farewell shows Monday.)

WGN general manager Tom Langmyer and program director Bill White basked in
Brandmeier's hiring last week, but credit for the deal belongs to Sean
Compton, president of programming for parent company Tribune Broadcasting.
Working with Brandmeier's attorney, Scott Zolke, who also happens to be a
longtime friend of Compton's, he hammered out the two-year agreement and
personally shepherded it through the bureaucratic maze of the
bankruptcy-gripped Tribune Co.

When Compton called Brandmeier about the job on September 26, it was hardly
the first time he'd been approached by an emissary of WGN. As far back as
1990, he'd met secretly in a suite at the Fairmont Hotel with general
manager Dan Fabian and program director Lorna Gladstone, who offered him
virtually a blank check to join WGN. And as recently as last year, serious
talks ensued with program director Kevin Metheny under the regime of former
Tribune Co. CEO Randy Michaels. But nothing ever materialized.

So when Compton reached out this time, Brandmeier naturally was skeptical:
"I said with all due respect, I'd heard it all before. I'll believe it when
I see it. I was like Hyman Roth in The Godfather: 'I'm going to go take a
nap. When I wake up, if there's money on the table, I know we have a deal.
If not, I go forward.' And he said OK, let's go. Let's do it. And he made it
all happen - boom, boom, boom."

The deal they made covers only radio, although Brandmeier is eager to pursue
television, too. Brandmeier, his freewheeling weekly variety/talk show on
NBC 5 and the NBC Chicago NonStop digital channel, concludes December 16,
and he's in talks with station president Larry Wert on a renewal. But
Brandmeier says he'd also be "wide open" to a deal on the WGN America
superstation or elsewhere. "I'm definitely not going to choose to do just
radio. Definitely not."

At WGN, Brandmeier inherits a daypart that currently ranks 16th among
listeners in the money demo (between the ages of 25 and 54) with a 2.6
percent share, according to Arbitron. Though higher than the station's
overall standing in 22nd place with a 2.1 share, it's a long way from the
top ratings Johnny B. enjoyed in his heyday at the Loop.

In a candid conversation Sunday, Brandmeier shared his hopes and
expectations for the new morning show:

Q. Can you describe what it will be like?

A. It's the Today show on the radio. Just think of it that way. There's Matt
Lauer interviewing somebody who killed Moammar Gadhafi and next thing you
know he's outside of the studio in a Halloween costume. That's how I
envision the radio show.

Q. Will you be expected to maintain the rigid format with traffic every 10
minutes and all that?

A. No, they're going to free it up a lot more. My understanding is there'll
be three breaks [an hour]. And that's it. What Sean [Compton] said to me,
which really convinced me that they were serious, was that you're going to
be the catalyst that changes the station. That sounds arrogant, but he said,
if we put you into place, and we have Garry [Meier] in the afternoon, then
we start to loosen it up. That's the understanding. We'll see. If it doesn't
turn out that way, there should be some interesting listening.

Q. Do you feel capable of handling serious, breaking news when it happens?

A. Absolutely, positively. I just absolutely can do it. I always consider
myself a journalist. Ron Magers used to say, "Brandmeier will take a story
and peck it apart like a chicken until he gets every feather off of it." I
feel like that's what I do. They'll have me and the great resources of the
Tribune Company. These guys know what they're talking about. Believe me, I
know what I'm doing.

Q. But can you do it the WGN way?

A. I don't look at it as WGN. I look at it as this is who I am, wherever I
am. I have great respect for the call letters, but I am what I am. You're
always going to hear the essence of me. You can't hide it, mask it or format
it. The essence of me is about fun. Curious, opinionated fun. I don't take
life too seriously.

Q. Tell the truth. Is there anything you're nervous about?

A. No, except my equipment. I'm excited like crazy. I'm like a child. I just
want to go to work. I saw the showcase studio and I was like a 5-year-old,
just looking around. When I walked into that room, it was the same feeling I
had when I saw KFIZ in Fond du Lac: "Look at the mics over here! This is
unbelievable!"

Q. Think you'll be able to get along with everyone there?

A. You're talking to a guy who's worked with every one of those guys. I've
been through every incarnation of personalities you can imagine. It doesn't
faze me. I just go to work.

Q. How will you measure your success?

A. I don't know. Somebody's going to tell me like always. I just know. I
know in my head. Because if I get off the air and I had fun, that's it. . .
. I always tell my staff, "Let's find some meat. Let's put some meat in the
cooler. Meat."

Q. Anything else we should know?

A. When people are driving around, if they're talking about Jay Cutler and
his thumb, or they're talking about his wedding, or the city blows up, I
want them to know they can turn in to me on 'GN, and they're gonna get it.
But they're also gonna get an opinion. That's the beauty of it. They don't
just have to listen to the news, they can call right in, throw their
opinions in. I love that! 591-7200. Oh, man, that's awesome. Who doesn't
know that phone number?

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