Dean Richards | |
|---|---|
 Richards in 2012 | |
| Born | March 31, 1954 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Columbia College Chicago |
| Occupation(s) | Film Critic/Entertainment Reporter at WGN-TV Radio Host at WGN (AM) |
| Years active | 1975–present |
Dean Richards (born March 31, 1954) is an American film critic and entertainment reporter for WGN-TV and a longtime radio host for WGN (AM) in Chicago.
Now living on Chicago's northwest side, Richards is a native of Chicago's South Shore and West Beverly neighborhoods, Richards graduated from Columbia College Chicago. [1] [2]
Richards began his career in radio in 1975, holding a variety of jobs in Chicago at stations like WLTD (now WCGO), WMRO and WAUR, Aurora; WFYR (now WKSC-FM), WCFL (now WMVP), WIND (AM) and WCLR. [3] In 1984, he also did voiceover work for WPWR-TV Channel 60. From 1985 until 1990, he doubled as operations manager and morning host at the Satellite Music Network, which was based in Chicago's southwest suburbs. [3]
In 1990, Richards joined WNUA in Chicago as a weekend and substitute radio host. [3] In May 1991, Richards remained at WNUA, but took a job as a staff announcer at WGN-TV. [4]
In July 1991, Richards was promoted to become WNUA's morning host after its previous morning host, Yvonne Daniels, died. [3] In the summer of 1994, Richards' contract was not renewed at WNUA. [5] Almost immediately after leaving WNUA, Richards became a fill-in radio host at WGN (AM) in Chicago. In December 1994, the station gave him a Sunday afternoon program of his own. [6]
In the spring of 1995, Richards was promoted to become WGN's production director, primarily overseeing production of radio commercials. [7] [8] By October 1995, Richards was given a Saturday afternoon shift at WGN as well. [9]
In 1998, Richards successfully persuaded Chicago officials to rename a portion of Addison Street in Chicago near the WGN-TV studios after Bob Bell, who had played Bozo the Clown on WGN-TV from 1960 until 1984. [10]
In January 1999, Richards debuted as a Sunday morning radio host on WGN. [11] In January 2000, Richards began delivering weekly theater reviews on noon newscasts WGN-TV in Chicago. [12] At the time, Richards was also a part of the regular rotation of hosts of Illinois Lottery drawings, which take place at the WGN-TV studios.
In 2001, Richards switched to delivering his weekly theater reviews on WGN-TV's morning newscasts. [13] In 2004, Richards began covering show business for WGN-TV, including conducting hundreds of celebrity interviews. [14] In January 2010, Richards' production duties were cut at WGN-AM radio. [15]
On January 29, 2010, WGN-TV aired an interview that Richards conducted with actor Mel Gibson via a remote feed about his new film, Edge of Darkness , and then queried Gibson about how the public perceives him, given his noted drunken outburst and anti-Semitic rant while being arrested in 2006. The line of questioning annoyed Gibson, who told Richards, "That's almost four years ago, dude. I mean, I've moved on. I guess you haven't." After the interview, Gibson — unaware that the camera was still rolling and that he was still on air — took a sip of coffee and used the term "asshole," presumably directed at Richards. Gibson and his publicist both later claimed that the remark was directed at Gibson's publicist; a remark later proven false by insiders who were in the studio with Gibson at the time. [16]
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Since joining WGN-AM, Richards has won over 30 local and national awards for programming and production. [1]
In September 2007, Richards faced a cancer scare when he had his thyroid gland removed. [17] Richards has been a long-time supporter of Gilda's Club, a support organization for cancer survivors founded by Gene Wilder, the husband of comedian Gilda Radner. Since the early 2000s he has given over one week of his radio show a year to support the organization and to share with and tell the stories of Gilda's Club members.
WGN-TV is an independent television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister to the company's sole radio property, news/talk/sports station WGN. WGN-TV's studios are located on West Bradley Place in Chicago's North Center community; as such, it is the only major commercial television station in Chicago which bases its main studio outside the Loop. Its transmitter is located atop the Willis Tower in the Loop.
Robert Lewis Bell, better known as Bob Bell, was an American actor and announcer famous for his alter-ego, Bozo the Clown. He was the original portrayer of the character for Chicago superstation WGN-TV.
Eleanor Jane Mondale Poling was an American radio personality, television host, and actress.
WGN is a commercial AM radio station in Chicago, Illinois, featuring a talk radio format. WGN's studios are in the Chicago Loop, while the transmitter is in Elk Grove Village. WGN also features broadcasts of Chicago Blackhawks hockey and Northwestern University football and basketball.
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Ray Rayner was an American television presenter, actor and author, he was the staple of Chicago children's television in the 1960s and 1970s on WGN-TV.
WKSC-FM – branded "103.5 Kiss FM" – is a commercial Top 40 (CHR) radio station licensed to Chicago, Illinois. Owned by iHeartMedia, it broadcasts a Top 40 (CHR) format. Its studios are located at the Illinois Center complex on Michigan Avenue in Downtown Chicago, and it broadcasts from a 4.3 kW transmitter atop Willis Tower.
William Frazier Thomas was a Chicago television personality. Although Thomas wrote nine children's books, he was best known for creating, hosting, writing and producing the long-running children's television program Garfield Goose and Friends on WGN-TV.
Garry Meier is a Chicago-based radio personality who has been active in Chicago radio since 1973. Meier is well known for being part of the highly successful radio duos "Steve & Garry" and "Roe and Garry", but he also hosted shows on WYEN, WFYR, WLUP, WCKG, WGN and WGN.FM at various times in his career. Meier is also a former feature reporter for WGN-TV's morning show and is a member of the National Radio Hall of Fame. As of March 12, 2016, he has a new show broadcast in Podcast format via his website.
Robert "Bob" Sirott is an American broadcaster. He is the morning host at WGN in Chicago. He is also a former television news anchor, most recently working in that role at Chicago's WFLD.
Steve Cochran is an American radio broadcaster. He hosted the morning show at WGN in Chicago from 2013 to December 2019. He previously worked at WGN from 2000 to 2010. After leaving WGN in 2019, he started the podcast "Live from my Office," sponsored by Team Hochberg. He has been the morning host for WLS (AM) in Chicago since June 2022.
Roe B. Conn is a former American talk radio host based in Chicago who is now a sworn deputy and Director of the Cook County sheriff's office.
The WGN Morning News is an American morning television news program airing on WGN-TV, an independent television station and national superstation in Chicago, Illinois owned by Nexstar Media Group. The program broadcasts each weekday from 4:00 to 10:00 a.m. and each weekend from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Central Time.
The Bozo Show was a locally produced children's television program that aired on WGN-TV in Chicago and nationally on what is now NewsNation. It was based on a children's record-book series, Bozo the Clown by Capitol Records. The series is a local version of the internationally franchised Bozo the Clown format and is also the longest-running in the franchise. Recognized as the most popular and successful locally produced children's program in the history of television, it only aired under this title for 14 of its 40+ years: other titles were Bozo, Bozo's Circus, and The Bozo Super Sunday Show.
WRME-LD is a low-power television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, affiliated with Jewelry Television. The station's audio channel, transmitting at 87.75 MHz, lies within the FM band; as a result, WRME-LD's audio channel operates as a radio station at 87.7 FM. Owned by Venture Technologies Group and operated under a local marketing agreement (LMA) by Weigel Broadcasting, the station airs a soft adult contemporary/oldies format via the 87.75 MHz audio channel under the brand 87.7 MeTV FM, a brand extension of Weigel's MeTV television network. The WRME-LD studios are co-located with Weigel's headquarters in Chicago's Greektown neighborhood, while the transmitter resides atop the John Hancock Center.
Bruce Wolf is a veteran Chicago broadcaster and sports anchor who has been on both TV and radio for more than 20 years. He formerly hosted a politics-themed talk show weekday mornings on WLS (AM) radio in Chicago. He also fills in as a sportscaster on WMAQ-TV in Chicago and works part-time as a divorce attorney.
William "Spike" O'Dell, a native of East Moline, Illinois, is an American former radio host for WGN Radio in Chicago, Illinois. He joined WGN in 1987 and hosted the afternoon show until 2000 when he took over for Bob Collins in the morning slot from 5 to 9 a.m, following the death of Collins. During the time O'Dell held that slot, his show was consistently the top rated morning show in the Chicago market. O'Dell's tenure with WGN concluded on December 12, 2008, with his final broadcast from the Metropolis Theatre in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The broadcast was part of the WGN Hometown Voices series, which was created by O'Dell.
Bozo, Gar & Ray: WGN TV Classics is a two-hour television special produced by WGN-TV in Chicago, Illinois which focuses on children's programming which aired on the station from 1955 to 2001. It debuted in 2005 and has been featured on both WGN-TV and its former superstation WGN America. The program is hosted by WGN-TV personality Dean Richards.
Jenniffer Colleen Weigel, known professionally as Jenniffer Weigel, is a Chicago radio and television personality, as well as an author and performer who owns her own Chicago-area production company. She was a morning cohost on WLS-AM alongside Mancow Muller; she now hosts her own show on WLS-AM from 10:00 pm to midnight Monday through Friday. She previously hosted Taste, a program aired on NBC affiliates both in New York and in Chicago, and she also previously wrote a column for the Chicago Tribune and appeared on WGN Television and CLTV in Chicago to discuss her columns as the emcee of Trib University.
NewsNation Prime is an American television news program on NewsNation, which premiered nationally on September 1, 2020. Broadcast live from Chicago, the program utilizes the journalistic resources of the 110 television news operations throughout the United States that are operated under the network's corporate parent Nexstar Media Group. The program is designed as an alternative to the opinion-based programs on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel, the top-rated cable news networks in the country in the early 2020s.