Lou Manfredini | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | May 4, 1964 Highland Park, Illinois, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Television host Radio Personality |
| Website | fixitenterprises |
Lou Manfredini (born May 4, 1964) is an American television/radio personality and home improvement expert. Born in Highland Park, Illinois he is the host of HouseSmarts TV, host of Chicago's WGN (AM) HouseSmarts Radio (formerly Mr. Fix-It), [1] and is a contributor on NBC's Today Show.
Manfredini was born to Massimo and Lida Manfredini in Highland Park, IL. His father worked as an auto and truck mechanic, mother was a homemaker. Manfredini worked with his father on cars and trucks which ultimately led Manfredini to pursue a career in home improvement. While a student at Deerfield High School, Manfredini worked at a hardware store and at a steel company as a welder. After graduating high school in 1982, Manfredini went to Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois on a musical theater scholarship. In 1987, Manfredini started a construction company in Chicago. After 8 years in business, he began a media career in 1995 when WGN (AM) Radio launched his idea for a home improvement call-in radio show.
In 1995 after writing letters to pitch his idea for a call-in home improvement radio show on WGN Radio, morning show host Bob Collins booked Manfredini on his show as a guest where his nickname, Mr. Fix It, was coined. Soon after Manfredini joined host Roy Leonard on his Saturday show as a regular contributor which then led to his own Saturday morning call-in radio show which still airs today. In 2000, Manfredini became the home improvement contributor for NBC-TV's Today Show, from 2006 to 2013 for NBC-5 Chicago and in September 2013 for WGN-TV Chicago. [2] In 2006, he partnered with Frank DiGioia, President and CEO of Fort Productions, to create the news/magazine style home improvement and lifestyle show HouseSmarts. Manfredini is also the host of Lou Manfredini's HouseSmarts Minutes (formerly Lou Manfredini's Home Improvement Minutes) that are syndicated on radio stations across the United States. [3]
On May 29, 2015 Manfredini was inducted into the WGN Radio Walk of Fame. [4]
On January 14, 2017 Manfredini debuted the live show, HouseSmarts Radio, on 77-WABC New York.
On October 14, 2017 Manfredini debuted the live show, HouseSmarts Radio, on 790-KABC Los Angeles.
Manfredini has represented Marvin Windows and Doors nationally as their spokesperson since 2004 and serves/has served as spokesperson in the Chicago market for: Perma Seal Basement Systems, [5] Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana Chevy Dealers and Baxter Credit Union (BCU). [6]
Since 2002 Manfredini has served as Ace Hardware's resident "Home Expert" and editorial media spokesperson. [7]
Manfredini has been host of satellite media tours representing companies such as The Wood Promotion Network, [8] 3M, [9] Marvin Windows and Doors, [10] Ace Hardware, [11] Skil Power Tools.
Manfredini has served as subject matter expert host for The Rug Doctor infomercial. [12]
Manfredini has sung the National Anthem at Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, three times – once in 1998, once in 2001 [13] and once as a duet in 2009 with his producer, Lindsey Smithwick (formerly Kreutzer). [14]
From 2002 to 2003 Manfredini served as the Home Category Expert for the Home Shopping Network (HSN).
On August 18, 2011 Manfredini was a guest on the stage and radio show created by the Chicago Tribune and The Second City, Chicago Live! [15]
On May 30, 2012, Manfredini guest starred in the Irish musical The Twelve Tenors for one night at the Riverfront Theater in Chicago. [16]
Manfredini lives in Chicago with his wife and four children and runs the Edgebrook Ace Hardware and Villa Park Ace Hardware.
Oak Brook is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States with a very small portion in Cook County. The population was 8,163 at the 2020 census.
WGN-TV is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and 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.
A plunger is a device driven by or against fluid pressure. In plumbing, the term plunger commonly refers to handheld tools used to clear blockages in drains and pipes. Plumbing plungers consist of a rubber suction cup attached to a stick (shaft) usually made of wood or plastic. A different bellows-like design also exists, usually constructed of plastic. Alternate names for plumbing plungers include force cup, plumber's friend or plumber's helper.
Ace Hardware Corporation is an American hardware retailers' cooperative based in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States. It is the largest non-grocery retail cooperative in the United States.
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.
National Barn Dance, broadcast by WLS-AM in Chicago, Illinois starting in 1924, was one of the first American country music radio programs and a direct precursor of the Grand Ole Opry.
Thomas "Tom" Bruce Griswold co-hosts the radio show The Bob & Tom Show together with Chick McGee, Kristi Lee, and Josh Arnold. Co-host Bob Kevoian retired at the end of 2015. This comedy-based early morning program is among the highest rated in American radio and has been nationally syndicated since 1995. The show is broadcast from studios at WFBQ in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Buffalo Grove High School (BGHS) is a public high school located in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, a northwestern suburb of Chicago. It is one of six four-year comprehensive high schools in Township High School District 214, serving portions of the villages of Buffalo Grove, Arlington Heights, and Wheeling. Feeder schools are Cooper Middle School, Thomas Middle School, and London Middle School.
Len Kasper is an American sportscaster. Since 2021, he has been the radio play-by-play announcer for the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball, teaming with color analyst Darrin Jackson on ESPN 1000 and the Chicago White Sox Radio Network.
Tribune Entertainment was a television production and broadcast syndication company owned and operated by Tribune Broadcasting. It was started in 1964 as a subsidiary of WGN-TV in Chicago. Many programs offered from Tribune Entertainment have been broadcast on the company's television stations.
Chuck Swirsky is an American–Canadian radio sports announcer. He is the play-by-play voice of the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Swirsky's association with Chicago sports started in 1979 with his WCFL AM 1000 talk show, which debuted on August 27 of that year. Outside Chicago, Swirsky called play-by-play for both University of Michigan basketball and football and was formerly the play-by-play voice of the Toronto Raptors.
David Emmanuel Kaplan is an American columnist, radio and television personality who currently co-hosts Kap and J. Hood weekday mornings from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. CST on ESPN 1000. He also has a highly popular YouTube page with 200,000 subscribers where he posts what he has popularized as the REKAP after every Cubs, White Sox, and Bears games as well as other Chicago and major sporting events. He also does extensive Chicago Bears coverage throughout the NFL season including regular shows with former Chicago Bears stars Tom Waddle and Olin Kreutz and current Chicago Bears players Marcedes Lewis and Kevin Byard who are part of his REKAP channel on a regular basis.
The Bob & Tom Show is a syndicated US radio program established by Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold at radio station WFBQ in Indianapolis, Indiana, March 7, 1983, and syndicated nationally since January 6, 1995. Originally syndicated by Premiere Networks, the show moved to Cumulus Media Networks at the beginning of 2014.
Milton J. "Milt" Rosenberg was a prominent social psychologist who was professor of psychology at the University of Chicago and was the host of a long-running radio program in Chicago, Illinois.
Charles Edward "Eddie" Hubbard was an American easy-listening/MOR disc jockey and radio personality in Chicago, at such radio stations as WIND and WGN. At WGN he co-hosted a popular show with Jack Brickhouse.
Chicago Vocational High School is a public four-year vocational high school located in the Avalon Park neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1941, the school is operated by the Chicago Public Schools district.
Harry Volkman was an American meteorologist and the first weatherman to issue a televised tornado warning.
Amy Guth is an American radio host, writer and author, and publisher of Chicago Tribune daily publication, RedEye.