Phil Ponce

Last updated
Phil Ponce
Born (1949-09-26) September 26, 1949 (age 74)
McAllen, Texas, U.S.
Alma mater Bishop Noll Institute
Indiana University (B.A.)
University of Michigan (J.D.)
OccupationTelevision journalist
Years active1982–present
Known forHost of Chicago Tonight (since 1999)
Spouse Ann Ponce (present)

Phil Ponce (born September 26, 1949) is an American journalist and television presenter. Ponce is notable as the former, long-time host of "Chicago Tonight", a weekly television magazine of news and culture on WTTW, Chicago's public television station.

Contents

Early life

Ponce was born on 1949 in McAllen, Texas, [1] but was raised in East Chicago, Indiana. [2] He graduated from Bishop Noll Institute in Hammond, Indiana. He then attended Indiana University and received a B.A. in English in 1971. In 1974 he received a J.D. from the University of Michigan.

Ponce's parents both were steelworkers. During college, Ponce worked as a steelworker during summers. [3]

Career

Ponce began his career as a lawyer. He practiced law for six years before going into broadcasting. [4]

Ponce got his first job in broadcasting as a weekend reporter for an ABC affiliate in Indianapolis. [5]

In 1982 he joined the Chicago CBS station WBBM-TV as a reporter. Ponce left WBBM-TV in late 1991 to take a position as manager of international communications for the telecommunications company Ameritech Corporation. [6] [7]

In 1992, Ponce began his career at WTTW11 as a correspondent for Chicago Tonight — a position he held until 1997 when he left to become one of Jim Lehrer's supporting anchors on the national PBS show, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer . He returned to Chicago two years later as the successor to long-time Chicago Tonight host, John Callaway (Callaway later hosted WTTW's Friday Night program). In his position as host, Ponce was active as a moderator of political debates including those for the presidency, the U.S. Senate, the governorship, and mayor of Chicago. Ponce also teaches journalism at Loyola University Chicago where he is the university's distinguished journalist in residence.

He has received numerous awards for his work including Alpha Sigma Nu, the Jesuit honor society, Illinois Journalist of the Year, the Studs Terkel Award and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Indiana University College of Arts and Sciences.

In late 2017, Ponce announced that he would reduce his workload to three days a week during 2018 and two days a week in 2019. [8]

Personal life

Ponce's wife, Ann Ponce, is a Chicago portrait and landscape artist.

Ponce's daughter, Maria Ponce, is a photographer in Chicago. Ponce also has two sons. Dan Ponce is the founder of the a cappella group, Straight No Chaser, and was a television reporter with ABC7 (WLS-TV) in Chicago for three years until leaving in January 2009. Dan is currently a morning anchor at WGN Ch. 9. His other son, Anthony Ponce, was a television reporter with NBC5 (WMAQ-TV), and is now an anchor/reporter at WFLD Ch. 32, also in Chicago.

Ponce lives in Chicago's northern suburbs. [9]

Related Research Articles

WTTW is a PBS member television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by not-for-profit broadcaster Window to the World Communications, Inc., it is sister to commercial classical music radio station WFMT. The two stations share studios in the Renée Crown Public Media Center, located at 5400 North Saint Louis Avenue in the city's North Park neighborhood; its transmitter facility is atop the Willis Tower on South Wacker Drive in the Chicago Loop. WTTW also owns and operates The Chicago Production Center, a video production and editing facility that is operated alongside the two stations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Kurtis</span> American journalist and radio personality

Bill Kurtis is an American television journalist, television producer, narrator, and news anchor.

WBBM-TV is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's CBS network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington Street in the Loop, and its transmitter is located atop the Willis Tower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lester Holt</span> American journalist and news anchor (born 1959)

Lester Don Holt Jr. is an American journalist and news anchor for the weekday edition of NBC Nightly News, NBC Nightly News Kids Edition, and Dateline NBC. On June 18, 2015, Holt was made the permanent anchor of NBC Nightly News following the demotion of Brian Williams. Holt followed in the career footsteps of Max Robinson, an ABC News evening co-anchor, and Holt became the first black man to solo anchor a weekday network nightly newscast.

Walter David Jacobson is a former Chicago television news personality and a current Chicago radio news personality. He currently provides opinion segments for WGN Radio AM 720. From 2010 until 2013, he was an anchor of the 6 p.m. news on WBBM-TV in Chicago, where he also had worked from 1973 until 1993. From 1993 until 2006, he was principal anchor on WFLD-TV's FOX News at 9 and the host of FOX Chicago Perspective, a one-hour news and political show that aired Sunday mornings on WFLD.

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.

Diann Burns in Cleveland, Ohio is a former television news anchor and a nine-time Emmy Award-winner. She is best known for her years as a prime-time weekday anchor for two Chicago television stations. Burns appeared in several major movies and at least one television dramatic series. She was the first African-American woman to anchor the prime-time news in Chicago. She entered the Chicago TV market as a reporter after a successful career as newspaper journalist. She earned an advanced degree in journalism at Columbia University in New York.

Mary Ann Childers is an American media consultant and former newscaster. From 1980 to 1994, she worked as an anchor at WLS-TV in Chicago, where she became the first woman to anchor a top-rated 10pm newscast in Chicago. She then worked as a reporter and anchor at Chicago's WBBM-TV from 1994 to 2008.

Carol Marin is a television and print journalist based in Chicago, Illinois.

Robert John Jamieson is an American former television news correspondent for ABC News until January 2008. After getting his start in local news in St. Louis and Chicago, he joined NBC's national news bureau in 1971. There he reported on a variety of national and international news, including several conflicts in the Middle East. Jamieson was a frequent substitute news anchor on Today throughout the 1980s, filled in as anchor on NBC Nightly News, and served as the anchor of NBC News at Sunrise from 1986 to January 1987. From March 1987 to September 1988, he hosted Before Hours, a 15-minute early morning business news program that was a joint production of NBC News and The Wall Street Journal. He joined ABC in 1990.

Bruce DuMont is an American syndicated radio political analyst and former TV broadcaster based in Chicago, Illinois. He is the host of Beyond the Beltway, a syndicated talk radio show that airs on approximately 25 stations around the United States. The program, which began in 1980 as Inside Politics, also aired a televised version on Chicago's secondary PBS station, WYCC, from 1996 to 2017, when WYCC went off the air.

Chicago Tonight is a television news program broadcast on weeknights on WTTW in Chicago. It reports primarily on local politics, education, business, culture, science, and health, with a mix of in-studio panel discussions, one-on-one interviews, and short documentary-style packages. On its website, it publishes additional news stories and features by staff reporters.

Paul David Kerley III, known professionally as David Kerley, is an American journalist who is a correspondent for ABC News in Washington, D.C.

Corey B. McPherrin, known professionally as Corey McPherrin, is the former evening news anchor for WFLD-TV in Chicago.

John Callaway was an American journalist, who appeared on radio and television as a host, interviewer and moderator. He was the original host of Chicago Tonight, a nightly news program broadcast on the Chicago, Illinois television station WTTW, serving in that role from 1984 to 1999.

Elizabeth E. Brackett was an American journalist and political figure and writer. She was known for hosting WTTW's Chicago Tonight program, and also worked as a correspondent for PBS' The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. In 1988, she won a Peabody Award with her coverage of the 1988 U.S. presidential election.

Dan Ponce is an American television journalist for WGN-TV, radio talk show host on WLS-AM (890) and founder of the a cappella group Straight No Chaser.

Michele Clark Academic Prep Magnet High School is a public 4–year magnet high school located in the Austin neighborhood on the west side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The school is named for African–American network television reporter and Chicago-based journalist Michele Clark. In 2013, The school joined the Chicago Public Schools' STEM Program.

Harry Porterfield was an American news anchor for WBBM-TV.

Cisco Cotto is a radio personality and pastor, serving as morning anchor on WBBM 780/105.9 and campus pastor at Village Bible Church in Naperville, Illinois.

References

  1. ↑ "Phil Ponce, veteran newsman, talks about education, crime, gun control, and Chicago personalities". Marfa Public Radio. April 8, 2013. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Ailing anchor Phil Ponce feeling 'much better now'". RobertFeder. October 31, 2014. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  3. ↑ "My Chicago | My Chicago: Phil, Dan, and Anthony Ponce | Episode 6".
  4. ↑ "My Chicago | My Chicago: Phil, Dan, and Anthony Ponce | Episode 6".
  5. ↑ "My Chicago | My Chicago: Phil, Dan, and Anthony Ponce | Episode 6".
  6. ↑ "Al, the PalHas Sen. Alan Dixon changed... – Chicago Tribune". Chicago Tribune .
  7. ↑ O'Malley, Kathy (November 14, 1991). "O'Malley & Collin INC". Chicago Tribune . p. NW26.
  8. ↑ "Robservations: WTTW's Phil Ponce cutting back on 'Chicago Tonight' - Robert Feder".
  9. ↑ Phil Ponce of WTTW lists house for a little over $1 million
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.