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Published on Sunday, 12 August 2012 08:34
As budget issues continue to hurt WGN-AM, the latest to feel the effects is veteran newsman Christopher Michael. The weekend news anchor is out from the station as of this morning due to cutbacks at the station and to make room for another part-time news anchor that the station picked up last week.
The timing of the cut is a tough one. This week is Christopher Michael's 45th anniversary of working in broadcasting, having first started back in August 1967 while he was still in high school. Over 40 of those years have been in the Chicagoland market. He has worked at WGN-AM since January 2004.
Outside of his recent seven and a half years working primarily Saturday nights/Sunday mornings for WGN Radio, Christopher Michael may be best remembered for his many years working at WMAQ-AM as a news anchor (1988-1995 & 1996-2000).
Along the way, he has also been a news anchor on such Chicago radio stations as WJJD-AM (where he was morning anchor & News Director), WCFL-AM, WCLR-FM, WKQX-FM, and numerous other stations, including NextMedia's suburban outlets. Christopher Michael began in the Chicago area as an overnight DJ on WYEN-FM.
He has been heard as a reporter for the NBC radio network and the Mutual Broadcasting System. Michael wrote & hosted the nationally syndicated program, "The Crain's Business Report." Additionally, there was a long time period when Christopher Michael was the main fill-in for the legendary Paul Harvey's nationally syndicated program.
Among the many awards won by Christopher Michael over his 45 years in broadcasting include an Illinois Broadcasters Association Silver Dome Award, two Peter Lisagor Awards for Business News and Special Programming, and an International Radio Award.
Christopher Michael (under his real, non-radio name) is the owner of
Sound Targeting, Inc. (STI), an independent production company that creates and syndicates short-form features for radio stations nationwide. Among the segments being produced & syndicated currently are "The 60 Second Checkup," "A Minute For Kids," and "Rural Health Today." STI syndicated "A Senior Moment" with Chicago radio superstar Clark Weber, until earlier this year when Clark Weber chose to retire from the program.
In addition to his work om STI's programs, Christopher Michael's voice can still be heard on over 400 radio stations nationwide as the host of the syndicated half-hour weekly radio magazine show, "Viewpoints," which is produced by Chicago's MediaTracks Communications. Dog lovers can hear Christopher Michael as the voice of the International Kennel Club in Chicago and the Wisconsin Kennel Club in Milwaukee.
Christopher Michael is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications.
For his final broadcast on WGN-AM early this morning, Christopher Michael read the following farewell notice over the airwaves...
"Love and loss are diabolical conjoined twins. For as soon as glorious love makes its presence known, out creeps loss waiting for its eventual victory. Ans so it is with nearly everything. That cute new puppy will, sooner or later, become an old dog and pass away. And it happens with childhood sweethearts, new cars, and even jobs in your chosen profession.
Love started for me in the last of that list 45 years ago this week. And while loss nipped repeatedly, love always triumphed. And it may yet again.
As you may have guessed, loss has won this hand. Though artfully dealt through the years with training, melded with glorious moments, and played out in tricks of fate only the Lord can provide, it's time to shuffle the deck and move to the next table.
I hope to see you all on the radio again somewhere. In the meantime, while loss does its celebratory dance, as the Bible says, love never dies."
