Posted by chicagomedia.org on April 17, 2009 at 10:42:14:
'Chicago Tonight' relevant as ever after 25 years
WTTW original remains insightful through stewardship of DuMont, Callaway, Sirott and Ponce
April 17, 2009
LEWIS LAZARE Media & Marketing columnist
A glittering array of Chicago's media elite will gather at the Harris Theater in Millennium Park tonight to celebrate the 25th anniversary of one of Chicago's finest news traditions: WTTW-Channel 11's "Chicago Tonight." This city has no shortage of competitive nightly local newscasts, but none of them offers quite the same stimulating smorgasbord of news and opinion that the hourlong "Chicago Tonight" delivers each evening.
"Chicago Tonight" began as the brainchild of two very familiar figures in Chicago media circles -- John Callaway and Bruce DuMont. Back in the mid-1980s, these two broadcast news veterans looked around them and saw a situation that cried out for a special kind of nightly news show that could address what Callaway has described as a "political revolution" that was happening in Chicago at the time. Harold Washington ("Chicago Tonight's" first guest, on April 24, 1984) had just become the city's first black mayor and the infamous "Council Wars" had brought to the forefront the city's simmering racial tensions. WTTW's then-President Bill McCarter readily bought into the argument for producing "Chicago Tonight" that Callaway and DuMont put forth, and he greenlighted the show.
In the early days, politics was a focal point of many editions of the 30-minute "Chicago Tonight," which debuted with Callaway as host and DuMont as lead producer. But DuMont soon handed over producing responsibilities to others and became a regular guest and political pundit on the show. "There were times we had a guest cancel at the last minute, and Bruce and I would simply sit down and talk politics," remembers Callaway.
A seemingly endless font of information on many subjects, the delightfully blunt Callaway always envisioned "Chicago Tonight" would grow to encompass more than just politics. And indeed it has, much to Callaway's and the show's credit. Over the years business, sports, media and culture -- a subject of particular interest to Callaway because he has two talented daughters working in the arts -- have all been vigorously debated on "Chicago Tonight." In fact, Callaway says one of his favorite "Chicago Tonight" telecasts came on the day the stock market crashed in 1987. He was able to corral some of Chicago's best business minds to talk about-- and make sense of -- a horrendous situation.
When it became apparent in the early 1990s that "Chicago Tonight" was going to have a long life at WTTW, Callaway began thinking about his successor as show host. Callaway greatly admired a young reporter named Phil Ponce that he had met and worked with while involved in a University of Chicago journalism fellowship program. In 1992, Ponce first came on board as a correspondent to provide reported video segments that typically opened "Chicago Tonight" and to host the program one day a week. In 1997, Ponce left briefly to work on the national "McNeil/Lehrer" nightly newscast, but returned in 1999 to succeed Callaway as host.
The show has undergone more changes since then. In 2002, "Chicago Tonight" expanded to an hour, and another veteran local broadcaster, Bob Sirott, joined the show as lead host for three years, bringing with him a different, more populist sensibility that helped expand the show's purview even more. After Sirott's departure, Ponce took control once again, and in 2006, he welcomed on board Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin, with her rich knowledge of Chicago politics. Now the stable of correspondents and contributors also includes Rich Samuels, Elizabeth Brackett, Eddie Arruza, Christian Farr, Geoffrey Baer and even sommelier Alpana Singh, who has even made wine a subject worth exploring on "Chicago Tonight."
But no matter the topic or the guests and contributors put on air to discuss and comment, "Chicago Tonight" remains today very much what it was at its inception a quarter century ago: an insightful daily portrait of our city created by a talented team of television news professionals.
Here's to the next 25 years.
(Chicago Sun-Times)