Jerry Kuc was hosting sports talk radio in Chicago long before names like Score or ESPN 1000 were in the game. He was recognized as a mentor by Dan McNeil. The city’s sports media scene would not have been the same without him.
His son Chris told The Chicago Tribune that Jerry Kuc died yesterday at the age of 82.
In addition to life on the radio, Kuc also made his mark in newspapers and on television. He began working for the Associated Press in the mid-1960s. His first TV job was with WBBM. He would go on to work for 3 other stations in the market.
Kuc’s sports radio career began in 1983 when WMAQ hired him as a morning sports anchor. By the next year, he had his own show on the station, talking sports on Sunday nights. He also anchored NBC Radio’s national sports reports.
The next stop for Jerry Kuc was WSEX. The music station carried his show The Sports Digest beginning in 1988 and kept it even as the station changed formats in 1989. He would go on to host part time and serve as a reporter for the station that eventually became ESPN 1000.
“I was 26 and had no game as a host, and I was getting air time Jerry rightfully thought should have been his. And in this business steeped in ego and petty jealousies, all he did was encourage me and mentor me,” Dan McNeil said of Jerry Kuc. “He assisted in my development booking guests and he introduced me to everybody.”
