WGN Radio afternoon host Lisa Dent has plenty to celebrate, as she was named the Best Non-Morning Drive Talk/Personality Host in a major market in the 49th annual Gracie Awards.
Dent spent decades working on country radio — being inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame in 2016 — before shifting to working at WGN Radio in 2021.
And while she spent the majority of her career outside the talk radio space, she shared that she’s always been a talk host at heart.
“Always,” she said. “That’s why I think for 25 years in my career I did mornings, so I had more freedom to talk about what was happening and get away from the music a little bit and really be focused on what was happening in Chicago.”
Lisa Dent started her radio career as an assistant chief engineer in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, because the station wouldn’t put women on the air. She eventually worked her way to stations in Rockford, San Diego, Minneapolis, and other stations in Chicago before signing on with the news/talk outlet. And despite all of her travels, she says she had her sights set on her current station.
“The whole time, from the moment I left Rockford, my focus was always WGN,” Dent told hosts John Williams and Bob Sirott after the news was announced that she took home the Gracie Award.
