Last month, WGN Radio and Bob Sirott agreed to a contract extension that will see the longtime Chicago media personality remain as the morning drive host at the legendary brand.
Some hosts stay at a job out of necessity. Others stay at a job due to the influence working at their station provides.
But for Bob Sirott, the chance to continue to work in a city he loves, at a station that offers him the freedom to talk about what he wants and when he wants to talk about it, with a familiar staff and group of colleagues was too good of a deal to pass up.
Sirott has hosted from 6-10 AM on WGN Radio since 2020. And that will continue with his multi-year contract extension, which he says was easy to agree to.
“Is there another major market, heritage AM station that is still successful doing what they’ve been doing for decades, with a full complement of resources?” Sirott questioned. “We talk about whatever people want to talk about any given day. It’s a good conversation. We don’t yell and scream a lot. And it’s any and every topic under the sun.”
Sirott added that support all the way to the top of Nexstar Media Group — parent company of WGN Radio — allows him to not feel pressure about what to talk about each morning.
“When I was hired (Nexstar Executive) Sean Compton said ‘When was the last time somebody said to you did you hear what someone said on the radio?’ I said ‘I don’t hear that a lot anymore.’ And then he said ‘Have you heard a lot of people having fun on the other radio? Because if you’re having fun, people listen,'” said Sirott. “He said ‘Look, have fun. Be yourself and once in a while, be great. If you did something and people talked about it, off you go.’ That was five years ago and that was the philosophy.”
Sirott joked that he has selfish intentions with his morning show on WGN Radio.
“I’m trying to do a show that I want to listen to,” he said. “I don’t necessarily want to hear just one point of view, I like to hear all sides and in a way that where people know I don’t have an agenda. My agenda is to give you information, give you the facts, and you make up your mind. Along the way, maybe I’ll give an opinion on something, but basically, I think the reason we’re still a top 10 radio station — besides the fact that we have this full complement of resources — is we engaged listeners.”
Sirott added that he views his show as “news, plus” which is a look at the local news that matters most to those in the Windy City, as well as talk about entertainment, society, pop culture, sports, and whatever is on the mind of those in Chicago.
“Sometimes it’s the hardest but it’s the most rewarding,” said Sirott. “Johnny Carson said a long time ago ‘You have to be yourself. You may not be successful even if you are yourself. But if you’re not yourself, there’s no chance you’re gonna be successful. If the ratings and revenue weren’t there, I probably wouldn’t be there,” he said with a chuckle. “So, hopefully somebody likes what we’re doing.”
It would be easy to question what the future looks like for the 75-year-old Sirott. When asked if this was the final contract extension of his storied career, he was non-committal.
“I’m trying to figure out what the hell I’m doing tomorrow morning that’s gonna get people interested, excited, maybe a laugh,” he admitted. “I don’t really go past that. My focus is just in the next show and how I screwed up the one today and hopefully I’ll do a better one tomorrow. I’ve done a lot of radio shows — and TV shows — and you know, I still haven’t done the perfect one. I’m still trying.
“I think that’s that’s my future. That’s what my future is. Can I do a better show whether it’s TV or radio? Can I do it? I’ve never had that sort of grand, master plan. I always want to do something better than I was doing … I just wanna keep evolving and I feel like our show right now is evolving. A friend of mine — a news anchor — says ‘When you’re riding a wave, just keep riding it until you know crashes into the shore. So that’s what we try to do.”
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
