REST IN POWER 2022
A
s we enter a new year , we do so without a talented group of broadcasters we lost in 2022 . I won ’ t be able to name all of them , but here are a few that passed away from the world of radio and television . It became clear that 2022 wasn ’ t going to be a great year when we lost former WGCI stalwart Harold Lee Rush on New Year ’ s Day . He was far from the last . Some greats from the hey-day of Top 40 radio in Chicago ( the 60s & 70s ) also died in 2022 , including legendary disc jockeys like Bobby O ’ Jay ( WVON & WBMX ), Bob Bateman ( WFYR ), Chuck Benson ( WIND , WMAQ , WFYR ), and a man who created the music radio stations played before becoming a disc jockey himself , Ramsey Lewis ( The Ramsey Lewis Trio , WNUA ).
In addition , one of the most influential radio programmers of all time , * Ken Draper from Super-CFL , passed away in August . I interviewed one of the big stars Draper brought to Chicago , WCFL ’ s Ron Britain , a few years before Ron passed away . Britain gave all the credit for his own success to Draper .” So I flew up to Chicago and met with the folks at WCFL . I thought you know what ? This is a great radio town . Maybe this is where I should go . Ken Draper , the guy who hired me , and Jim Runyan drove me into the city . All these lights were lit along Michigan Avenue , and they told me that they decorated the city just for me . I took the job , but I was scared to death . I had never worked at a place that had so much talent . It was just unbelievable — I was intimidated by it . They had guys I really respected , like Jim Runyan and Joel Sebastian . I thought , how I can work alongside great talent like this ? I was so scared when I went on the air the first time — I didn ' t know what to do . I thought what I had been doing before wasn ’ t good enough . My first night on the air , I was using squeaky toys , and I got a note from Ken Draper . The note said , ‘ We hired Ron Britain , not Pinky Lee .’ Of course , he was right .”
We lost quite a few more radio pros in 2022 , including Jim Bohannan ( WGN ), Ken Alexander ( WAIT , WNIB , WDCB ), Bob Gelms ( WXRT , WLUP ), Pervis Spann ( WVON ), Steve Crocker ( WBBM-AM ), Dick Stone ( WIND ) and Dick Rakovan ( WFYR ), but probably the biggest shocker occurred in January when the Score ’ s Les Grobstein passed away suddenly . His death triggered an outpouring of goodwill and led to Mayor Lightfoot declaring Les Grobstein Day in Chicago . This year when the anniversary of former Cubs manager Lee Elia ’ s rave-out occurs , think of Les . He was the only broadcaster on hand to record it . If you ’ ve heard the expletivefilled tirade , you ’ ve heard Les ’ tape . When I interviewed Grobstein in 2011 , he told me all about it . “ That tape was on every continent of the planet in three days . Only Antarctica we ’ re not
Bill “ BJ ” Jackson
By Rick Kaempfer
sure about , but they probably heard it there too . Tommy Edwards on WLS-AM and Steve & Garry on WLS-FM were the first two shows to actually play it on the air . But the Cubs announcers heard it first . I played it for them in the press box . Vince Lloyd said , ‘ Geezus Lou , he ' s going to get his ass fired .’ Lou Boudreau said , ‘ You may be right , Good Kid .’ And Harry Caray couldn ' t believe it was really Lee at first . I said : ‘ I have a feeling the Lee Elia pre-game show is going to be canceled .’ They didn ' t fire Lee right away , but he was gone before the season was over .”
Chicago ’ s television community lost some key members in 2022 as well . WGN-TV ’ s Merri
Dee passed away in March , and before the station was even properly able to pay tribute , weatherman Jim Ramsey died in April . WGN- TV also lost former station manager Bob Ramsey ( who served as GM at WCIU as well ) and former assistant news director , Charlie Schumacher at the way too-young age of 62 . In addition , nationally known newscasters and reporters with Chicago roots , like Ken Bode ( NBC , PBS , CNN ) and Bernard Shaw ( CNN ), perished in 2022 .
For Chicagoans of a certain age , we lost a big part of our childhood when Bill “ BJ ” Jackson died in January . The host of “ BJ & the Dirty Dragon ” was a huge kids-TV star on Channel 32 in the 1970s . In 1973 , at the age of 10 , I attended a Bill Jackson personal appearance at the Gateway Theater in Chicago . He was famous for drawing pictures out of the initials of kids ’ names . I can still palpably feel the excitement I felt when he transformed my RJK into a drawing of a dragon . I wish I still had that somewhere .
But probably the most tragic Chicago media death in 2022 occurred in November when Louise Monger , a contributor to the recently canceled Windy City Live , was found in her home in Westmont with a self-inflicted gunshot wound . The British native was only 40 years old . As we enter another new year , we remember the contributions of all of these talented media professionals we lost in 2022 . They probably never fully realized the impact they had on our lives . They were with us in our homes , in our cars , and in our hearts .
And they will live on in our memories . january 2023 illinoisentertainer . com 19