By Rick Kaempfer
SIROTT IN THE MORNING
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Bob Sirott ob Sirott has been part of the Chicago media landscape now for a half century . “ Geez , don ’ t remind me ,” he says . “ Yeah , that ’ s true . 1971 was the first year on the air at WBBM-FM . First it was just doing weekends , and fill-ins , and summer stuff , and at the end of the summer they either rewarded or punished me by naming me the 5:30-10am morning man .”
If that seems like a quantum leap now , it didn ’ t feel so much like that back in 1971 . At least not to Bob . “ They could afford to take a chance on a young kid like me because nobody had FM radio in their cars yet . It worked out well for me because I got experiment doing different bits .”
He still remembers a few of the more famous ones . “ Roger Ebert used to listen to the show . I had this idea of having Roger in to review the movie Deep Throat which had just come out . I would play the sound of the sprockets in a projector as if we were viewing the film , and Roger was game for it . We wrote little descriptions of things like ‘ I ’ m not sure what part of the body that is right there ’ and had some fun with it . To his dying day , every time I ran into Roger after that he would say ‘ Deep Throat Review 1972 .’ He loved it .”
Bob was breaking new ground without even realizing it . “ Back in those days I used to go all the Bears games with my buddies . And somehow after one game I found myself invited to a party at ( Bears quarterback ) Bobby Douglass ’ house . He lived in an apartment on Schiller at the time . I struck up a conversation with him and found out that Bobby loved music , and so I said ‘ Hey , I know nobody ’ s really done this before , and we don ’ t have a budget , but I can get you some albums . What do you think about coming on my show every Monday morning after games ?’ He ’ s like the greatest nicest guy , and he said , ‘ Yeah sure , why not ?’ These days this sort of segment is commonplace , but this was 1971 . Nobody did that . Especially not an FM station . I ran into my old boss the other day — Bob Johnson the guy who hired me — and he told me , ‘ That really put us on the map .’ But I take no credit for the success of that station . Bob Johnson was the program director , and he was a genius . Jim Smith was the music director , and he was a genius . It was great music , and they really knew how to program it , and they knew what to do with us , which was to let us have fun . It was also the beginning of the FM boom , so the timing was perfect .”
It also led to his famous run at WLS-AM ( 1973-1980 ). “ I joked at the time that I had go to an AM station so that I could afford to get an FM radio in my car . I called ( WCFL disc jockey ) Jim Stagg up asking him his advice if I should take the job . He said that I should try to get on the biggest stage , and WLS at that time was the biggest stage . It worked out for me . At first , they hired me to do 10pm-2am , but within a few months there was a big shakeup , and suddenly I was doing afternoon drive .”
That was obviously Bob ’ s big break , and he hasn ’ t stopped since . Despite having some of the greatest jobs in the media over the past fifty years , including local and national television gigs , he feels like it ’ s all been leading up to this moment . The best job in Chicago . Morning man at WGN Radio .
“ Historically it has a great tradition and heritage . It ’ s a 50,000-watt signal , it ’ s 720 on the dial . It has a strong history of personality in the morning . It ’ s a habit that has been passed down from generation to generation . That ’ s a built-in quality to the radio station . Fortunately for me , it ’ s turned out perfectly . I don ’ t think there ’ s another station in the country that has the kind of facility we have here . It ’ s nicer than any TV station I ’ ve worked at . And then you ’ ve got Perry Sook , who runs the company , who is a total radio fan . He ’ ll talk your ear off about radio because he loves it . Same with Sean Compton . They ’ ve allowed me to create the kind of show I ’ d listen to . I call it News Plus . You get all the news , weather , traffic , sports you want , but it ’ s so much more . It ’ s News plus . Plus fun . Plus personality . Plus different features . It ’ s just right for me . This is the most fun I ’ ve had since Fox Thing in the Morning ( in the 1990s ).”
Is it possible that Bob Sirott is actually … happy ? “ I guess I ’ m not famous for that , eh ? ( Laughs ). You know what , I guess I am . Other than always feeling tired and sick ( because of the hours ), I guess I am . It ’ s a lot of work , but it ’ s so rewarding . I heard Vin Scully describe it this way , and I really think this is the secret to doing a good show . You need the humility to prepare , and the confidence to pull it off . That ’ s what I try to do every day .”
Bob Sirott ’ s show airs every weekday morning from 5:00 — 9:00 on WGN Radio ( 720 AM ).
16 illinoisentertainer . com march 2021