By Rick Kaempfer
ENJOYING THE GAME
T
om Shaer ’ s career in Chicago media includes stints as the morning man ( and first voice ever ) on the Score , ESPN AM 1000 , morning sports anchor on WBBM News radio , and TV sports anchor at Channel 5 , among other positions , but the Massachusetts native got his start in the business in Boston , and he did it in a way that simply isn ’ t possible today .
“ I was a ridiculously insane baseball fan ,” Shaer recalls , “ and I lived in a dorm about three blocks from Fenway Park , so I went to as many games as possible . At the end of my freshman year of college , I snuck into the press box at Fenway Park . That would be impossible now . Back then there were two check points . I wore a shirt and tie to the games because I was coming there straight from work ( in the library ), and I looked a little older than I was . I was only 18 at the time . One day I just walked past the usher at the first checkpoint who saw me all the time and must have thought I was a reporter . He just gave me a wave through . When I got to the second check point , the usher had left his post , so I just walked right into the press box . When I left after the game the usher was at his post , and I shook his hand and said ‘ See you tomorrow night .’ He saw me the next night , knew I already had been in the press box , so he didn ’ t ask to see my credentials . On the third night I met the sports editor for the AP , and his part-time assistant had just quit the night before , and he offered the job to me . And that ’ s how I got my first media job . I never would have gotten it if I hadn ’ t snuck into the press box .”
After making the transition to radio in Boston , and working in the market for six years , Shaer heard about a job opening in Chicago . Chuck Swirsky was looking for a guy to be the co-host and producer of Jack Brickhouse ’ s nightly show on WGN Radio . “ I was 24 years old . It was a wonderful station . The minute you walked into the door you became a better broadcaster . I did the show with Brickhouse , and I loved working with him .”
He also loved the city , which has been his home ever since . “ Chicago was much less intense than Boston . It was a much happier tone here . In 1983 , I figured I ' d take this great job in Chicago but , in the back of my mind , I planned to return to Boston for a great job at some point . 95 % of my relatives are there . However , after covering the 1983 White Sox Division Champs and 1984 Cubs Division Champs , I was so widely known and accepted by the great Chicago people that I had no desire to leave !”
He never left the market , but he did jump from media job to media job . “ When Dave Eanet left WBBM , Rich King approached me in the press box and said ‘ we ’ d love to have you .’ Rich King was the greatest boss I ever had , bar none .”
While he was working as the morning sports anchor at WBBM , Shaer made an even more dramatic move . He dipped his toes into the TV sports world as the # 2 man at Channel 32 behind Bruce Wolf .
Tom Shaer
That led to an even higher profile job at Channel 5 . Ironically , the most memorable day of employment at Channel 5 didn ’ t involve sports at all . “ I started at Channel 5 on May 18 , 1988 . On May 20th , my third day on the job , I got a call at Bears camp . The newsroom was desperate to get someone over to cover a nearby shooting . It was the Laurie Dann shooting .” ( That entire story is told dramatically in local Chicago news cameraman Chuck Quinzio ’ s book Life Behind the Camera ).
In 1992 , when the market ’ s first allsports station went on the air , Shaer was asked to be the morning host . Tom and his broadcasting band of brothers including Mike North , Dan Jiggets , Dan McNeil and Terry Boers helped create a sports radio powerhouse despite having only a daytime radio signal in its early years . He still considers it one of the highlights of his career . " I can ’ t begin to tell you how grateful I am for my 30-year career on the air , especially the Chicago years . I covered six Bulls championships , a White Sox World Championship and four division titles , Bears Super Bowl Championship , numerous Cubs playoff teams , Blackhawks 1992 Stanley Cup Finals , five All-Star games in Chicago , etc . I even got to be a psychiatrist because I hosted the ESPN-1000 postgame talk show after the Bartman game !" ( ESPN Radio had the network radio rights ).
But working in sports media , especially on television , is a young man ’ s game . So , a few years ago Shaer left the business and transitioned into a related field . At first he ran a media consulting company . Later , he served as a spokesperson for Pat Quinn , and he now serves as the spokesperson for the Cook County Assessor ' s Office ( Joe Berrios ).
Does he miss sports media at all ? “ I was at a Cubs World Series game last year and I saw the TV guys making a mad rush to do live reports from outside the ballpark because they couldn ’ t be inside during the game , and I thought to myself , Aaah . This is nice . I get to enjoy the game .”
16 illinoisentertainer com november 2017