WGN’s stars will shine on weekend 'best of' shows

Jonathon Brandmeier and Garry Meier

Fans of Jonathon Brandmeier, Garry Meier and the other weekday stars of WGN-AM (720) soon will be able to hear their favorites on weekends, too.

The New Year will bring a realignment of WGN’s Saturday and Sunday afternoon, late-night and overnight schedules, including the addition of “best of” shows highlighting some of the Tribune Co.-owned news/talk station’s top talent.

“We think it will be a great alternative to the infomercials and paid programs that air on Chicago's other talk stations,” WGN program director Bill White told me Tuesday. “Of course we continue to provide live and local news, weather and traffic reports 24/7.”

While some of the moves may be criticized as a further departure from the station’s “live and local” heritage, they should be regarded as an upgrade in most other respects.

On weekend afternoons when the station isn’t carrying hockey, football, basketball or baseball broadcasts, White said, he’ll use those hours to showcase his Monday-through-Friday lineup: Highlights of Brandmeier’s morning show and Meier’s afternoon show will air from 1 to 4pm Saturdays, and highlights of midday hosts Mike McConnell and John Williams will air from 1 to 4 pm Sundays.

Sundays nights also are in for a makeover, with Brian Noonan hosting a new live show from 6 to 9pm. Bob Sirott and Marianne Murciano’s Sunday Night Special continues at 9pm. A casualty of the new lineup is Karen Conti’s Legally Speaking, which had its final broadcast Sunday.

“We're glad Karen remains with WGN as our legal expert, and she'll continue to be part of Sunday evenings,” White said. “While we'll no longer air a long-form legal show on Sunday evenings, Karen will continue to appear on Sunday nights [as part of Brian Noonan’s show]. Karen is an incredible resource and a great person. We expect to call upon her expertise during the week as well.”

Conti, who continued hosting Legally Speaking after the death last February of her husband and on-air partner, Greg Adamski, said she was disappointed to lose the 8-to-9pm hour.

“I loved every minute of my four-year tenure at WGN,” she told me. “It was a wonderful place to work. The station continues to change, and my show was sadly one of the changes. Within hours of announcing the cancellation, I received over 100 e-mails and calls from listeners expressing an interest in following me to another media venue. While I will continue to be a regular contributor to WGN Radio, I am very excited to be exploring another radio show, an Internet television show, and a regular consumer segment on Fox Chicago, where I am a contributor.”

Weekend overnights also will be affected, with WGN Weekend Late Night featuring highlights of Bill Leff’s Monday-through-Friday overnight show along with “best of” segments from other shows, airing from 2 to 5am Saturdays and from midnight to 5am Sundays.

“You won't hear this schedule completely until late January since we have hockey and basketball games during many of these times and less frequently once baseball starts in March,” White added.

In Arbitron Portable People Meter ratings for the fourth quarter released Tuesday, WGN ranked third overall on weekends with a 5.4 percent share of all listeners. Among those in the 25-to-54 age bracket — the group most sought by advertisers — the station tied for 20th place with a 1.8 share.