Even though I don't miss Chicago -like tonight, as they are getting dumped with nearly a foot of snow - I still miss one thing, the WGN Morning News. KTLA is no WGN, and KTTV is just a pale and very bad imitation of WGN.
What makes the Morning News so special is that there is more fun going on than news. The anchors are very repesctable of the news, but they tend to have fun with jokes and pranks. Its often been cited because of its controversially comedic bent.
I began watching it around '94-'95 when the personalities included anchors Larry Potash and Roseanne Tellez, with sports by Bill Weir, weatherman Paul Konrad and traffic reporter Robin Baumgarten. Also there was the late Randy Salerno, who would fill-in from time to time.
When Weir left for ABC in Los Angeles in 1998 (and now works at ABC's Good Morning America), Mike Barz came in and easily fit in with the rest of the bunch. Before I left Chicago in 2005, Salerno and Tellez had jumped to rival WBBM and Barz joined GMA (and is now back in Chicago doing mornings on WFLD, the FOX station there.
What made the morning news so interesting was that joking around and pulling pranks were everyday things. Sure, sometimes they got in trouble with the managment -much like what The Simpsons do by ribbing the FOX Network, Paul Konrad and Larry Potash would take pot shots at The Tribune Company - but it was usually all done in clean fun.
Sadly, here in the LA market, nothing comes close to WGN. I'm disappointed that the Superstation does not air the Morning News here, though they do the noon and 9 o'clock ones. I'm sure it has something to do with WGN and KTLA being both owned by Tribune, but I would rather watch that, then that horrible KTTV (LA's Fox Station) morning thing.
So, don't miss the weather, but I miss my WGN Morning News.
What makes the Morning News so special is that there is more fun going on than news. The anchors are very repesctable of the news, but they tend to have fun with jokes and pranks. Its often been cited because of its controversially comedic bent.
I began watching it around '94-'95 when the personalities included anchors Larry Potash and Roseanne Tellez, with sports by Bill Weir, weatherman Paul Konrad and traffic reporter Robin Baumgarten. Also there was the late Randy Salerno, who would fill-in from time to time.
When Weir left for ABC in Los Angeles in 1998 (and now works at ABC's Good Morning America), Mike Barz came in and easily fit in with the rest of the bunch. Before I left Chicago in 2005, Salerno and Tellez had jumped to rival WBBM and Barz joined GMA (and is now back in Chicago doing mornings on WFLD, the FOX station there.
What made the morning news so interesting was that joking around and pulling pranks were everyday things. Sure, sometimes they got in trouble with the managment -much like what The Simpsons do by ribbing the FOX Network, Paul Konrad and Larry Potash would take pot shots at The Tribune Company - but it was usually all done in clean fun.
Sadly, here in the LA market, nothing comes close to WGN. I'm disappointed that the Superstation does not air the Morning News here, though they do the noon and 9 o'clock ones. I'm sure it has something to do with WGN and KTLA being both owned by Tribune, but I would rather watch that, then that horrible KTTV (LA's Fox Station) morning thing.
So, don't miss the weather, but I miss my WGN Morning News.
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http://www.youtube.com/user/wgn
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