That didn't take long....
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/tow ... rrett.htmlJohn Williams, who in December took over a WGN-AM 720 morning show that had only had three hosts over the previous 43 years, is being moved to mid-mornings after just six months in morning drive, the station announced this afternoon.
In a one-two punch almost no one fully anticipated, Greg Jarrett, most recently an afternoon cohost at San Francisco's KGO-AM, is being brought in as new 5-to-9 a.m. host beginning next Monday and Williams (photo, right) will replace Kathy O'Malley and Judy Markey, whose 9 a.m.-to-noon program was pulled off the air last month by the station after 20 years.
Although Williams will provide fans of "The Girlfriends" a familiar voice in a more flexible format for talk than the morning drive format, WGN has traditionally been slow to make changes. So the idea that he would be pulled early from the morning show so soon after Spike O'Dell's self-imposed early retirement in December is a shock.
Even more of a surprise is the selection of a complete outsider in Jarrett (photo, left), who brings a newsman's sensibility to his work as host.
In his memo to staff announcing the moves, WGN Program Director Kevin Metheny described Jarrett's new morning show as "an information and services intensive morning broadcast with emphasis on usable news and information, leveraging the substantial resources of Tribune Co. newsgathering assets."
Tom Langmyer, WGN's vice president and general manager, called it "an exciting time in the evolution of WGN" in the station's official announcement. "Greg brings his incredible knowledge of current events and a unique style that plays well with the strengths of our already familiar and successful morning show," Langmyer said in announcement, adding that the station is "excited for his return to long-form talk, where he can share his perspectives, strengths and in-depth interview skills.”
Jarrett's style and approach is anything but a radical departure from WGN's tradition. But the station has been talking about dramatically shaking up that approach in a bid to engage more listeners and has had a string of opinionated, sometimes politically charged hosts in what seemed to be high-profile on-air tryouts.
Jarrett was not among those auditioning and his name had not been among those rumored to be in line to join WGN, which is owned by Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.
"I have always wanted to work in Chicago," Jarrett said in the station's announcement. "When I first started in radio at age 17, we would sit around late at night and listen to WGN. It was the ideal, the place to work. WGN Radio connects Chicagoans to each other and the rest of the world. It is an honor to now be part of that process.”
Said Williams in the announcement: “The most fun I’ve had at WGN was working middays and I’m anxious to get back to that time slot.”
As a college intern at WGN, Williams got to work around legendary morning man Wally Phillips, who had unmatched dominance during his 21-year run in the morning slot before handing the baton to Bob Collins in 1986.
Williams returned to the station as a full-time staffer in 1997 after stints in Minneapolis and Peoria, and last year was named successor to O'Dell, who had taken over after Collins' death in a 2000 plane crash.
At the time of his appointment, Williams acknowledged the challenge he would have in adapting his afternoon broadcast style to morning drive, which is peppered more liberally with breaks for news, traffic, weather, sports and ads.
"I will miss the 12-minute windows that I have on the 1-to-4 p.m. show," Williams said in an interview with the Tribune at the time. "In the morning show, it's four to six minutes. You have to be tighter. You have to swifter. I don't like that, but I also don't think you should change that. The world's changed."
Metheny, who joined WGN-AM as program director the same week Williams took over for O'Dell, cited the advantages Williams will have in his new slot in his memo to staff.
"By any measure John has distinguished himself in morning drive on WGN Radio," Metheny wrote. "He also has certain medium and/or long-form content strengths that lend themselves well to mid-day. John has the WGN tenure and status to be in the best position to grow our late morning audience while maintaining the ears and affection of longtime listeners."
Jarrett, who is not to be confused with Fox News Channel anchor Gregg Jarrett, was caught in a wave of layoffs at Citadel Broadcasting's KGO-AM. Like WGN, KGO is a legacy news/talk station with a decidedly local bent.
All told, Jarrett spent 16 years at KGO. He first joined KGO in 1986 as aviation and space reporter, leaving in 1994 to become a staff correspondent for ABC, covering the O.J. Simpson trial, the Oklahoma City bombing, the trial of the Unabomber, among other stories over the next four years. After a two-year hitch at the former KEWS-AM in Portland, Ore., he returned to KGO in 2000.
Jarrett has reported from Iraq, Africa, Bosnia, Hurricane Katrina and Air Force One. Coverage he co-anchored of last year's Northern California wildfires was recently honored as regional winner of the Radio Television News Directors Association Edward R. Murrow Awards for broadcast excellence (listen to an excerpt here).
He gained attention in 2003 when, while embedded with U.S. troops in Southern Iraq, he helped Marines rescue civilians during sniper fire in Southern Iraq.
"Someone has tried to kill me at least three times today," Jarrett said in a live phone report for the station, according to an Associated Press story at the time. "We were fired at with anti-aircraft fire at one point. At another point, we settled near a village where a fire fight was taking place. ... They opened up on us with small arms fire as we were loading their people onto helicopters to bring them back for medical care."
When Williams was named the new morning host, station boss Langmyer reflected on the unique relationship WGN and its morning hosts have had with listeners "back even before the days of Wally Phillips ... in which the station is a trusted friend" and said that's why the station was as successful as it did.
"When you have a successful institution that performs well, not only from a listener perspective but from a business standpoint," he said, "you want to be very sure that the changes you are making are strictly driven to make the station more relevant rather than to make a change for the sake of change."
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