Big shakeup at GN . Classy to fire the guy while he’s on vacation too.Say what you want about them but I can guarantee you no one wants to hear anything Anna Devlantes has to say for 2 hours .


The affable duo of Bill Leff and Wendy Snyder, who’ve been Chicago radio partners on and off for 25 years, were cut Wednesday as midday co-hosts on WGN 720-AM.

The move came as the Nexstar Media Group news/talk station unveiled a revamped daytime lineup set to take effect December 2.

“Change means making difficult choices, and unfortunately there is not a place for everyone in this new lineup,” Mary Sandberg Boyle, director of news and operations at WGN, wrote in an email to staff. “Tonight we are saying farewell to Bill and Wendy. Please join me in wishing them well and thanking them for their years of service to WGN and their loyal audience.”

Leff and Snyder learned their fate by phone late Wednesday. Leff was out of town on vacation, and Snyder hosted what turned out to be their last show earlier in the day.



Anna Davlantes, the versatile Chicago radio and TV personality, will host her own talk show from 1 to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday as part of the new lineup. Since 2015 Davlantes has been co-host of Roe Conn’s afternoon show. Conn is expected to host solo from now on.

John Williams, whose latest show airs from 1 to 3 p.m., will shift to a new three-hour slot — from 9 a.m. to noon. (Leff and Snyder were heard from 10 a.m. to noon.)

Also effective December 2, Steve Cochran’s morning show will air an hour earlier — from 5 to 9 a.m. From 4 to 5 a.m. WGN will simulcast the first hour of “WGN Morning News” from Nexstar Media sister station WGN-Channel 9.

Ji Suk Yi, who has been a regular contributor to Cochran’s morning show since August, will become host of “The Wintrust Business Lunch” from noon to 1 p.m.

All of the moves mark the first major programming realignment under Sean Compton, who was named executive Vice President overseeing the station after Nexstar Media Group acquired Tribune Media in September.

Leff and Snyder were first paired as evening hosts on the former WLUP 97.9-FM in 1994. Two years later they moved to mornings on WKQX 101.1-FM. At Q101, they were just gaining traction in the ratings when they were dumped for Mancow Muller in 1998. WGN reunited them in 2013.

Davlantes spent nine years as a reporter and weekend news anchor at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5, followed by four years as a news anchor and host of “Good Day Chicago” at Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32. She joined WGN as a featured contributor to Cochran’s morning show in 2014.

Williams, who once worked as a college intern for WGN morning superstar Wally Phillips, has been a mainstay of the station since 1997.

In the latest Nielsen Audio survey WGN was in ninth place overall with a 3.5 percent audience share. In middays — from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. — the station ranked 12th with a 3.3 share.

Here is the text of Boyle’s email to staff:

We are making some program changes effective Monday, Dec. 2. Our emphasis, as always, is to be local, and we think these changes will serve our listeners well.

Among the changes you’ll notice that we will begin simulcasting WGN-TV’s morning news from 4 am to 5 am. Steve Cochran’s show will start an hour earlier, at 5 am, and the John Williams show will run from 9 am to Noon. Ji will host the Wintrust Business Lunch and Anna will be leaving afternoon drive to host her own show from 1 pm to 3 pm.

Change means making difficult choices, and unfortunately there is not a place for everyone in this new line-up. Tonight we are saying farewell to Bill and Wendy. Please join me in wishing them well and thanking them for their years of service to WGN and their loyal audience.

Thanks for your help and support as we move forward.

Mary

The new Monday through Friday WGN program schedule is below:

4am – 5am: WGN Radio simulcast of WGN-TV Early Morning News
5am – 9am: Steve Cochran
9am – Noon: John Williams
Noon – 1pm: Wintrust Business Lunch, hosted by Ji
1pm – 3pm: Anna Davlantes
3pm – 7pm: Roe Conn
7pm – 11pm: Justin Kaufmann
11pm – 4am: Nick Digilio

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Digilio

Sounds like Nick wrote his own page.

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Interested that Feder rights that Bill/Wendy were fired, but the two news guys with shows (Steve G. at 5am and Steve Bertrand at noon) both lose their shows and not a word.

SJWs should be rejoicing that three white men lost their jobs.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Well, Nick D still has a show, so I guess there's no one that wants his time slot.

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God is the uncaused cause of the universe. He had no beginning and has no end. He is not bound by the laws of the universe he created.

Side note, Wendy somehow became a little milfish over the years .

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Did you really mean to write heavyish?

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Elections have consequences.

Skinny milf no gouda.

You need to re-read your signature... I don't see this one. (Wendy is on the left)

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Rogue is in a dryspell right now, give him a break.

She’s 56 years old with a couple kids . I didn’t say OMG what a fucking hottie !! I said she became a little Milfish over the years . I think she looks pretty good for her age and stand by my comment .

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

I agree. Not a ten, but not somebody you kick out of bed either. She also appears to have the look of being a little wild in the sack. Like "I'll try anything once" wild.

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I think Bill is geniunely clever and a pretty good host. Wendy is terrible. She has a voice that is both whiny and mopey and the same time. I suspect the only reason she stayed employed at WGN this long is because Robin Baumgarten had something in her contract saying she can't be the dumbest person at the station.

Roe Conn is one of the few people in Chicago who might be a worse radio host than Mike Mulligan.

I would have never have guessed by hearing her that Anna Davlantes has such an impressive educational background. I guess you can be very smart without being even remotely interesting.

Damn, Nick Digilio moved up to 11pm. I still enjoy his show but he was at his best in the early 00's when he worked like 2 or 3 days a week. Now he has a lot of filler on the show.

The early 90s seemed to produce a gaggle of bust out comedians who entered Chicago radio. Harry, Spike, Leff, etc. all were hacks who had been rejected by just about every other avenue of the entertainment industry and somehow washed ashore in radio. Somehow Leff, the most insipid of them all, was able to hang on the longest. I think it was his unintimidating comedy that helped him to drift from one bland station with middle aged women as their key demographic to the next. I'm sure there will be a spot for him back at Lite FM or as a contributor to whatever remains of Eric and Kathy.

I like Wendy. She always seemed unapologetically DTF. I haven't heard her since her Buzz Killman days, which were probably 20 years ago.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

They are essentially Eric and Kathy without the notoriety .

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Brian Noonan as well.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

He might be one of good dolphin' s guys. Heard him on the air once mention he was an iggy guy.

I knew her from my youth.

She is good people.

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BR, recall the game fired Finfer on air (well he found out on air). That was radio gold.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Bill Leff essentially replaced Garry Meier on the Roe show and was on there for, oh, god, however many years it was between Garry and Richard Roeper. Seven? Never had his name on the show, never stood out.

Buzz and Wendy had a fun little show on CKG, indeed, 20 years ago.

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I think both hosts are good together. I began listening to them in the Q101 days before Mancow took over. When Bill was on with Roe, he was essentially silent. I hope they land somewhere together.

As for Anna? A pretty 40-something year old face doesn't get you far in radio when you have nothing to say.

I don't think she is even 40.

I'm surprised that Anna hasn't ended up back on TV, but she's probably not liberal enough for WTTW, nobody should work for WBBM, and WLS doesn't need her.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

She is 49.

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God is the uncaused cause of the universe. He had no beginning and has no end. He is not bound by the laws of the universe he created.

So she was 38 when she was doing the Sunday night local news on channel 5 before Paula Faris and the Unsightly Radio Personalities Roundtable show? Wow, keeping it tight.

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wasnt julie in the booth that day too?

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'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

Weren’t Wendy and Leff on Steve Dahl’s show for a while? I seem to remember that being a toxic mix.

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

or animosity.

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

Kathy's holdout is probably one of the dumbest decisions in the history of radio.

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someone tried to set my brother up with her back in the day. He declined because he was semi dating someone else but it wasn't serious and they soon broke up. I let him know what a dipshit he was but I have a feeling she is a little nutty.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

My memory is that it was Buzz and Wendy and then CKG got Dahl and put him into that shift, making it the Steve Dahl Show With Buzz And Wendy. My dad stopped having it on in the car because he said he had gotten tired of Steve Dahl (wow, even then). I don't remember Bill Leff in there, but no one remembers Bill Leff anywhere.


It's somehow even worse than Garry's wife bumbling him out of his WLS job. Garry still managed afternoon drive at WGN five or so years later. Kathy took herself out of the business altogether and moved to someone's ranch in Montana.

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