Speaking of Radio
Selected interviews we think you’ll like
Prolific producer of more than 30,000 radio shows, including Inner Sanctum, Adventures of the Thin Man, The Goldbergs and CBS Radio Mystery Theatre, he was born July 21, 1910 and was 81 when we met for an extensive career interview at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago. He died at age 99 on June 4, 2010.
To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Those Were the days, we produced a limited series of audio vignettes selected from programs originally heard between 1970 and 2020.
Twenty episodes were presented on selected TWTD programs between October 2019 and April 2020.
Chuck Schaden hosts
Spotlighting Wally Phillips
Today we devote our program to one of Chicago’s most popular radio personalities on his Golden Anniversary.
WALLY PHILLIPS began his broadcasting career fifty years ago, in 1947, when he got his first radio job at station WJEF in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He soon moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where, over the next eight years he was on the air at WASI, WCOP and WLW.
In the fall of 1956 he joined WGN in Chicago, his radio home ever since. He began his Chicago career doing a variety of midday and evening programs. In 1965 he brought his quick wit and clever use of the telephone to WGN’s morning drive time, quickly becoming the listeners’ choice and making him a ratings leader for several decades.
In 1993 he was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame at the Museum of Broadcast Communications, adding an important honor to his already long list of accolades. Earlier this year he was welcomed into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
Wally Phillips will join us in person during our program today as we talk about his radio career and present clips from some of his memorable broadcasts.
On the Air 1-5 p.m. Saturday, June 7, 1997 on WNIB, Chicago
