It was a thrill to be able to work on sales materials and ads for this timeless icon. The charming personalities, the farming programs, the great news voices… all of these things were the selling points of the station. You just want to invite WGN into your house, car, workroom. All the materials developed for them have that flavor.

I was the Art Director of their print materials for several years. I worked with the sales team to develop the kits they provided to media buyers, and also with the marketing department to prepare promotional and ad artwork for publication.

I worked several divisions within the station. There was the farm programming with Orion Samuelson and Max Armstrong that had its own distribution, and the sports/Cubs segment. There was also a program called Emergency Closing Center that was developed to be the aggregator of all school and business information. I worked with Lyle Dean to promote this center to Chicagoland families and businesses to help make it the most trusted source of closing information in bad weather.

Even as a kid in Minnesota, I knew about WGN Radio. Late at night, when no other station had a clear signal, you could listen to the friendly chatter of hosts that had a midwestern feel, making Chicago seem like a city much like our own.

For this client I was a director and not the producer. I worked with a stable of illustrators, photographers, production artists and printers to create the materials on time and on budget.