Thirty-five years ago, I rolled into Chicago to tackle what was at the time, a seemingly insurmountable challenge: turning around the hemorrhaging ratings and revenue of WLS Radio, which had once been as iconic to the Windy City as the lions in front of the Chicago Art Institute.
The task before us was daunting, but the excitement of living in one of the most incredible cities in the world more than offset my concerns. Back then, Chicago had everything: a spectacular lakefront skyline, hundreds of restaurants, NFL football (“da Bears!”) and two—TWO—professional baseball teams. Museums galore and non-stop concerts made Chicago the cultural mecca of the Midwest. Crime and gang activity paled in comparison with places like New York City or L.A., and even the homeless people were polite and non-threatening.
Sadly, all that is a thing of the past…evoking the opening credits of the immortal 1939 MGM film: “Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered…a civilization gone with the wind.” After decades of Democratic Party rule—led first by the Daley family and later such sadly inept mayors as Rahm Emanuel, Lori Lightfoot and the current Brandon Johnson—Chicago has descended into the equivalent of the ninth........