Milt Rosenberg
Esteemed radio talk show host Milt Rosenberg will be leaving WCGO AM 1590 at the end of November, officials of the Kovas Communications news/talk station have confirmed.
But the 90-year-old Chicago broadcast legend is expected to continue podcasting while seeking several new radio outlets, according to his producer.
“We're working on some other partnerships and relationships that would bring our shows to multiple stations in Illinois and nationally,” producer Zack Christenson said Wednesday. “We hope to have some exciting news to announce soon.”
A spokesman for Kovas Communications cited a loss of advertiser funding for Rosenberg’s show, which airs from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Rosenberg debuted on the station in middays last April and moved to afternoons in July.
Also leaving WCGO will be two other shows produced by Christenson’s company — Brad Jackson’s “Coffee & Markets,” which airs from noon to 1 p.m., and Ben Domenech’s “The Federalist Radio Hour,” which airs from 3 to 4 p.m.
“WCGO would be delighted to continue airing the shows if there were an underwriter, but none has surfaced as of yet,” station consultant Tim Disa said.
No word on permanent replacements for the three programs, but Disa said: “WCGO is in conversations with two other parties and we'll know something soon."
Rosenberg, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, hosted “Extension 720” for four decades on WGN AM 720 before he was forced to retire from the Tribune Media news/talk station in 2012. He has continued an independent podcast on miltrosenberg.com.
Added Christenson: “We're really excited about how our shows have been performing digitally. From the beginning, we created our programming to be platform agnostic, allowing people to listen whenever and wherever possible, whether on their smartphone, computer or on the radio. The download numbers of our shows podcasts — we put each show in its entirety online — reach tens of thousands of listeners each day across the country.
“The live stream feed of the WCGO website has more than doubled since we came to WCGO. We're really excited at the potential digital is bringing us — as well as our future on terrestrial radio.”