Joan Esposito

Fifteen years after she left Chicago television, former news anchor Joan Esposito is getting back on the air.

Esposito, 60, has been hired part-time at Chicago Public Media WBEZ FM 91.5, where she will serve as a backup and vacation-relief news anchor during mornings, middays and afternoons.

Now that her two children (son Ben, 20, and daughter Thomasina, 16) are older, Esposito expressed interest in returning to broadcasting on a limited basis, according to Sally Eisele, managing editor at WBEZ. “What we’re doing is developing a relationship with someone who can help us out and get to know the public radio side of the business,” Eisele said.

Esposito, who first came to Chicago in 1981 as a 27-year-old reporter and weekend anchor at Tribune Broadcasting WGN-Channel 9, became a Monday-through-Friday anchor star at ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7 and later at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5.

Since leaving NBC 5 in 1999, Esposito formed J2 Strategic Communications, a media training firm. She's also taught broadcast writing and production at Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy.

Although best known for her television work, Esposito has a bit of radio on her resume, too. She began her career as a reporter and news anchor at WRFD AM in Columbus, Ohio. She also has filled in at CBS Radio album adult alternative WXRT FM 93.1.