By Steve Rhodes
Hey, it could happen to anyone.
1. Hey, it looked real.
Much credit to WGN for the way they handled the goof. (“Do you think they have these problems at Channel 7? I don’t think so!”)
2. Speaking of WGN, I appeared there recently to discuss Jesse Jackson Jr. both on their news show and on CLTV, which is also owned by Tribune Company and works out of the same space. First, an anecdote I previously included in some other reporting, isolated here for its goodness. And then some photos.
*
I sat at a desk just a few feet from Lisnek as he did the open for CLTV’s Politics Tonight. Then I was asked to sit next to Lisnek for our segment on Jesse Jackson Jr. Except there wasn’t a chair available for me, so Lisnek looked around and spotted one just a few steps away. At the same time I was about to get mic’d up from a mic guy who had walked up upon us.
LISNEK to MIC GUY: Should I grab that chair?
MIC GUY: I don’t have anything to do with that.
ME: I’ll grab it.
LISNEK: No, you don’t understand. It’s a union thing. He’s not in the right union.
The mic guy couldn’t grab the chair, and neither could Lisnek, without violating union rules.
Fortunately, a guy from the right union appeared just in time to move the chair and I sat down and got mic’d up with about half a second to spare.
*
While there, I also took some photos with my crappy 1965 cell phone.
Here’s WGN’s crappy “green room.”
*
Here’s a big Family Guy poster in the hallway. I asked for one of my own to no avail.
*
Here’s me hanging around the set with Jim Belushi.
I actually tried out several variations of “Hey, how many times a day does someone go over there and punch Jim Belushi in the face?” but got absolutely no play.
*
And here’s me with Taylor Swift.
Nahhhh, that was taken earlier in the day at Walgreens.
*
Note: I’m not oblivious to the fact that my hair is weird (and I often look exhausted because I am); you just have no idea how uncontrollable it really is. And frankly, a certain segment of the female population digs it. So suck it.
(I’m fairly certain my hair is a big reason why I don’t get invited onto Chicago Tonight: Week in Review anymore. Host Joel Weisman once called me a hippie – because that’s the only reference some folk have – and suggested that I take their $90 appearance fee and spend it on a barber. You know what? I always wanted to be this kind of journalist . . .
. . . not this kind: 
It’s just that Thompson was balding from an early age.
*
I variously get Bill Maher, Bono and George Washington, so I’m okay with that.
3. The Lost Bozo Tape.
“A rare 1971 recording of WGN-TV’s legendary Bozo’s Circus will be broadcast for the first time in 41 years as part of an hour-long primetime special titled Bozo’s Circus: The Lost Tape on Sunday, December 9 at 7 p.m. CT on WGN-TV Chicago.
“The special presentation will be hosted by WGN’s Dean Richards and streamed live for viewers outside the Chicago area on WGNtv.com.
“Rebroadcasts are scheduled for Saturday, December 15 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, December 23 at noon on WGN 9.2 Antenna TV Chicago; and Christmas Day (Tuesday, December 25) at noon CT on WGN-TV Chicago and nationally on WGN America.”
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Comments welcome.
Posted on December 6, 2012