Chicago’s talk radio 720 WGN(AM) announced that afternoon news anchor Steve Bertrand will be retiring.
Bertrand’s retirement is effective Nov. 13, following his 40th anniversary at WGN, which he celebrated in June.
During his time at WGN, he hosted several shows and anchored news “on nearly every part of the clock,” according to a Nexstar Media release.
He started at WGN as an intern and was hired full-time in 1985. He has been a news anchor since 1992 and has worked with the likes of hosts Wally Phillips, Roy Leonard, Spike O’Dell and Kathy O’Malley and Judy Markey, the duo known as “The Girlfriends.”
“I feel like I’m the luckiest guy in the history of radio,” Bertrand, a Manteno, Ill., native, said in the release. “As a kid, I dreamed of one day living in Chicago. I never imagined I’d be part of her daily conversation.”
His career highlights include the death of Chicago Mayor Harold Washington, the station’s coverage of the Plainfield, Ill., F-5 tornado of 1990 and its coverage of the 2000 Presidential Election.
Bertrand also spent six years producing Chicago Bears broadcasts when WGN was the team’s flagship station.
