Blowing Out of the Windy City
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Another longtime Chicago Anchor that is stepping down in December is WGN Anchor Mark Suppelsa.
Suppelsa is getting out before Sinclair comes in, but he swears that is not the reason he's leaving.
Robert Feder talked to Suppelsa about calling in a wrap on a TV news career and he talks about why he won't be watching any cable news in his retirement (smart man).
Q. I know you’ve said the timing of your decision was not related to the impending takeover by Sinclair. Why do so many people have trouble believing that?
A. Well, do the math. Does a person at 55 announce he’s going to retire for good from a career in August because they’ve heard in June there’s going to be a possible change in ownership at your TV station? My agent and friend, Todd Musburger, counseled my wife and me not to tell management last January that we were planning to retire. He wisely said it’d be a long stretch to December [next month]. So we were thinking of telling the bosses in May, but they’d just expanded our newscast schedule and unveiled the new studio. I didn’t want to spoil that parade with my news. So we decided to wait until summer — when lo and behold, the Sinclair reports kicked up around June. There’s your timeline.
Q. Think you’ll still watch the news?
A. Oh sure. I, like a lot of us TV newsies, enjoy flipping on local news when we travel just to see what they do, how they do it. I will say that I probably won’t have the squawk box of cable screamers on much. My ears hurt now from that.
Suppelsa signs off for good on December 8th.
Read the full interview here.
