Pat Cassidy returns to old spot at WBBM-AM

April - 11 - 2010 Author: Elizabeth Moore Respond

BY LEWIS LAZARE Media & Marketing Columnist

Pat Cassidy is coming back to all-news WBBM-AM (780) in the morning drive co-anchor job he left in 2008. Cassidys first day back on the job with co-anchor Felicia Middlebrooks will be next Monday. Cassidy left WBBM some two years ago for what he believed at the time would be a new career as a talk show host at news/talk WLS-AM (890), but he never found a slot there that he could comfortably fill.

Initially, Cassidy seemed to be headed for a role as a morning drive host at WLS, but when longtime WLS morning drive hosts Don Wade and Roma suddenly became a hit in the new portable people meter ratings, they stayed put. And Cassidy was made more of a sidekick on their show, while WLS management tried to figure out what to do with him.

» Click to enlarge image Pat Cassidy is returning to the morning drive co-anchor job he left at WBBM-AM (780) in 2008.

Cassidy eventually wound up co-hosting mid-mornings on WLS with newly-arrived talent Mancow Muller, a pairing that got off to a rocky start. But the two very different personalities eventually figured out a workable on-air relationship that lasted until February of this year, when a new management team at WLS-AM had to make room for Cisco Cotto, a talent initially hired to co-host afternoon drive with Roe Conn. That Cotto-Conn experiment lasted but a few weeks, however, and Cotto was given the mid-morning berth at WLS. As of Monday, Conn began doing his show with Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper.

At WBBM, Cassidy will replace John Hultman, a veteran WBBM anchor who came out of retirement to return to the station and morning drive after Cassidys departure for WLS-AM. Hultman will continue to do fill-in work at WBBM from time to time, the station said Monday.

Several months ago WBBM executives said they were considering several candidates to fill Cassidys former morning drive slot, but when Cassidy himself was suddenly dropped from WLS in February, he expressed interest in returning to his old job at WBBM. And now he will.

Cassidys broadcast career spans more than 40 years, and he has won dozens of local and national news awards, including the National Press Club and National Headline Club Awards.

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