Veteran Chicago anchor Ron Magers is planning his retirement from ABC-owned station WLS, reports Chicago media writer Robert Feder.
Feder says “insiders” tell him Magers could retire as early as this summer. Magers wouldn’t comment.
Magers came to Chicago from KSTP in Minneapolis, Minn. in 1981 as an anchor for NBC-owned station WMAQ. He, along with his co-anchor Carol Marin, quit in 1997 to protest Jerry Springer’s, hiring as a commentator for the station. Magers been at WLS ever since.
For the past 18 years at ABC 7 he has maintained the station’s No. 1 ratings despite intense competition lately from NBC 5, particularly for viewers in the prized 25-to-54 demographic.
It’s not known who would replace Magers alongside Cheryl Burton at 5 p.m. and Kathy Brock at 10 p.m. The most obvious inside candidate is Alan Krashesky, a 34-year veteran of ABC 7, while other contenders could include Ravi Baichwal, Terrell Brown or Rob Elgas.