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Before my prestigious days as the morning producer for WGST in Atlanta and WISN in Milwaukee, while I was still living in Huntsville, AL I got the chance to head back home to Chicago for a summer, and serve as a News Intern for WGN Radio. While I was there I had the wonderful opportunity to learn from some of the best in the radio biz, people like Wes Bleed, Andrea Darlas, Steve Bertrand, Judy Pielach and Dave Steward. In order to get actual class credit for spending time in my hometown working at the best radio station in the country, UAH made me keep a log for the first half of the internship. In true Keith Conrad tradition, I’m sure it was far more snarky than they were expecting. But it’s certainly worth taking a look at, even years later:

Monday May 13th 2002

I would have to say that there was a great deal of nervousness heading into my first day at WGN in Chicago. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, would this be a job or merely getting coffee for the news people? My nerves were calmed very early as I found out that my job would involve getting news from the wires and getting them ready to put on the air. Luckily, with my previous experience in radio, I actually was very familiar with everything I would be using in this endeavor.

Tuesday May 14th 2002

Today was a fairly eventful day in Chicago. A suspect was named in the nine year old “Brown’s Chicken Murder,” a case where someone robbed a local restaurant in Palatine and shot and killed half a dozen people. It should be interesting to see how the case unfolds.

Wednesday May 15th 2002

Today was my first experience with a Cubs night game. No news to speak of, so I spent most of the evening working on my air check tape for the fall, when I have to find a new job.

Thursday May 16th 2002

There was no Cubs game today, although someone forgot to tell the Cubs. There was a game yesterday and they lost for the 7th consecutive game. We learned who the suspects are in the Brown’s Chicken Murders. No names yet, but we know that they were teenagers at the time and both attended Fremd High School in Palatine. A press conference is scheduled tomorrow and it is expected that we will learn their names.

Friday May 17th 2002

My first Friday night. This is of significance because things are done quite differently on Friday. For one thing, we have to record things on carts -which look something like eight track tapes- rather than recording them on the computer. We learned who the suspected Brown’s Chicken murders are: James Degorski and Juan Luna. Most importantly, it was also my last day of training. Monday I will be all by myself.

Monday May 20th 2002

I was starting to get worried. The Cubs had actually won a game since I arrived in Chicago until Sunday. It was quite a relief when they topped the Milwaukee Brewers 5-4 in 11 innings. A rather successful first solo day though. Not a whole lot of excitement in the news world, just a rather large traffic jam on the Northwest Toll way.

Tuesday May 21st 2002

If you think nothing happened yesterday, hold on to your hats. Today the Cubs made up a rained out game from early April with a double header which meant… yes, absolutely no newscasts the entire night. Just six hours of watching Cubs baseball. They were killed in the first game 12-1 with the only bright spot being a Fred McGriff homerun to avoid the shutout. The second game looked to be more of the same as the Pirates jumped out to an early 3-1 lead but the Cubs stormed back on the strength of a Sammy Sosa homerun.

Wednesday May 22nd 2002

This is what I always love, when the Cubs are actually the lead news story, Mark Prior, the Cubs top pitching prospect and the top prospect in all of baseball has been brought up and made his major league debut. He pitched six innings, striking out ten which is a record for a Cub making their major league debut. Prior created a buzz around Wrigley Field that had been missing on Chicago’s north side all season long due to the Cubs poor record. Prior brought to mind the rookie season of teammate Kerry Wood.

Thursday May 23rd 2002

Today there was also a Cubs game… also against the Pirates, but it was long over before my shift. So, after several days of Cubs baseball, back to the news world. The Illinois Governor is being plagued by the so-called “license for bribes” scandal. So far, two of his close friends have been indicted but he continues to maintain his innocence. Really it doesn’t matter because he has already announced that he will not seek re-election. The current attorney general Jim Ryan (who ironically enough is NOT related to the Governor) is the front runner to replace him. Tomorrow, it’s back to Cubs baseball as they travel to Houston to face the Astros… life is good.

Friday May 24th 2002

Today there was a slight change of pace… the Cubs played, but this time against the Houston Astros. They won, which has been happening more and more lately. Certainly a nice change from when they lost nine straight after my arrival. In the news world, which shockingly enough is why I’m actually here, there was a person assaulted in the Daley Center this morning. It turns out the man hid in the building all night long and then attacked a woman. When everyone arrived, the building was evacuated and the man was eventually caught. Also, the Town President of Cicero, a suburb of Chicago, is on trial for taking money from the city to pay for a development in Las Vegas. So it turns out that Chicago has much more interesting news then Alabama does. Who knows what the next week has in store.

Monday May 27th 2002

I’ll tell you what the next week has in store… another Cubs night game! There was also some news though, as Governor Ryan presented his budget proposal to the state legislature. The governor addressed the legislature to justify his budget and basically used the opportunity to bad mouth everyone who has ever voted in a way that displeased him. Being the professional that I am, I focused on the portions of his speech that actually dealt with the budget though. No news on the Daley attacking or anything else to speak of though. Unfortunately though there was another suicide bombing in Israel.

Tuesday May 28th 2002

Yes, you guessed it, another night game. That once again is actually news because at the moment Cubs pitcher Matt Clement is doing something that no Cubs pitcher has done since 1972. But I’ll hold you in suspense as to whether or not he does it until tomorrow. It is beginning to look like Pakistan and India may be heading to war. One of the cuts from ABC newscall today described that this could lead to a nuclear war between the two countries. So far, I think this has been the biggest news event that has happened, aside fro the discovery of a possible underground ocean on Mars. So, basically a big day in the news world with or without Matt Clement. Tomorrow there is NOT a game at night, so I will actually have to work… what is this world coming to? Oh, and also tune in tomorrow to see if Matt Clement did whatever he might do **note: It’s bad luck to say that a pitcher is throwing a no-hitter**

Wednesday May 29th 2002

Alas, Matt Clement lost his bid for a no hitter. And I lied, there was another night game. Means not a whole lot of work as far as the news world. About the most exciting thing that happened today was The Weather Channel’s website not working. Meaning that I had to record the forecasts live. That adds about 45 seconds to my job. So, instead of working 15 minutes out of every hour, as I usually do during a night game, I worked about 17 and a half minutes. I’m beat, see you tomorrow.

Thursday May 30th 2002

Today there was a day game. So I actually had to work. There’s a first time for everything I suppose. Alabama is looking so bad after all. Illinois Governor George Ryan is obviously more intelligent then Don Seigleman, as I have yet to hear him say “y’all” or “ya’on’to” and I also have never heard him speak for God, as Dandy Don once did. However, Ryan did use his address at the state legislature, which was supposed to be his time to present his budget, as an opportunity to take a shot at every single person that has done something to displease him. I was taping for about seven minutes before he finally got to his budget proposal. That was definitely the most eventful thing that happened today.

Friday May 31st 2002

Today for me began with a Cubs game, big surprise there, I know. The Cubs of course blew it and ended up loosing to the Houston Astros, again, big surprise. Today being Friday, once again I had to put the late night weather forecast on carts, the small blue, eight-track looking devices that radio stations use here in civilization. Bring on the weekend, I actually have something to do this week.

Monday June 3rd 2002

Another exciting Monday! That of course means that slacker Andrea Darla has the day off. Normally Judy Pielach would be working, but right now she’s in Key West Florida… where incidentally it is considerably warmer than Chicago. Filling in on news this evening is Jim Anthony. Jim works with the affiliates, or so I’m told. He’s yet another employee who was once an intern, which gives me great hope for the future. The funniest happening of the internship thus far occurred today. I asked Jim if there was anything in particular that he wanted from the latest Newscall at about 9pm and he said “Well, there’s nothing really good in this one, just grab 1,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,14 and 15″ that was really funny, trust me.

Tuesday June 4th 2002

In case you were wondering, there was indeed a Cubs game last night… they lost of course. The Cubs hit four homeruns, two from Fred “the ageless wonder” McGriff, and one a piece from Sammy Sosa and my guy Corey Patterson. How do you hit for homeruns and lose? Tonight is more of the same, which means not a tremendous amount of news. The biggest thing worth mentioning is the return of Judy Pielach from the Sunshine State tomorrow. Everyone seems to be hoping that the weather was good down south so that she won’t return with a bunch of whiney stories about having to stay at the hotel all week. The cubs are playing and actually leading. Although they were also leading yesterday, so I won’t hold my breath.

Wednesday June 5th 2002

The Cubs were leading 5-3 in the ninth inning and closer Antonio “the ugliest man in baseball” Alphonseca blew the save and the Cubs lost in extra innings. Somehow, the Cubs are horrible… because I’m in Chicago? It’s as good a theory as any I suppose. Today a 14 year old who has been missing since May 31st was found dead in Carol Stream, a Chicago suburb. Also, singer R. Kelly, who I’m told by some cruel twist of fate, won a Grammy Award, was indicted on 21 counts of child pornography. Kelly is from Chicago so it’s big news around here. Many radio stations are now refusing to play his music. Of course, one of the criteria I had for picking a radio station was that they not play him, so it doesn’t effect me in the least. the Cubs just tied their game against the Brewers at one a piece. It’s good to see the other team blow a lead for once.

Thursday June 6th 2002

The big news today was President Bush addressing the nation to request that the congress create a Homeland Security position in the cabinet. My job was to record the speech and then find a few highlights to play in the news later on… yes, it was all me… oh, and Andrea Darlas helped out too. Then I did the unthinkable… I went across the street to Walgreens to get some bottled water. Sportscentral was having some college basketball coaches on and Mike the producer was worried that they might need a libation. Unfortunately, Mike had no intern available this evening, but no fear, it was Keith to the rescue. Is there nothing I can’t do? The only drawback is that I can no longer say that this internship at no point involved running errands. But hey, I got to meet Tom Izzo, so I think it was worth the inconvenience. The Cubs had the day off so there was wall to wall news and every show ran in its entirety, a rarity these days. A good time was had by all.

Friday June 7th 2002

I’m not sure if anything can surpass the excitement of yesterday’s Walgreens run, but we’ll have to try. The Cubs, after a day off, are in Seattle to play the Mariners in an interleague series. Rookie Mark Prior is on the hill for the Cubs. The game starts at 9pm, being on the west coast, that means that I get to leave early. Gotta love it. Either I sit around watching the game or take off early. Not a whole lot going on in the news world, aside from R. Kelly arriving in Chicago. The judge told him that he is not allowed to go near any minors before his trial. This was the biggest, Earth shattering event today. Again being Friday, I have to put the weather on a cart and give it to the producer as opposed to the week when I put it in the computer. Which is the signal to me that the weekend is here.

Monday June 10th 2002

Today the big news item is a rather nasty storm, front that has prompted a severe thunderstorm warning for Dekalb county. Oh yeah, and a Chicago resident was arrested for plotting to make a so-called “dirty bomb” or a bomb with radioactive material. The man was born Jose Padilla in New York but grew up in Chicago. He changed his name to Abdullah Al Muhajir when he converted to Islam several years ago. He was trained by Al Qaeda basically for the express purpose of building a dirty bomb. Padilla/ Muhajir was actually arrested at O’Hare Airport right after he stepped off of a flight from Pakistan. At first, I was somewhat worried considering that I am currently in Chicago and all, but it turns out that the target was than likely Washington DC, although that is hardly good news obviously. The problem is that if there is one, you can bet that there are more somewhere in the country. Hopefully they can be rounded up before they can do anything.

Tuesday June 11th 2002

Today there was more information released about Jose Padilla. It turns out that he lived in Florida near where one of the 9/11 hijackers learned to fly (and not to take off or land, incidentally). The people in Florida are trying to insure everyone that the two were not linked in any way. The most interesting sound bite of my internship thus far came from a friend of Padilla, who in his own unique way said that Padilla had the “guts” to go through with a radioactive attack against the US. Probably, the scariest thing is seeing one picture of Padilla looking like a normal everyday American and in another looking like a stereotypical Muslim extremist, complete with Russian-made machine gun. Fortunately, he was stopped before he could get beyond the planning stages.

Wednesday June 12th 2002

A rare occurrence today, a night game. The Cubs had a lead with Mark Prior pitching. One would think that things would be well in hand. Unfortunately, rookie Juan Cruz gave up four consecutive hits and eventually, Houston came back. Oh well, tomorrow is another day. Other than that, not much ground breaking news to report.

Thursday June 13th 2002

Today there were two rather big news stories, and the Cubs had the day off, which they needed after yesterday’s defeat. The Catholic Bishops are meeting in Dallas to come up with a policy for the United States on sexual abuse of minors by Priests. It is anticipated that the policy that is adopted will fall just shy of the “zero tolerance” policy requested by support groups of victims. However, it will certainly help the current situation and will insure that the situation can never happen again.

Friday June 14th 2002

Today was very interesting because absolutely nothing happened. So little in fact that while I normally have about 100 audio cuts, this evening I had only 65. I was quite scared, I thought maybe they would slash my $75 a week salary. At any rate, there was a Cubs v White Sox game which the Cubs did win on the strength of two homeruns from the previously dormant Todd Hundley. If the Cubs can actually get him going along with Moises Alou who has begun to wake up with the bat, this team could actually go on a tear and sneak back into the race. We shall see what happens.