Tribune Broadcasting’s WGN-TV in Chicago has hired Joe Donlon as it evening anchor, starting in mid-April.
Donlon has been the main anchor at KGW-TV in Portland, Oregon, for 21 years.
He relplaces Mark Supelsa, who left the station at the end of last year.
The move is unusual because Donlon has no Chicago roots and WGNs takes it “Chicago’s Very Own” slogan pretty seriously.
Joe is the perfect person for the position. He is a heavy hitter when it comes to news,” commented Jennifer Lyons, WGN-TV news director. “He is an incredible writer and I look forward to his stories as a working journalist in our news room. His knowledge, personality and quick wit will be an asset to WGN’s unique vision for storytelling in the Chicago news market.”
Donlon will join the evening/late news team of Micah Materre, Ben Bradley and Lourdes Duarte.
“The broadcast history in Chicago is unparalleled. I can’t tell you what it means to get this call from an iconic station I grew up watching, in one of the greatest cities in the world,” said Donlon. “I feel like I’ve been traded to the Bulls in the 1990s. It is literally a dream job for me.”
Before KGW, Donlon spend nine years as an anchor and reporter at KVOA-TV in Tucson and started his career at Corpus Christi, Texas.
