Chicago Radio: WLS Wins AP Best Newscast Honors

 John Dempsey, Jennifer Keiper, and Nick Gale

Cumulus Media announces that for the third consecutive year, the Illinois Associated Press Broadcasters Association has named WLS 890 AM as Best Newscast in the Large Market category.

WLS-AM took top honors from a field of Illinois LargeMarket radio stations, including: WBBM, WBEZ, Rivet Radio and WGN. Winners of the IllinoisAssociated Press Broadcasters Association contest were announced Saturday, April 23, 2016, in Springfield, IL.

Peter Bowen, Vice President/Market Manager, Cumulus Media-Chicago, said: “Continuing to provide great local news is a key part of our growth plan for the Big 89. I credit PD/OM Peter Bolger and News Director John Dempsey and his excellent news team for their ongoing commitment to excellence in providing our community with the very best news programming that they can count on, day after day and year after year.”

Peter Bolger, WLS-AM Program Director/Operations Manager, said: “I’ve been associated with the news business for many years, and I can tell you it is very difficult to win this honor three years in a row – especially in a market as competitive and as rich with talent as Chicago. Although it’s a team effort, our winning entry was anchored by Jennifer Keiper—andthis is the second year in a row that she has anchored the award winner.”

Bolger continued: “Also, a tip of the green eyeshade to reporter/anchor Nick Gale, whose coverage of the Fox Lake shooting earned second place in Best Spot News competition. Thisis the third year in a row that Nick has won in the Spot or Hard News categories.” The Associated Press is a not-for-profit news cooperative representing 1,400 newspapers and 5,000 broadcast stations in the United States.