Chicago Radio: Mary Dixon Segues To Non-Com WBEZ

Two weeks after she was ousted as morning co-anchor at Entercom's WXRT 93.1 FM, Mary Dixon has landed in a similar role at public radio WBEZ 91.5 FM.

The Chicago Tribune reports Dixon was named Thursday as WBEZ’s new morning anchor and local host of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” which airs weekdays from 5 to 10 a.m. She starts training next week and is expected to hit the airwaves in February.

“It is a dream come true,” said Dixon, 54. “The timing worked out better than I could have possibly hoped.”

Mary Dixon

A longtime Chicago radio news anchor, Dixon co-hosted the morning show with Lin Brehmer for more than 20 years at rock station WXRT before her position was eliminated on Dec. 18.

At WBEZ-FM 91.5, Dixon will succeed Lisa Labuz, who is shifting to midday anchor at the news/talk station in a previously announced move.

WBEZ, which is owned by Chicago Public Media, has grown in recent years into a radio powerhouse, and is tied for 7th among Chicago stations with a 3.5 share in the Nielsen listenership survey for December. WXRT is ranked 6th with a 3.8 share.

Entercom, the Philadelphia-based chain that acquired WXRT and a half dozen other Chicago radio stations through the 2017 megamerger with CBS Radio, shook up the local airwaves last month when it eliminated Dixon’s position, breaking up a familiar morning team at the legacy alternative rock station. As part of the change, Brehmer is shifting to middays at WXRT.

Dixon began her radio career as a disc jockey at WIXN-AM/FM in Dixon in northwestern Illinois. She joined WXRT in November 1991 as a general assignment reporter, and was paired with Brehmer on the morning show in 1993, where they established a strong on-air rapport and loyal following. She left radio briefly in 1995 for TV gigs with WGN-Ch. 9 and CNN, but returned to WXRT in 1997, rejoining Brehmer the following year. Beyond an extended maternity leave in 2003, she was a morning mainstay at the station for 25 years.