O'Donnell: Jim Rose's 'Angry Young Man' helped fuel a 41-year run at Channel 7
JIM ROSE IS RETIRING after 41 years at WLS-Channel 7 Sports.
His final regular on-air appearance will be Sept. 15.
That “41” is a long number. (Some superstitious gamblers consider it a “bad number” because it was the jersey digits of the ill-fated Bear Brian Piccolo.)
Rose will draw salutes from friends, family, fans and select co-workers.
They may even bake a cake.
Many consumers along the incredibly fragmented spectrum of sports media options in 2023 probably won't notice.
That's life, and the presumption is that Rose — now a mellowed age 70 — will roll with it.
HE'S ROLLED WITH A LOT during his four decades at the ABC o-and-o.
He arrived in 1982, just before the remarkable gold rush generated by the mythic Dennis Swanson.
Swanson was the former weekend sports anchor at WMAQ-Channel 5 who left town when Leo Durocher was managing the Cubs and found his greatest traction in broadcast management. He returned to produce the most amazing rapid-transit station turnaround in the history of Chicago TV.
When Swanson came to Channel 7 as GM in 1983, the operation was a listless No. 3 in a city with only three major news shops. (WGN-Channel 9 — with its odd starting times and “Champaign Barn Dance” talent — didn't count; WFLD-Channel 32 didn't begin nightly newscasts until 1987.)
Rose was the newest guy at Channel 7 Sports. Tim Weigel was good-soldiering in a failing 20-month experiment as lead news anchor. The No. 1 sportsman was an upstreaming slap-schticker named Al Lerner. A former University of Wyoming DB named Jay Berry was about to flee to more welcoming assembly lines in Detroit.
SWANSON SWEPT OR KEPT with crisply perceptive genius.
He kept Rose. He moved Weigel back to sports. He recruited Mike Adamle, still hot, telegenic and properly “jock-y” after some stellar cometing from active NFL player to national anchor at NBC Sports.
As the powder settled, Swanson even enabled the improbable Brad Palmer (“Mr. Potato Head”) to make the shift from WBBM-AM (780) and Bears radio game analyst (1977-84) to local TV sports.
(Palmer had a special “in” with Swanson: Both had been basketball managers for Harvey Combes at the University of Illinois during the Sputnik-JFK era.)
SWANSON ALSO DICTATED a lot of impacting changes at the front end of his station. He coaxed Floyd Kalber — “The Big Tuna” of Chicago TV news — out of a brief retirement. He outhustled others to land the syndicated “Wheel of Fortune” and the refreshed “Jeopardy!”
Most majestically, he hired an off-centric daytime host from Baltimore named Oprah Winfrey to energize “A.M. Chicago.”
Two years later, Winfrey was in national syndication and skyrocketing to her forever status as a sensitive-couch influencer on modern American life.
And Swanson's Channel 7 began a long run as the top TV news operation in Chicago.
To this day, his signature remains on the station's success.
IN SPORTS BACK THEN, Weigel became the quarterback. Adamle was the tee-time matinee idol. Palmer was the foil. And Rose was The Angry Young Man.
His anger seemed to flash only when he felt his career arc or public image were being threatened. One memorable afternoon circa 1986, his radar went DEFCON 1.
“J.R.” had caught an elbow on a Thursday morning in a Daily Herald sports media column. Weigel later recalled that when he arrived in the Channel 7 Sports office at his regular show-up time of 2:30 p.m., Rose was sitting at his desk. He was quite impatiently slapping a rolled-up edition of that day's Daily Herald sports section against the palm of his open left hand.
“You see what your bearded pal out in Arlington Heights wrote about me today?” Rose asked.
Weigel, despite knowing exactly what was in that day's paper, feigned ignorance and said, “Geez, no … let me take a look.”
He took the section, gave it a theatrical perusal — fine-tuned at Yale — and shook his head somberly from side to side. In a soft voice, Weigel said, “Wow.”
Rose pointed a menacing finger at him and said, “You tell your little buddy that next time I see him, I am going to kick … his … (butt)!”
WEIGEL WAITED UNTIL AFTER the six o'clock newscast — when Rose was either done for the day or out on assignment — to call his bearded “pal.”
“I have a message for you from ‘J.R.',” he said, unable to suppress his signature “Wackle” (“Weigel cackle”). “It's also kind of a critique. Next time he sees you, he is going to … kick … your ...(butt).”
The butt-kicking never happened. Rose calmed down. Years later, he and the perceived newspaper foe even sat next to each other in media rooms and reminisced like keg-worn old fraternity brothers.
“J.R.” rolled on up, over and through his most notable 41 years on major-market TV.
THE CHICAGO TELEVISION NEWS BUSINESS that he is departing is a shell of what it once was.
Salaries — adjusted for the times — are lower. Viewership is lighter. In the patronizing overkill to accommodate all potential layers on the audience rainbow, no one is a must-view star anymore.
So Jim Rose is retiring.
The mellow end is appropriate. He carried on with consistency and managed his career well. He greatly relished his moments as Michael Jordan's personal ensign.
But the organic Angry Young Man was so much more fun.
• Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Thursday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.