Even his wife, Carrie Cochran, didn`t know his new extension. That`s how quickly Bob Sirott jumped back into local TV waters.
Sirott joined WMAQ-Ch. 5 last week after months of negotiations with that station and WBBM-Ch. 2, his former TV home. Though he is not scheduled to go on air until March 27, as anchor of Channel 5`s new noon news program, he is already at work.
No wonder. He`s got a lot of it.
His contract calls not only for anchoring the 30-minute news show, but for doing some half-dozen yearly specials, and contributing feature pieces to the station`s other newscasts. Still, it`s this noon news that was on his mind, and there was a palpable excitement in Sirott`s voice when he talks about it.
”I like doing things live,” he said. ”It gives me the chance to be more creative, to take some risks, to be a little more freewheeling.”
Lest one get the idea that the new noon news will be some sort of Bobbie`s Playhouse, Sirott continued: ”This will be a newscast where news is covered in the same style and tradition of this station. I consider myself a good reporter, and I want to put my own stamp on the show.”
For instance, Bob?
”I won`t pretend to do serious commentary about the day`s events, but I can see myself making some comments about what`s going on. And I can see us doing live interviews.”
Any sort of personal touches would be welcome, and even necessary. WMAQ`s noon news will face some stiff competition: according to the latest Nielsens, ”All My Children” (WLS-Ch. 7) has a rating of 11.7 and a 34 share, while the ”Midday News” (WGN-Ch. 9) has a 7.1 rating and 21 share.
Sirott will not be sitting on a set when the show premieres but rather in the newsroom.
”It will give it a nice sense of informality,” he says. ”It will make the people watching feel more comfortable. They`ll be hearing the news from a guy who knows the city. It`s hard at this stage to predict exactly what it will be like, it takes some time to figure out what works and what doesn`t. All I can do is just be myself.”
And that seems to be just what his bosses at WMAQ want.
”We are delighted that Bob has joined the staff,” says Dick Reingold, the station`s news director.
”He fits into this operation very well. He knows the city and will complement us in a number of areas.”
But about this noon news, Dick?
”The show is going to be a news program,” Reingold says. ”We will use live minicams, take live satellite feeds, talk with reporters as they are going to or coming from a story. It may not have the slick and polished look of the nightly news, and that will be because things will be happening.”
The unkindest cut
There`s no gentle way to put it, so I`ll just say it: Steve Dahl will undergo a vasectomy on the air during his 2:30-7 p.m. Thursday radio show.
”This is a real issue men in their 20s, 30s and 40s face,” says Greg Solk, operations manager at WLUP and the man who had to approve the event.
”Part of Steve`s popularity is due to the fact that he says things on air that people only think. Now, he`s taking it a step further.”
Almost unbelievably, Dahl is not the first person to entertain the public with this moment of intimacy: a Phoenix jock broke this strange ground some months ago.
