Bruce Wolf (born September 11, 1953) is a veteran Chicago broadcaster and sports anchor who has been on both TV and radio for more than 20 years.
[3] At age 24, he decided to attend law school while working full-time as a newspaper reporter and also was doing play-by-play broadcasts on two small radio stations.
[4] Wolf first started working full-time for Lerner Newspapers from 1972 to 1981 and also was doing play-by-play broadcasts on two small radio stations.
While hosting the show, Wolf created controversy one night when he displayed a photograph of the Cuban revolutionary and leader Fidel Castro and joked, "They never did assassinate that guy, did they?"
As a result, Wolf delivered his June 2, 1993 sports report from the living room of his north suburban home, surrounded by his wife and five children, who chimed in on cue.
[6] In September 1993, WFLD hired Chicago Bears defensive tackle Steve McMichael as a guest analysis on a new half-hour sports highlights show that Wolf was hosting.
"[8] Also, referring to his own sarcastic bent and WFLD's parent network Fox Broadcasting Company's coup that year in picking up National Football League games, Wolf joked to the Sun-Times: "Well, maybe the NFL doesn't have room for a smirk.
"[9] In that same interview, Wolf told the Sun-Times of his new predicament: "As (former Chicago Bears coach) Mike Ditka once said: "This too shall pass.
In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Wolf labeled his Cubs-related action was "hypocrisy," and combined a line from the movie Caddyshack with a quotation from the 17th-century French writer François de La Rochefoucauld in elaborating further: "But as La Rochefoucauld said: 'Hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue.'
The first incident, in September 2005, involved WFLD suspending Wolf for three days after an awkward on-air appearance involving then-WGCI-FM radio personality "Crazy Howard" McGee, who apparently while appearing on WFLD had made a crude, below-the-waist gesture.
[3][11] In December 2006, an independent arbitrator ruled that WFLD had no reason to terminate Wolf, and awarded him full back pay and severance.
"I think 4:30 in the morning is a little too prime time-ish for me," Wolf joked to the Chicago Sun-Times upon being named the host of Barely Today.
"What I was really looking for was a once-a-year show to be aired on the night that Daylight saving time ends in that one extra hour that you get at 2 in the morning.
And I will wish that I could go back to sleep and start dreaming again," Wolf told the Chicago Tribune's Phil Rosenthal at the time the show was canceled.
"[16] After Barely Today was canceled, Wolf returned to sports anchoring and reporting duties at WMAQ-TV.
"It was heartbreaking at times, but very rewarding too," Wolf told the Chicago Sun-Times in January 2008 about his full-time stint at WMAQ.
[21] Between May 1996 and 1998, Wolf largely was off Chicago's radio airwaves, although he performed occasional vacation fill-in work, most notably at WCKG-FM.
[22] In January 1998, Wolf returned to Chicago's radio airwaves as the morning news and sports anchor for host Jonathon Brandmeier on WCKG-FM.
[23] By December 1998, Wolf's contract was not renewed at WCKG after Brandmeier brought back his old colleague, Buzz Kilman.
[24] Between 1998 and 2003, Wolf largely was off Chicago's radio airwaves, although he performed occasional vacation fill-in work and had his Chet Chitchat character contribute weekly segments on Friday mornings on Kevin Matthews' show on then-ABC Radio-owned WXCD-FM between 2000 and 2001.
"I believe the (Monday Night Football) hiring of Dennis Miller was the cornerstone of an ABC plan to distinguish its sports presentation as the most pseudo-intellectual in broadcasting," Wolf joked to the Chicago Sun-Times at the time the Chet Chitchat deal was signed.
[27] On March 5, 2009, WLUP fired Wolf from his role as a morning radio sidekick, as part of a cost cutting.
[28] In May 2010, WLS radio hired Wolf as a Saturday afternoon talk-show host, co-hosting a two-hour program with political commentator Dan Proft.
[34] In April 2016, Wolf was criticized for an insensitive comment he posted on Twitter about the death of a Baltimore man who died from injuries suffered while in police custody.
"[38] Wolf also worked full-time as a lawyer for the Chicago law firm Holstein, Mack and Klein from 1982 until 1987.