WTTW names new host for 'Chicago Tonight'
Balancing change with continuity, Phil Ponce will succeed John Callaway as host of WTTW-TV Channel 11's news-analysis program "Chicago Tonight" when Callaway steps down this summer.
Ponce worked five years under Callaway as a "C2N" correspondent and fill-in host earlier in the decade before leaving in 1997 to join PBS' national "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer."
"I told Jim Lehrer the only thing that could get me to leave 'The NewsHour' is the prospect of hosting my own show - and not just any show, but 'Chicago Tonight,' " Ponce said Monday. "It's a show that I love, John Callaway is a person who has been my mentor and my friend, and Chicago is my hometown. So it was an irresistible opportunity."
In announcing the appointment Monday, Dan Schmidt, head of Window to the World Communications, 'TTW's ownership body, cited Ponce as "a broadcast journalist with great integrity, deep Chicago roots, and a long-term commitment and respected track record with 'Chicago Tonight.' "
No dates are set, but Callaway expects to step down in June, with Ponce replacing him in July after a couple of final months at "The NewsHour."
Ponce grew up in East Chicago, Ind., and attended Indiana University, eventually earning a law degree and going into the legal profession.
But after seven years in that field he started doing TV in Indianapolis, and in 1982 he returned to Chicago to work at WBBM-TV Channel 2.
Ponce was an Emmy-winning reporter at 'BBM and also played host to the public-affairs series "Common Ground." But like many TV journalists - Callaway included - he thrived after moving to public television, joining "C2N" in 1992.
"It's a nice mixture of timeliness and analysis," Ponce said, "and you can't always get that in commercial TV."
Ponce's appreciation for the unique qualities of public television in general and "C2N" in particular were obvious benefits as 'TTW undertook a nationwide search for a successor to Callaway, who at 62 is cutting down on his duties after 15 years as host.
The show, which airs Monday through Thursday at 7 p.m., with reruns at 10 p.m. and 1 and 5 a.m., will make more abundant use of guest hosts, including correspondent Elizabeth Brackett, but the format, involving a panel of experts on a given issue, will remain largely the same.
"I don't know of any specific structural changes that are being contemplated," Ponce said.
He added that he expected a natural "evolution" as "a reflection of the principal host," but that even those changes would be minimal because of the basic tenets he shares with Callaway.
"One of the fabulous things about the program is it has covered such a range," Ponce said. "John, I think, if you were to ask him, considers himself a generalist, and so do I. And that's one reason why I think this will be a very good match, because I'm interested in a lot of things.
"By temperament, I have a range of interests - politics, economics, culture, sports, all that stuff. That's why this job is so much fun for somebody who's a generalist and somebody who's interested in all aspects of the life of a community.
"That's why I think it's a good match, because my temperament plays to the strengths of the program."