Feder: WGN hires main news anchor from Nexstar's Indianapolis station

"Chicago's Very Own" WGN-Channel 9 has reached out to its company's station in Indianapolis to hire a new co-anchor for its nightly newscasts, Robert Feder writes.

Ray Cortopassi, 53, who grew up in south suburban Dolton and graduated from Columbia College Chicago, is coming home to join the Nexstar Media Group station here. Starting September 28, he'll co-anchor WGN's 5, 6, 9 and 10 p.m. Monday-through-Friday newscasts with Micah Materre.

He replaces Joe Donlon, who held the job for two years before he was called up to co-anchor "News Nation," Nexstar's national news startup, which debuts September 1 on the WGN America cable network.

For 21 years Cortopassi has been anchoring and reporting in Indianapolis - first at ABC affiliate WRTV, later for NBC affiliate WTHR, and since 2009 for WXIN, the Fox affiliate owned by Nexstar. Earlier he worked for WPBN, the NBC affiliate in Traverse City, Michigan, and KTNV, the ABC affiliate in Las Vegas.

He began his career as a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown and a reporter and broadcast editor for City News Bureau of Chicago.

Get the full report, and more Chicago media news, at robertfeder.com.