Feder: Host of 'Chicagoing' Bill Campbell dies

Bill Campbell, who was best known for his long run as host and producer of the weekly public affairs show "Chicagoing," died Wednesday Wednesday at a Symphony Care Network nursing home in Chicago after a long illness, according to his family. He was 70.

The longtime Evanston resident served as director of editorials and community services over a 32-year career at ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7.

Born on Chicago's South Side, Campbell was the son of a chemist father and visual artist mother. After graduating from John Marshall Harlan High School and Carleton College in Minnesota, he worked as a staff assistant to the administrative assistant to Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley and director of communications for the Chicago Urban League.

He joined ABC 7 in 1978 and spent his first 10 years at the station writing and delivering on-air editorials - expressing the views of station management on critical issues of the day - which he taped on location.

After serving a nine-month William Benton Fellowship in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Chicago, he returned to ABC 7 in 1989 to find the station was no longer broadcasting editorials.

So general manager Joe Ahern offered him the opportunity to host a weekly talk show in "the spirit and philosophy of the editorials," Campbell said.

The result was "Chicagoing," a Sunday morning staple that aired for 21 years until Campbell retired in 2010. He won multiple Emmy Awards for "Chicagoing" and his editorials.

Campbell later focused on CampbellQuest Ltd., a Chicago-based consulting, coaching and communications firm launched in 1997.

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