'Chicago Tonight' host takes his leave in song

The thing that made "Chicago Tonight" great, the thing that kept John Callaway so fresh in his 15 years playing host to the program, is it always seemed to leave off in mid-debate. No matter how deep Callaway and his panelists got into an issue, no matter how complicated the final analysis, they always seemed to be just scratching the surface. That's a quality that brings both a discerning viewer and an inquisitive host back night after night. Tuesday night, Callaway played host to what he himself referred to open-endedly as "my final regular broadcast of 'Chicago Tonight,'" but rather than tie things up in a tidy package he sent questions for further debate spinning out in all directions.

In a live broadcast on WTTW Channel 11, before a large audience that filled the Winter Garden of the Harold Washington Library, Callaway asked his "Top 10 Questions for the Future." The subjects ranged from education and health insurance to the vitality of local political debate and the financial well-being of Russia, from decency in the media and on the Internet to the decadence of the current sporting scene.

Most of the audience was made up of former guests, and he flittered from one to another asking his questions as if he were the host of a cocktail party catching up with old friends. Many of them were his friends, of course, and the atmosphere truly was partylike, only with just one conversation going on - the host's - and everybody else listening in.

"He was so laid-back and loosey-goosey," said Museum of Broadcast Communications President Bruce DuMont, a longtime Callaway colleague at WTTW.

"It's so emotional," Callaway told the audience before the show. "I've been telling my staff, I was in so much denial over it."

But once the show started, Callaway was his usual sharp self, effortlessly deflecting the debate this way and that, and making the plight of Russians seem immediate by pointing out that most of their government employees haven't been paid in weeks and asking, "What do you do for food? What do you do for toilet paper?"

If Callaway showed his emotions at all, it was in being a little more jovial and a little more opinionated than usual. When people he questioned declined to rise to the debate or offered wishy-washy answers, Callaway playfully scolded them and went on to the next question and the next person.

Eventually, he opened things up to questions from his guests. When the show came to an end, there were still people raising their hands trying to get a word in -things once again left off in mid-debate.

It was then Callaway, an avid singer, asked the final musical question, "Can a country-boy-turned-big-city-journalist reinvent himself one more time?" And the host burst into song.

What a unique way to go out.

Callaway will continue to work as a journalist, writing books and articles and almost certainly contributing pieces to WTTW. "Chicago Tonight" remains his greatest legacy, and he'll be replaced as host of the show next month by Phil Ponce.

After the cameras were turned off, Callaway was saluted with a short speech by former WTTW President Bill McCarter. After that, Callaway thanked his audience and added, "Ladies and gentlemen, let's party."

It was then that the real cocktail party began, and Callaway flittered from group to group, carrying on one conversation among many. And so the debates raged on into the night and beyond.

John Callaway hosts his last "Chicago Tonight" program Wednesday at the Harold Washington Library. Daily Herald Photo/Paul Beaty