Feder: After 38 years, TV music icon Jerry Bryant still has big plans to rock on

Despite health challenges and financial setbacks that might have brought down the curtain on anyone else, Chicago TV legend Jerry Bryant isn't finished yet with "JBTV," the longest running music television show in the country.

Since 1984 Bryant has been the genial host of the weekly showcase he founded for presenting live performances and in-studio interviews with emerging artists, including some of the biggest names in modern rock history at the start of their careers.

"JBTV" still airs multiple times each week across several platforms, including YouTube, VPOD TV Channel 59.3 (at midnight Fridays and Saturdays), and Chicago Access Network Channel 19 (at 10:30 p.m. Monday and Thursdays).

While keeping the show on the air, Bryant, 70, has spent the last five years in and out of hospitals - first for treatment of Stage 4 colorectal cancer and multiple surgeries to remove tumors from his colon and lung, and more recently for a coronary bypass.

In the midst of all that, the COVID-19 shutdown forced Bryant to close his JBTV studios in Chicago's River North neighborhood.

But now that Bryant says he is cancer free and close to fully recovered from heart surgery, he's eager to secure a new production home for his labor of love.

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