Jim O'Donnell: One very public bump later, Rafer Weigel is set for a TV news comeback
THREE YEARS AGO, Rafer Weigel got caught in a wicked crossfire on Love Street.
The talented Chicago TV journalist was scarlet-lettered by two ferociously battling women - one his then-fiancee - and wave after wave of shredding media coverage and noxious social media.
The result was that Weigel was deep-sixed by news management at WFLD-Channel 32. He was left adrift in that netherworld of "independent content producer" for his Weigel Media Group.
Now, his penance apparently served, the resilient 53-year-old is bouncing back.
Weigel will begin a new position Monday as a news anchor/ reporter for KUSI-TV in San Diego.
With his deep sports roots - his late father Tim Weigel remains one of the most popular sportscasters in the history of Chicago media - Weigel's return could ultimately resonate locally.
HE'S NOT SPEAKING about his impending comeback. He did post mention of it on Facebook Wednesday afternoon.
The University of Illinois grad apparently caught a big break when Steve Cohen, the respected KUSI news director who gave him his first on-air job back in 2005, elected to hire him again.
When Weigel's TV news world fell apart in 2019-20, he was accused of no crime.
He was guilty - especially in the grinding court of tweeted opinion - of relationship unconsciousness for attempting to juggle prospective Wife No. 2 and a fleeting paramour he met online.
WEIGEL ALSO GOT wretched private imaging advice by being told to go public with his "love addiction."
A residual problem became finding a credible rehab center to treat his rather ambiguous "malady."
According to a 2020 conversation with the Evanston native, experts at Minnesota's renowned Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation turned him away after concluding that the clinic had no appropriate program.
Weigel finally found specialists who generated a letter about his "love treatment plan." The letter bought him a bonus 90 days of pay and benefits at Channel 32 before bosses stopped the bad press bleed. They lowered the boom in February 2020.
HE NOW MOVES ON to San Diego, in spirit and intent purportedly a wiser and more grateful man.
His back pages include a 10-year run as an actor based in southern California. During that span, he worked with such People magazine favorites as Charlie Sheen (yellow warning light here), Eric McCormack, William Shatner and the scenery-munching Jenny McCarthy.
(His last acting appearance was two years ago in an episode of "Chicago Fire." Credited as "Rafer Brian," he played a diabolical pharmaceutical executive.)
Following his father's sad passing in 2001 - at age 56 - Weigel switched into sports media and worked hard to ascend. He began as a humble prep sports stringer for Bill Adee at the Sun-Times.
With his passion and drive, he then rocketed into stops at HLN's "Morning Express with Robin Meade," WLS-Channel 7 Sports and Fox-32 News.
KUSI-TV News - now calling him back to San Diego - revels in its status as an energized, independent operation with no network affiliation or constraints.
Rafer Weigel's most resolute rooters can only hope that the GPS of life realities keeps him out of any more wicked crossfires on Love Street.
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IN 1985, WHEN THE BEARS moved radio play-by-play rights from WBBM, 780-AM back to legacied home WGN, 720-AM, the news was seismic.
In 2000, when the team switched from the old WMAQ, 670-AM back to 780, the news was big.
This week, when the Staleys announced games will begin airing on WMVP, 1000-AM next season, the fanfare was plop-plop, fizz-fizz.
THE SWITCHOVER REFLECTS the convergence of multiple realities:
• Terrestrial radio in Chicago is a down-bound train;
• Because of the growth of streaming and other emerging options, the Bears and any radio partner have to work harder than ever to try and milk any profit out of free broadcasts; and,
• Audacy - the parent corporation of seven stations in Chicago including 780-AM and WSCR, 670-AM - is bleeding red and being forced to continue to jettison prime audio baubles.
TOM THAYER AND JEFF JONIAK are expected to stay with the package.
The grab is an OK "get" for Good Karma Brands. It can only help weekday programming at the company's 1000-AM, which continues to close the third-tier audience gap on the listing 670-AM.
But the bigger blockbuster would come if Audacy is forced to start peddling stations in Chicago and around the country in an attempt to constructively navigate any possible bankruptcy straits.
As previously reported, Audacy stock is currently selling for less than 40 cents per share.
That's not enough to buy a 2022 Miller Lite Bears pocket schedule on eBay.
Or used Roquan Smith ankle tape.
• Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears Sunday and Thursday Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.co. All communications may be considered for publication.