Tribune Media’s WGN/Chicago shook-up it’s  morning line-up on Monday.  Well, “shook-up” is a little strong.  The station announced that morning drive host John Williams, a WGN veteran, will move to the mid-morning slot recently vacated by Kathy O’Malley and Judy Markey.  Williams was in the wake-up chair for just six months, prior to which he hosted the 1p – 4p slot.  WGN’s new morning driver is radio newsman Greg Jarrett, who comes to the station direct from Citadel’s KGO/San Francisco, where he co-hosted PM drive.  The Chicago Tribune story is here.

When Randy Michaels took the reins at Tribune, many talk pros expected he would remake the legendary but stodgy WGN in his image, which is to say it would quickly be converted into Chicago’s version of Michael’s beloved WLW/Cincinnati, a hyper-local station staffed with outspoken,  right-to-the-edge, larger than life personalities.  That may indeed be the plan.  Tapping Kevin Metheny as PD and hiring Chicago radio legend Garry Meier  for early afternoons are certainly steps in that direction.  But Michaels and his team are doing something that’s almost unheard of these days — taking their time and doing things right.  WGN management is moving slowly and carefully in an effort to truly transform the WGN brand — not gut it.

As WGN VP/GM Tom Langmyer told the Tribune earlier this year:  “When you have a successful institution that performs well, not only from a listener perspective but from a business standpoint, you want to be very sure that the changes you are making are strictly driven to make the station more relevant rather than to make a change for the sake of change.”

Keep your eye on the transformation of WGN.  It may prove to be radio’s  feel-good story in these dark times.