Rick Kogan (born September 13, 1951) is a Chicago newspaperman, a Chicago radio personality and a noted author.
Early life and education
A native of Chicago's
Old Town neighborhood, Kogan is the son of longtime Chicago newspaperman
Herman Kogan (1914–1989) and longtime Chicago literary and journalism fixture Marilew (Cavanagh) Kogan (1919–2007).[1] His parents named him Rick and not Richard as a tribute to Riccardo's, a legendary Chicago restaurant and watering hole that now is known as Stefani's. On the night that Kogan was born, noted author, historian and broadcaster
Studs Terkel came over and took Kogan's father, Herman, out for a celebratory drink.[2]
Kogan's first home was in an apartment on the second floor of an old graystone at 1444 N. State Parkway on Chicago's
Gold Coast, a building that was demolished in 1959. When Kogan's brother Mark was born several years later, the family relocated to an apartment in
Old Town.[3] "Everything swirled around that crazy second-floor apartment in Old Town," Kogan told the Chicago Reader in 2013.[4] "To walk into this living room filled with smoke and clinking glasses and music and Studs (Terkel) and Nelson (Algren),
Marcel Marceau,
Mort Sahl, (Roger) Ebert -- you don't wind up in life being starstruck after that kind of childhood, and it's served me well."[4]
Kogan attended LaSalle Elementary School in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.[5] and
The Latin School of Chicago, Class of 1969.[6] He did not earn a college degree, and worked a variety of jobs in his late teens and early twenties, including as a cab driver.
Professional career
Kogan earned his first byline in the
Chicago Sun-Times at age 16.[7] Although he did not attend college, Kogan continued to write for the Sun-Times, the
Chicago Daily News, and then, after the Daily News ceased publication in 1978, returning to the Sun-Times, where he specialized in writing about Chicago's nightlife.[7]
For four years, Kogan edited the syndicated
Ann Landers advice column that ran in the Tribune and was written by
Eppie Lederer. After Lederer's death in June 2002, Kogan wrote a personal reminiscence about his experiences working with Lederer.[56][57] The following year, he authored a book about Lederer, titled "America's Mom."[58][59]
Kogan has had more than 2,300 bylines in the Tribune since 1985.[60] One of his most popular features, "Sidewalks," is a weekly feature in the magazine that he produced with longtime Tribune photographer Charles Osgood, who retired in 2008.
Kogan previously was the host/producer of
Chicago Live!, a radio show produced by the Chicago Tribune and broadcast on WGN Radio.[61]
Kogan worked in the late 1980s as a part-time entertainment reporter for
WBBM-TV and has worked for
WBBM radio as well.[7]
From the fall of 1994 until the fall of 1995, Kogan hosted a Sunday morning talk show called "The Sunday Papers" on Chicago's
WLUP-FM. From March 1998 until September 1998, Kogan teamed up with Chicago Sun-Times columnist and noted movie critic
Richard Roeper to co-host a daily radio show called "Media Creatures" on Chicago's
WMVP-AM. Kogan hosted a Sunday morning talk show called "The Sunday Papers" on Chicago's
WGN-AM.[7] He was widely known among Chicago radio listeners for his distinctive, gravely voice, which once was named the best voice in the city by Chicago's alternative Newcity. Kogan left WGN in September 2012 to become the afternoon host on Chicago's public radio station,
WBEZ-FM. He left WBEZ in March 2013[62] and then rejoined WGN in September 2013, this time hosting a Sunday evening talk show.[63][64][65] Called "After Hours with Rick Kogan," the show airs on Sunday nights from 9 to 11 p.m.[66]
Kogan has authored eight books, including: Yesterday's Chicago (co-authored with his father, Herman); Everybody Pays (co-authored with Maurice Possley), about the Chicago mob and the retrial of mob hit man
Harry Aleman; America's Mom: The Life, Lessons and Legacy of
Ann Landers; A Chicago Tavern: A Goat, a curse And the American Dream, about Chicago's fabled
Billy Goat Tavern; Dr. Night Life, Sidewalks: Portraits of Chicago; and Brunswick: The Story of an American Company from 1845 to 1985.
Personal life
Kogan has a daughter, Fiona, who lives in
Hyde Park with her mother. Kogan lives downtown.
^Kogan, Rick (January 15, 2016). "LOIS WEISBERG: 1925-2016: A cultural force; Longtime Chicago official was tireless champion of entertainment and the arts". Chicago Tribune. p. 1.
^Kogan, Rick (April 5, 2013). "ROGER EBERT 1942-2013: Critic had poet's soul; On the page, on TV and online, Ebert's passions went far beyond the films he loved". Chicago Tribune. p. 1.
^Kogan, Rick (November 25, 2011). "MAGGIE DALEY: 1943-2011: THE HEART OF CHICAGO; Wife of former mayor 'had great dignity, and she was an inspiration for all of us'". Chicago Tribune. p. 1.
^Kogan, Rick (November 1, 2008). "STUDS TERKEL: 1912 - 2008: Chicago's storyteller; An author. An activist. An actor. A radio legend. He was the embodiment of our city. What a life". Chicago Tribune. p. 1.
^Kogan, Rick (November 11, 2003). "Kup brought city along to party ; He hung with royalty and swung with big stars, but the West Side kid never forgot his roots". Chicago Tribune. p. 1.
^Kogan, Rick (February 17, 2003). "Chicago's 'matriarch' dead at 95 ; Wife and mother of mayors influenced a dynasty; Eleanor 'Sis' Daley: 1907-2003". Chicago Tribune. p. 1.
^Kogan, Rick (March 27, 2011). "MICHAEL ABRAMSON: 1948-2011: Photos of South Side won critical acclaim; Globe-trotting artist found greatest inspiration in the gritty Chicago of the 1970s". Chicago Tribune. p. 26.
^Kogan, Rick (June 24, 2002). "Words to live by ; In her 46-year career, Ann Landers held many opinions -- and wasn't afraid to change them as experience dictated". Chicago Tribune. p. 1.