Remembering WGN Radio exec Dan Fabian

Kept powerhouse on top of the ratings

WGN Radio executive Dan Fabian, who was the key to the station’s dominance in the 1980s and 1990s, died Friday at the age of 81.

Fabian rose through the ranks at the then-Tribune-owned station from college intern in 1965 to Vice-President and General Manager by the time he retired in 1996. Along the way, he shaped WGN Radio into a local powerhouse, dominating Chicago ratings from the 1970s until the PPM era began in 2008.  

During his time at WGN Radio, Fabian wore a lot of hats, working in promotions, sales, as a program director, and more. When he became VP/GM in 1986, he oversaw a period of dominance where he successfully oversaw the transition of Wally Phillips to Bob Collins while maintaining the top-rated morning show for decades in Chicago. Fabian also hired other personalities, including David Kaplan and Spike O’Dell. 

While in promotions, he recruited local folk singer and Cubs fan Steve Goodman (who wrote and sang the cult classic A Dying Cubs’ Fan Last Request) to write a song during the team’s 1984 pennant run called Go Cubs Go, a song still used today after wins at Wrigley Field, even a decade after WGN lost the rights to Cubs games. 

Fabian also was credited with creating one of the most famous local advertising mascots in Chicago – the WGN Bird, whose campaign was briefly revived in the 2010s. He also paired Steve King and Johnnie Putnam on-air on February 14, 1985 – Valentine’s Day – and the two would regularly do a show together and later marry (both are still at the station, on Saturday nights.)

Fabian was inducted into the station’s Walk Of Fame in 2019.

Funeral services are pending.