It’s official: Lou Canellis joins NBC 5 as main sports anchor
He starts this coming Sunday
Lou Canellis has officially made the leap from Fox-owned WFLD, where he spent seventeen years as the main sports anchor, to NBC-owned WMAQ-TV where he will start on February 1.
Caneills will anchor the sports segments from Monday through Thursday at 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 10 p.m., and will host the station’s long-running Sports Sunday show. He will also co-host the station’s Olympic Zone nightly show with Allison Rosati in prime access, leading into Winter Olympics coverage Monday-Saturday at 6:30 p.m. beginning February 7.
Canellis succeeds Leila Rahimi, who left the station two years ago, but last week parted ways with interim sports anchor Mike Berman after a decade.
“Lou has established himself as one of the most respected and beloved voices in Chicago sports media history,” said NBC 5 Vice President of News Sally Ramirez. “His knowledge, passion, and enthusiasm are second to none, and we couldn’t be happier to have him join our team of all‑stars at NBC 5.”
“As a Chicago kid who grew up in Oak Lawn, I told my dad my dream was to be a household name in my hometown — to be the next Mark Giangreco, Tim Weigel, or Johnny Morris,” said Canellis. “Joining the NBC 5 Chicago team is simply a dream come true for me. The chance to work with Chicago TV legends such as Allison Rosati, Stefan Holt, Brant Miller and Chuck Goudie, local news leaders like (President and GM) Kevin Cross and Sally Ramirez, and so many others is like joining the best All-Star team in any sport. I can’t wait to bring my loyalty to our local teams and my passion for the work I love to NBC 5 Chicago.”
Even though Canellis is joining a sports operation that’s smaller than the one he left (Nexstar’s WGN-TV has the largest sports department in the city), NBC 5 is banking on him as the network has big sporting events coming up, including the Winter Olympics, Super Bowl, and the NBA All-Star Game. NBC and streamer Peacock have bulked up on sports rights in recent years, adding the NBA and returning to the fold of Major League Baseball on a regular basis for the first time since 2000 (NBC was also home of MLB from 1947 to 1989, with its showcase Saturday afternoon Game Of The Week, and as part of the short-lived Baseball Network shared with ABC in 1994 and 1995.) After the Olympics, NBC is adding a Sunday night NBA and MLB package.
A graduate of Chicago’s Loyola University, Canellis first rose to fame when he joined SportsChannel Chicago as the Bulls’ courtside reporter in 1993, plus pregame, halftime, and post-game coverage. He was a reporter for WLS-TV’s 190 North magazine show from 2000-08, with Canellis joining Fox 32 a year later, as his roles included Chicago Bears-related programming and hosting weekly football show 1st & North, with three other sports personalities from NFC North markets where Fox owns stations (WJBK Detroit, KMSP/WFTC Minneapolis-St. Paul, and WITI Milwaukee.)
His radio work includes stints at WMAQ-AM as producer for Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox pre- and post-game shows, and at WMVP, where he did Olympics work for Westwood One in 1996 and 2000.
Canellis’ hiring is the latest major hire for NBC 5. Last year, the station hired longtime ABC 7 investigative reporter Chuck Goudie after the ABC-owned station didn’t renew his contract. NBC 5’s newscasts typically rank second in several time slots behind ABC 7’s in households and key demographics.