We're mostly about sports here, but occasionally something else happens we feel compelled to comment on.

Longtime Chicago radio personality Wally Phillips passed away today at the age of 82.  This was a man who not just competed but dominated morning drive in Chicago for over twenty years.  Nobody, not Larry Lujack, not Steve Dahl, not Jonathan Brandmeier ever came close to the numbers and popularity Wally Phillips had at WGN in Chicago.

Wally Phillips was smooth and easy to listen to, even when dodging the barrage of sound effects his engineers threw at him every day.  It seem like they came out of nowhere and he'd just deftly handle them, making some kind of humorous aside.

 What I remember most about him was several years after he left the morning show, he filled in for the late Bob Collins and sounded like he'd never left.  To me, that is the mark of a genius at what they do.

I grew up in Chicago, and along with Fred Winston, Bob Sirrott, Greg Brown and Dean Richards, Wally was definitely one of my heroes. 

One of the reasons I got into radio is because I wanted to make people's lives a little easier by helping to take the edge off their day.  Wally Phillips was a source of joy, humor and breaking news in Chicago for a long time and a man who, in my opinion, was what a great broadcaster should be.

God bless, Wally.  We'll miss you.