Bob Sirott

Robert "Bob" Sirott (born August 9, 1949) is an American broadcaster. He is currently a radio host at WGN-AM in Chicago. He is also a former television news anchor, most recently working in that role at Chicago's WFLD.

Sirott grew up in the Albany Park neighborhood on Chicago's North Side. He began working as a page for NBC in Chicago in 1966, while a senior in high school. He graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School in Chicago in 1967, then earned a bachelor's degree from Columbia College Chicago.

Sirott began his career in radio as a summer vacation fill-in disc jockey for WBBM-FM in 1971 before moving to WLS (AM) in 1973. He was a top disc jockey at WLS from 1973 until 1980. Sirott shifted to television in 1980, taking a job at WBBM-TV. After five years at WBBM, Sirott took a job with the CBS newsmagazine West 57th, although the network allowed him to remain based in Chicago.

Sirott left West 57th in 1988, telling the Chicago Sun-Times in an article that ran on December 22, 1987: "If ('West 57th') were more of a personality-oriented show, and if I had the opportunity to do some live things, I'd be able to withstand it longer. But it's just been too difficult for me to work in this system with 25 different producers and not have hands-on control over my own pieces."

In March 1989, Sirott returned to Chicago's airwaves at WMAQ-TV as a noon news anchor and program host; the following year, he launched and was the co-anchor of WMAQ-TV's "First Thing in the Morning" along with Allison Rosati. After four years at WMAQ, he was fired in July 1993—for the first time in his career—after he and management had a difference of opinion over his and his show's autonomy.

In March 1994, Sirott returned to work, anchoring "Fox Thing in the Morning" on Chicago's FOX affiliate WFLD with his future wife Marianne Murciano, until she was moved to another time slot at the station in June 2000. It was ranked high in the Nielsen ratings, and fans were taken aback when they learned that the show was unceremoniously cancelled and renamed "Fox News in the Morning." On September 27, 2000, Sirott was bounced as the station's host—concurrent with the show's renaming. News reports had stated that Sirott didn't want to work with new anchor, Tamron Hall, who had replaced his wife, but Sirott downplayed those rumors in a Chicago Sun-Times article on September 28, 2000. "It's not about Tamron," he told the paper. "It's about changes in the focus and direction of the show." Sirott was removed as co-host with 2½ years remaining on his contract, and he was nominally kept on WFLD's payroll to develop new programming for Fox stations and the company's syndication division. On July 19, 2010, Sirott rejoined WFLD as co-anchor of the 9 p.m. news alongside Robin Robinson. He remained in that role until 2013, when his contract expired.

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