WMAQ Chicago Expands Political Blog To Show

NBC-owned WMAQ Chicago (DMA 3) is expanding its political blog “Ward Room” to a weekly half-hour show, hosted by WMAQ’s political team of Carol Marin and Mary Ann Ahern. It will air on Friday nights at 7 p.m. on Chicago Nonstop (subch. 5.2).

Each week, Marin and Ahern will interview local political “game changers” and focus on the hot political stories of the week.

“Ward Room has become a destination blog for local political news both in Chicago and nationally,” said Frank Whittaker, WMAQ station manager and vice president of news. “Expanding the Ward Room brand to a weekly show is a natural evolution, especially as we head into a presidential election year.”

Since its launch in 2010, Ward Room has been an active leader in political opinion, writing and reporting in Illinois, combining the on-air political expertise of WMAQ, the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoons of Jack Higgins and the reporting and analysis of writer Edward McClelland. The political blog is framed around nine of the state’s political elite selected by the station.

Ward Room can be viewed online here.