Progress Illinois

After more than 20 years on the air, WLS' Don Wade & Roma Morning Show is a Chicago media institution, regularly featuring appearances from high-profile journalists and commentators, not to mention politicians from both sides of the aisle.  As the Tribune's Eric Zorn recently explained, "The idea used to be the conservative, Don, sparring with the liberal, Roma. But Roma has veered to the right in recent years and the show has lost its bi-partisan charm."  Indeed, while they bill themselves as the "most positive, optimistic radio show in the universe," Don's hard-line conservative views and contempt for the Democratic presidential nominee have been anything but "positive" or "optimistic" in recent months.

That lack of charm was evident Friday morning when Don -- fed up with the media's purported coddling of Barack Obama -- imagined how the press would react if shown a video of the candidate murdering his elderly, ailing grandmother in Hawaii.  Here's how he set the scene:

The video clearly shows grandmother greeting Barack Obama, coming through the door.  Barack Obama comes over, sits down beside the grandmother, and places a pillow over her face -- and holds the pillow over her face -- holds the pillow over her face until she struggles no more.

On Friday night, CBS 2's Mike Flannery -- himself an occasional guest on the show -- reported on the uproar over Don's comments.  Watch it:

Having listened to excerpts from the program repeatedly this election year, it's not that suprising to see that Don's disdain for Obama and the mainstream media has reached this point.  And having browsed the Don Wade & Roma blog today -- maintained by WLS producer Brandy Burkhardt -- I can't say I'm too shocked by the show's overall rightward drift either.  Case in point: on Friday morning, Burkhardt posted the forged Waldorf-Astoria receipt I discussed yesterday, which purports to show that Michelle Obama ordered $447 in room service while her husband held a meeting at the hotel.  Of course, the source of this rumor -- the New York Post -- retracted their report on October 21, three days before Burkhardt posted the bogus receipt under the headline: "A Man Of The People...As Long As We Pay For It."

Meanwhile, the Tribune's Phil Rosenthal reported in early August that the program's ranking in terms of morning drive-time listeners climbed from 7th to 3rd this spring.