Christopher Plante (born 1959) is an American talk radio host and journalist currently hosting a syndicated radio program heard on

Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The co ...

and a nightly TV talk show on Newsmax TV.

Early life

Plante was born in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

to Jules and Barbara (née Barnes) Orteig. His maternal grandfather Pat Barnes was a Chicago-based radio host and

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

veteran. After his father Jules died in 1960, his mother Barbara re-married in 1965 to journalist Bill Plante. The family later moved to the Chicago area; Chris Plante later lived in Glenview and

Winnetka, Illinois Winnetka () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, north of downtown Chicago. The population was 12,475 as of the 2020 census. The village is one of the wealthiest places in the United States in terms of household income. It was ...

and graduated from

New Trier West High School New Trier High School (, also known as New Trier Township High School or NTHS) is a public four-year high school whose main campus for sophomores through seniors is in Winnetka, Illinois, United States, with a campus in Northfield, Illinois, for ...

. He later attended Santa Barbara City College and the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

but withdrew before graduating in order to work full-time in news.

Career

CNN

Plante worked at

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

from 1988 to 2005, mostly covering

The Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As ...

and U.S. Military. At various times at CNN, he was a Pentagon correspondent, senior producer for national security affairs, military affairs producer, and an assignment editor. Plante traveled to foreign locations, including

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, and the former

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

covering stories for CNN.

Radio

After leaving

, Plante joined Washington talk station WMAL as a weekend host in 2005. He sometimes hosted a joint show with liberal host

Jerry Klein Jerry J. Klein (born November 21, 1951) is an American politician. He is a member of the North Dakota State Senate The North Dakota State Senate is the upper house of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly, smaller than the North Dakota ...

. In 2005, Plante moved to weeknights, and in 2008 he moved to the midday time slot. In 2009, Plante's show was briefly replaced by '' The Joe Scarborough Show'', but demand from fans saw his return to the 9 AM – Noon time slot in October 2009. Guest hosts include Mary Walter and Mike Opelka. Plante has filled in for national hosts including

Mark Levin Mark Reed Levin (; born September 21, 1957) is an American broadcast news analyst, columnist, lawyer, political commentator, radio personality, and writer. He is the host of syndicated radio show '' The Mark Levin Show'', as well as '' Life, ...

Michael Savage Michael Alan Weiner (born March 31, 1942) known by his professional name Michael Savage, is an American author, political commentator, activist, and former radio host. Savage is best known as the host of '' The Savage Nation'', a nationally ...

and

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator who was the host of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nati ...

. In 2016,

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is a broadcasting company of the United States and is the second largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States ahead of Audacy and behind iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdi ...

announced Plante would be nationally syndicated by Westwood One, replacing

Herman Cain Herman Cain (December 13, 1945July 30, 2020) was an American businessman and Tea Party movement activist in the Republican Party. Cain graduated from Morehouse College with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. He then earned a master's degree ...

's program, which reverted to a local program. '' The Herman Cain Show'' would still air in the Atlanta, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tulsa, and Dayton markets. Westwood One and Plante's home station, WMAL, are both owned by Cumulus Media.

Newsmax

In May 2023, Newsmax announced it would broadcast a new 9PM panel show titled ''Chris Plante The Right Squad''. The show will film in Washington DC and will feature Plante, Jenn Pellegrino, and other regular panelists.

Awards

Plante received the Edward R. Murrow Award from the

Radio Television Digital News Association The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA, pronounced the same as " rotunda"), formerly the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), is a United States-based membership organization of radio, television, and online news dir ...

(RTNDA) for his reporting from the Pentagon during the terrorist attacks on

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. In 2015, Plante won a Reed Irvine Award for Excellence in Journalism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plante, Chris Living people American radio DJs American talk radio hosts 1959 births Date of birth missing (living people) Radio personalities from Washington, D.C. People from Winnetka, Illinois Santa Barbara City College alumni University of California, Santa Barbara alumni CNN people Newsmax TV people