Corey B. McPherrin (born March 10, 1955), known professionally as Corey McPherrin, is the evening news anchor for

WFLD WFLD (channel 32) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Gary, Indiana–licensed MyNetworkTV o ...

-TV in Chicago.

Biography

Early life and education

A native of

Markham, Illinois Markham is a city and a south suburb of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 11,661 at the 2020 census. Geography Markham is located at (41.597467, -87.691570). According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Markh ...

, McPherrin graduated from Hillcrest High School in

Country Club Hills, Illinois Country Club Hills is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a suburb and south of Chicago. The population was 16,775 at the 2020 census. History 10,000 years ago, during a glacial period, this area was a shoreline, with a complex ...

. He then earned a bachelor's degree in radio and television from

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study in six colleges: the Lacy School of Business, College of Communi ...

in Indianapolis, where he was president of Butler's chapter of the

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American fraternal literary societies. The fraternity has 244 active (undergraduate) chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has initiated more tha ...

fraternity and where he participated on the school's swim team and worked on Butler's radio station, WAJC.

Professional career

McPherrin began his broadcasting career in 1977 at a television station in Davenport, Iowa, and then worked for TV stations in

Quincy, Illinois Quincy ( ), known as Illinois's "Gem City", is a city in and the county seat of Adams County, Illinois, United States, located on the Mississippi River. The 2020 census counted a population of 39,463 in the city itself, down from 40,633 in 2010. ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

and

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

WABC-TV

In 1984, McPherrin joined

WABC-TV WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios in the Lincoln Square neigh ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

and became WABC's top sports anchor in 1986. McPherrin was on hand for the epic 16 inning long sixth game of the

1986 National League Championship Series The 1986 National League Championship Series was a best-of-seven Major League Baseball postseason series between the NL East champion New York Mets and NL West champion Houston Astros. It was the 18th NLCS and the first MLB playoff series in whi ...

between the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major leagu ...

and

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

(which was broadcast on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

). Although the Astros wound up being eliminated following their 7-6 loss to the Mets in Game 6, Astros' ace pitcher Mike Scott was still named the NLCS' Most Valuable Player. McPherrin interviewed Scott following the trophy presentation. During the late 1980s, McPherrin delivered in-game updates during ABC's '' Monday Night Baseball'' and ''

Thursday Night Baseball ''Thursday Night Baseball'' is the de facto branding used for live game telecasts of Major League Baseball on Thursday nights. History ''USA Network Thursday Night Baseball'' (1979–1983) From 1979 to 1983, the USA Network broadcast Major Lea ...

'' broadcasts. During the first season of ''

ESPN Sunday Night Football ''ESPN Sunday Night Football'' is the ESPN cable network's weekly television broadcasts of Sunday evening National Football League (NFL) games. The first ESPN Sunday night broadcast occurred on November 8, 1987, while the last one aired on January ...

'' (

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airpor ...

), the very first game of the package, between the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

and

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

, had WABC (the

American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an Television in the United States, American Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the Disney General Entertainment Content#Current assets, ...

's flagship station out of

) produce a completely separate telecast from ESPN's (rather than an over-the-air station simply simulcasting ESPN's broadcast in the competing teams' home markets). The reason behind this was that WABC's union contract at the time, prohibited non-union workers, such as those at ESPN, from producing live events for WABC. As such, McPherrin would provide play-by-play while ''Monday Night Football's''

Frank Gifford Francis Newton Gifford (August 16, 1930 – August 9, 2015) was an American football player, actor, and television sports commentator. After a 12-year playing career as a halfback and flanker for the New York Giants of the National Footba ...

and

Lynn Swann Lynn Curtis Swann (born March 7, 1952) is an American former football player, broadcaster, politician, and athletic director, best known for his association with the University of Southern California and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He served on the ...

would serve as his color commentators.

WBBM-TV and WFLD-TV (Chicago)

In 1991, McPherrin joined

WBBM-TV WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington S ...

in Chicago as the station's main sports anchor. He remained in that role until 1995, when he was bumped from being WBBM's lead sports anchor by the arrival of Tim Weigel. McPherrin then chose to leave WBBM-TV and join

-TV in Chicago as its lead sports anchor. In July 2010, it was announced that McPherrin had been promoted to host ''Good Day Chicago'' weekdays from (7 a.m-10 a.m.).

Personal

McPherrin and his ex-wife, Sally, have two children, Jack and Margaret. They lived in the Lake View neighborhood on Chicago's North Side. In February 2016, McPherrin listed his Lake View home for sale.

References

External links

WFLD-TV Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McPherrin, Corey 1955 births Living people People from Markham, Illinois Television anchors from Chicago American television reporters and correspondents Butler University alumni College football announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters National Football League announcers American male journalists