Dan Ponce (born December 7, 1976, in Denver, Colorado) is an American television journalist for

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is sister station, sister to the company ...

, radio talk show host on WLS/890 and founder of the

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

group Straight No Chaser.

Career and background

Ponce's TV career began in 2005 when he was hired at

WILX-TV WILX-TV (channel 10) is a television station licensed to Onondaga, Michigan, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Lansing area. Owned by Gray Media, the station maintains studios on American Road (near I-96) in Lansing, and its t ...

in Lansing, Michigan, as a reporter and weekend anchor. In 2006, Dan joined ABC-owned

WLS-TV WLS-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's ABC network outlet. It has been owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division since the station's inception. ...

(channel 7) in Chicago as a general assignment reporter. In 2009, after Straight No Chaser's album "Holiday Spirits" went to #1 on iTunes and Amazon, Ponce decided to leave ABC and join the group full-time. SNC went on to perform hundreds of concerts throughout the country and record three more albums on the

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

label. The group's televised concert series "Live in New York" (produced by WTTW) aired on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

stations coast to coast. Ponce later came back to a TV career and was hired by WGN-TV . His father is

Phil Ponce Phil Ponce (born September 26, 1949) is an American journalist and television presenter. Ponce is notable as the former, long-time host of "Chicago Tonight", a weekly television magazine of news and culture on WTTW, Chicago's public television sta ...

, a Chicago television journalist who hosts ''

Chicago Tonight ''Chicago Tonight'' is a television news program broadcast weeknights on WTTW in Chicago, United States. It reports primarily on local politics, education, business, culture, science, and health, with a mix of in-studio panel discussions, one-o ...

''. Ponce attended

New Trier Township 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 ...

in Winnetka. He earned his master's degree from the

Medill School of Journalism The Medill School of Journalism (branded as Northwestern Medill; formally the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications) is the journalism school of Northwestern University. It offers both undergraduate and graduat ...

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

in 2004 and his bachelor's degree from

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

in 1999, where he founded Straight No Chaser. Dan grew up in

Wilmette Wilmette is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Bordering Lake Michigan, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Skokie, Northfield, Glenview, and Evanston, Illinois, it is located north of Chicago's downtown district. Wilmette had a populatio ...

and currently lives in Chicago.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponce, Dan 1976 births Living people American television reporters and correspondents Medill School of Journalism alumni New Trier High School alumni Indiana University Bloomington alumni American male journalists