Jim Johnson (April 2, 1945 – March 28, 2025) was an American news anchor and reporter on

WLS (AM) WLS (890 kHz) is a commercial AM broadcasting, AM radio station in Chicago, Illinois. Owned by Cumulus Media, through licensee Radio License Holdings LLC, the station airs a talk radio format. WLS studios are in the NBC Tower on North Columbus D ...

890 in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

for over 45 years, where he regularly participated in on-air discussions with the other on-air personalities ranging from

Roe Conn Roe B. Conn (born June 6, 1964) is a former American talk radio host based in Chicago who is now a sworn deputy and Director of the Cook County sheriff's office. Career Roe's first radio gig was Saturday overnights on WOSX, WDUB in Granville, Oh ...

and

Steve Dahl Steven Robert Dahl (born November 20, 1954) is an American radio personality. He is the owner and operator of the Steve Dahl Network, a Subscription business model, subscription-based podcasting network. Dahl gained a measure of national attention ...

to Richard Roper and

Larry Lujack Larry Lujack (born Larry Lee Blankenburg; June 6, 1940 – December 18, 2013), also called Superjock, Lawrence of Chicago, Charming and Delightful Ol' Uncle Lar, and King of the Corn Belt, was a Top 40 music radio disc jockey who was well known fo ...

Background

Johnson grew up in Chicago and the

North Woods North Woods or Northwoods may refer to: * Laurentian Mixed Forest Province, a forested ecoregion in the United States and Canada also known as the North Woods. * Operation Northwoods, a proposed operation against the Cuban government that originate ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. His father was also in the news business, working at the

City News Bureau of Chicago City News Bureau of Chicago (CNB), or City Press (1890–2005), was a news bureau that served as one of the first cooperative news agencies in the United States. It was founded in 1890 by the newspapers of Chicago to provide a common source ...

, then with the ''

Chicago Sun Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

''. When the family lived in the North Woods, they built and operated a hunting and fishing lodge. This lodge was a popular vacation spot for Chicago politicians, judges, policemen, and firefighters, including then

Mayor of Chicago The mayor of Chicago is the Chief executive officer, chief executive of city Government of Chicago, government in Chicago, Illinois, the List of United States cities by population, third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsib ...

Richard J. Daley Richard Joseph Daley (May 15, 1902 – December 20, 1976) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Chicago from 1955, and the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party from 1953, until his death. He has been called "the last of ...

and his son and future Mayor,

Richard M. Daley Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh ter ...

. Jim married his college sweetheart, Denise. Their daughter, Alexis Del Cid, following in her father and grandfather's footsteps, working as a long-time reporter and news anchor. Johnson had a bachelor's and master's degree in communications from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

. In July of 2021, Jim’s daughter, Alexis, announced that Jim was battling Alzheimer’s disease. She chronicled the family's journey on her Facebook page, which is open to the public. Johnson died of complications from the disease on March 28, 2025, at the age of 79.

Career

Johnson began his broadcasting career as a television

news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in ...

. He was known as a veteran of Chicago broadcasting, taking part in television and radio news for more than four decades. He entered the Chicago news business at the age of 23 in 1968, perhaps one of the most turbulent years in Chicago history with the

Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King Jr., an American civil rights activist, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:05& ...

starting riots and

anti-war protests An anti-war movement is a social movement in opposition to one or more nations' decision to start or carry on an armed conflict. The term ''anti-war'' can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conf ...

. In the late 1970s, Johnson worked as a reporter at

ABC 7 Chicago 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. WLS ...

in addition to his work on the radio. The 1980s saw him working as a fill-in news anchor on the Steve and Garry Show with

and

Garry Meier Garry Meier (born December 2, 1949) is a Chicago-based radio personality who has been active in Chicago radio since 1973. Meier is well known for being part of the highly successful radio duos " Steve & Garry" and " Roe and Garry", but he also ho ...

. Johnson then began to work for the Roe and Garry Show. He continued to work with Roe Conn as co-hosts changed throughout the years. According to Johnson, some of his major achievements include creating the Canarble Wagon and the Jimism. The 'Canarble Wagon' was a segment airing on '' the Roe Conn Show'' every Friday on at 5:00 pm. It is a time when the cast of the show order alcoholic beverages from the Canarble Wagon. The name 'Canarble Wagon' comes from Johnson's early days in journalism. When he was a reporter at the

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

press room, veteran reporters told a story of a newspaper reporter who would come back from lunch drunk. This reporter could not pronounce the word cocktail; instead, the word canarble was heard. Johnson added the word wagon to canarble and the Canarble Wagon was made. The Jimism was "the practice of botched news reporting". If a listener "catches" a Jimism, they called in to the station and report it. If Johnson did say a Jimism, the caller won a "I Caught a Jimism" T-shirt. On April 30, 2013, Johnson announced on air during the Roe & Roeper show that he would retire when his current contract expired in June 2013. His final newscast was at 6:30 p.m. on June 28, 2013. He was replaced by news anchor Susan Carlson.Robert Feder: "Carlson Moves up to Full Time at NBC 5"
April 1, 2014

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Jim 1945 births 2025 deaths Radio personalities from Chicago