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 station.

Early life

Ponce was born on 1949 in

McAllen, Texas McAllen is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Hidalgo County. It is located at the southern tip of the state in the Rio Grande Valley, on the Mexican border. The city limits extend south to the Rio Grande, acros ...

, but was raised in

East Chicago East Chicago is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 26,370 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Centered around heavy industry, the city is home to the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, an artificial freshwa ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. He graduated from

Bishop Noll Institute Bishop Noll Institute is a private school, private, Roman Catholic high school in Hammond, Indiana. It is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gary. History The school opened as Catholic Central High School on September 16, 1921. It was founde ...

Hammond Hammond may refer to: People * Hammond Innes (1913–1998), English novelist * Hammond (surname) * Justice Hammond (disambiguation) Places Antarctica * Hammond Glacier, Antarctica Australia *Hammond, South Australia, a small settlement in Sout ...

, Indiana. He then attended

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

and received a B.A. in English in 1971. In 1974 he received a J.D. from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. Ponce's parents both were steelworkers. During college, Ponce worked as a steelworker during summers.

Career

Ponce began his career as a lawyer. He practiced law for six years before going into broadcasting. Ponce got his first job in broadcasting as a weekend reporter for an ABC affiliate in Indianapolis. In 1982 he joined the Chicago CBS station

WBBM-TV WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's CBS network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington St ...

as a reporter. Ponce left WBBM-TV in late 1991 to take a position as manager of international communications for the telecommunications company

Ameritech AT&T Teleholdings, Inc., formerly known as Ameritech Corporation (and, before that, American Information Technologies Corporation), was an American telecommunications company that arose out of the 1984 AT&T divestiture. Ameritech was one of the ...

Corporation. In 1992, Ponce began his career at WTTW11 as a correspondent for ''

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 ...

''— a position he held until 1997 when he left to become one of Jim Lehrer's supporting anchors on the national PBS show, ''

The News Hour with Jim Lehrer ''PBS News Hour'', previously stylized as ''PBS NewsHour'', is the news division of PBS and an American daily evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS member stations since October 20, 1975. It airs seven nights a week, and i ...

''. He returned to Chicago two years later as the successor to long-time ''Chicago Tonight'' host, John Callaway (Callaway later hosted WTTW's ''Friday Night'' program). In his position as host, Ponce was active as a moderator of political debates including those for the presidency, the U.S. Senate, the governorship, and mayor of Chicago. Ponce also teaches journalism at

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic Church, ...

where he is the university's distinguished journalist in residence. He has received numerous awards for his work including

Alpha Sigma Nu Alpha Sigma Nu () is the honor society of Jesuit colleges and universities. Founded in 1915 at Marquette University as Alpha Sigma Tau, it adopted the current name in 1930. The society is open to both men and women of every academic discipline ...

, the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

honor society, Illinois Journalist of the Year, the Studs Terkel Award and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Indiana University College of Arts and Sciences. In late 2017, Ponce announced that he would reduce his workload to three days a week during 2018 and two days a week in 2019.

Personal life

Ponce's wife, Ann Ponce, is a Chicago portrait and landscape artist. Ponce's daughter, Maria Ponce, is a photographer in Chicago. Ponce also has two sons.

Dan Ponce Dan Ponce (born December 7, 1976, in Denver, Colorado) is an American television journalist for WGN-TV, radio talk show host on WLS/890 and founder of the a cappella group Straight No Chaser. Career and background Ponce's TV career began in 20 ...

is the founder of the a cappella group, Straight No Chaser, and was a television reporter with ABC7 (

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. ...

) in Chicago for three years until leaving in January 2009. Dan is currently a morning anchor at WGN Ch. 9. His other son,

Anthony Ponce Anthony, also spelled Antony, is a masculine given name derived from the ''Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants ...

, was a television reporter with NBC5 (

WMAQ-TV WMAQ-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Telemundo station WSNS-TV (chann ...

), and is now an anchor/reporter at WFLD Ch. 32, also in Chicago. Ponce lives in Chicago's northern suburbs.Phil Ponce of WTTW lists house for a little over $1 million
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ponce, Phil 1949 births Living people Television anchors from Chicago Television anchors from Indianapolis Indiana University alumni People from McAllen, Texas University of Michigan Law School alumni Loyola University Chicago faculty