Arab American Chicago journalist named to host new daily morning radio talk show

Arab American journalist named Chicago morning radio talk show

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(Chicago/Sept. 29, 2008) – Arab American journalist Ray Hanania was named as the morning talk show host for WJJG AM 1530.

An award winning journalist who covered Chicago City Hall politics from 1977 until 1992, and hosted a radio show on WLS AM radio, will host the show weekday mornings, Monday through Friday, beginning every morning at 8 AM.

“Mornings with Ray Hanania” will feature interviews and discussions with listeners on every topic in the news. Hanania will also emphasize local Southwest suburban news and issues in the show along with regional, national and international guests, but will also highlight Arab American and Middle East issues on the program.

Hanania said he expects the show to expand in the near future.

“I am a big believer in community news, community newspapers and community reporting and one important aspect of the show will be inclusion of community perspectives and news in our discussion,” said Hanania who was named “Best Ethnic Columnist in America” by the New America Media.

“I want people throughout the Chicagoland region to engage each other on issues that are of local significance, but that also cross cultural lines. Americans face common challenges and even though the details might be different, they are the same and sharing and discussing is important. It’s very important that Americans also expand their understanding of the Middle East by opening their ears and minds to an alternative views and opinions and perspectives.”

Hanania is also the winner of three Society of Professional Journalism Lisagor awards and was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times in 1990 for a Pulitzer Prize for his 4-part series on the Palestinian Intifada. He also has awards from UPI and two Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild.

The radio show is broadcast live on the Internet off his web page at www.RadioChicagoland.com. Hanania is also a columnist with the Southwest News-Herald newspaper, and with the HuffingtonPost.com. His columns also appear in news blogs and newspaper around the world.

Hanania said he is also targeting Arab Americans.

“People love me. People hate me. But people read my columns,” Hanania said.

“What’s really important is that we open our minds and stop allowing emotion, anger and frustration to force Arab Americans to be predictable and act out of emotion rather than out of strategic communications.”

The show is broadcast on the Internet, and select interviews are podcast and available on iTunes for download to individual iPods. Segments of the radio show are also videotaped and rebroadcast on Hanania’s TV Chicagoland (http://www.tvchicagoland.com/) Comcast Cable TV program every Friday in 145 Chicagoland suburban communities.

Contact Hanania at rayhanania@comcast.net.

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