He was probably the biggest star in Chicago radio history. Bill Veeck used to say that WGN was nothing without Wally Phillips and the Cubs.

Wally Phillips arrived in Chicago from Cincinnati on October 1, 1956 along with his friend Bob Bell (who later became Bozo). Wally had already been successful in Cincinnati (at WLW Radio), although he had been fired for airing a comedy clip as part of a newscast.

His approach to doing a radio show was fresh and new in 1956, and was eventually copied by nearly every morning show in America. He was one of the first to use sound bites and "drops" from popular culture in every part of the show. He also loved to make prank calls in those early years. Among his more memorable pranks...

*Tracking down the owner of Gingiss Formalwear (Benjamin Gingiss) on vacation in the Bahamas to ask where he kept the fire extinguisher in the store.

*Calling Ipanema Brazil and asking for women who were "tall and tan and young and lovely."

*Trying to return a natural Christmas tree a few days after New Years.

Chicago responded to this Cincinnati cut-up, listening to the show in droves. At the height of his popularity, Phillips attracted nearly 1.5 million listeners, a now unheard of half of the market's listening audience.

Of course, he shared the airwaves with the Cubs for all of his years at WGN.

Ten days after he was hired as the morning man, the Cubs cleaned house, firing manager Stan Hack, director of player personal Wid Matthews, and business manager Jim Gallagher.

Before he retired from the morning show in 1986, the Cubs would fire 17 more managers. During Wally’s 30 years doing the morning show, the team finished over .500 only 8 times (and 6 of those came during the Leo Durocher years).

Needless to say, they never played in the World Series.

Wally Phillips was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame, in the Museum of Broadcast Communications in 1993 and into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1997.

He died in Naples, Florida on March 26, 2008.