Dan Fabian, radio executive whose ideas made WGN a power, dies at 81
Dan Fabian was full of ideas.
They would pour out of him at such a rate that he would walk around the offices of WGN Radio with a yellow legal pad and pen to jot them all down.
"He would be walking in the hallways and you could walk past him and say, "Good morning, Dan," and he wouldn't respond, not because he was being rude but because he was coming up with" ideas, said Dave Eanet, sports director at WGN Radio.
Mr. Fabian's innovations shaped the station's sound in a career that spanned 30 years, working his way up at the station to eventually become vice president and general manager.
Mr. Fabian died Friday. He was 81. Now, Eanet is among the scores of WGN colleagues reflecting on Mr. Fabian's legacy at the station.
"I hope that people remember and think about the huge contributions that he made to the radio station," Eanet said.
Mr. Fabian's career at WGN began in1965, and he worked there until his retirement in 1996. He started as a college intern and held positions in every department, including sales, promotions, marketing and as program director, WGN said.
By the time Eanet first met him in 1984 during a job interview Mr. Fabian had already established a reputation as a sharp thinker.
"I knew of him, I knew his reputation as being one of the smartest people in the business," Eanet said, adding that he felt some extra nerves during the interview. "But he was very welcoming, very friendly, and very interested in what I had to say and what I had done at that point. It was a good start."
Mr. Fabian was known as someone who would take chances on people and programming to push the station forward. One of his most important moves was commissioning folksinger and songwriter Steve Goodman to create a Chicago Cubs jingle in 1984. The result was "Go Cubs Go," an anthem that is still played after victories.
In 1985, Mr. Fabian wanted to change the way the station covered Bears games. He shifted from a two-man to a three-man broadcast booth, something that hadn't been done in Chicago before, Eanet said. Mr. Fabian brought in former Bears linebacker Dick Butkus to join Jim Hart and Wayne Larrivee in the booth.
Mr. Fabian also brought popular WGN-AM morning host Spike O'Dell to Chicago. He helped guide the transition from top-rated morning drive-time host Wally Phillips to Bob Collins, who kept the station at the top of the ratings.
WGN also credits Mr. Fabian with spearheading "the most successful and memorable marketing campaign in Chicago radio history" with the creation of a cartoon bird who called himself "Chicago" in the 1980s.
Mr. Fabian was inducted into the WGN Radio Walk of Fame in 2016.
"He was this deep-thinking, awesome guy," said Chicago sports media mogul David Kaplan, who worked for more than 20 years at WGN starting in the '90s. "You could come in and think you had this tremendously difficult question, and he could boil it down. He was very measured."
Kaplan said that although the station had many popular radio hosts, Mr. Fabian is one of the main reasons WGN radio was able to develop a large following in Chicago.
"He was one of the key great things that WGN had going for them for a very, very long time," Kaplan said. "I thought he was brilliant."