Kathy
O'Malley
Since
1989, Kathy O’Malley and Judy Markey have co-hosted “The
Kathy & Judy Show”, which originally started as a once-a-week
experiment. The real-life friends, who were competing journalists
from rival Chicago newspapers when their show began, are now handling
the 9am to noon shift weekdays on WGN Radio 720.
Kathy
attended Northern Illinois University (but dropped out to get
married and have babies, which was a very popular thing to do
in the ‘60s). She joined the Chicago Tribune in
1979 as a secretary to “Tower Ticker” Columnist Aaron
Gold. She was promoted to reporter in 1983 and became a co-writer
of the “Inc.” column, covering the entertainment field.
In 1994, she retired from the column to become a features writer
for the Arts, Tempo and magazine sections of the Chicago Tribune;
she left the paper in 1995 when her radio show was expanded to
four hours a day.
Kathy
first appeared on WGN Radio in the mid-80s, providing entertainment
reports for the Wally Phillips and Roy Leonard shows. For a time
she also hosted a nationally syndicated daily entertainment report
called “Campbell’s Souperstars.”
Kathy
is a co-founder of the Aaron Gold Scholarship Fund at the Theatre
School at DePaul University. She has served as a member of the
Chicago Leadership Council of the National Osteoporosis Foundation
and as a volunteer for Open Hand Chicago and the tutoring program
at Chicago’s Fourth Presbyterian Church. She has run one
marathon, which was plenty, and several half marathons. Unfortunately,
she still isn’t thin.
Kathy
is the mother of two adult children, Patrick and Colleen, and
grandmother of four. She lives on Chicago’s north side,
where she can usually be found in the garden, and she hasn’t
cooked a balanced meal since 1983.
