(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Veteran journalist Bill Cameron has ended his career after more than half a century of covering City Hall for Chicago radio stations.
Cameron was dean of the reporting community when he retired earlier this summer. He started in 1970, when Mayor Richard J. Daley was in office and worked for WMAQ and then WLS.
He covered the election of Harold Washington, the city’s first African-American mayor, and the Chicago City Council majority’s efforts to thwart his every move.
Cameron said the so-called Council Wars of the 1980s were not as much about race as some people think.
“Race was the propellant that Harold and Eddie Vrdolyak — of the Vrdolyak 29 — used tactically to fight with each other,” he said. “Really, to me it was about control of the money — as so many fights are.”
Cameron covered subsequent Chicago mayors, including a second Richard Daley (Richard M.), Rahm Emanuel and Lori Lightfoot.
He concedes that the tone of politics has become more poisonous over the years and thinks the media bears some blame.
“We are part of the problem. Now that I’m retired I guess I can say it,” Cameron said. “Conflict and controversy are our stock and trade. And when politicians see that saying ridiculous things does get people to send them money and give them votes, we have these platforms that multiply this.”
Cameron talks about his 51-year career — and the stories along way — on this weekend’s “At Issue” with WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore. It airs 9:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
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