The Cubs’ Marquee Sports Network on Tuesday said it is tapping the expertise of WGN-9’s Bob Vorwald as a special adviser to general manager Michael McCarthy.
Marquee Sports said Vorwald also will continue to serve as director of production at WGN, where he had been executive producer of sports since 1998.
It’s a shrewd behind-the-scenes move for Marquee, the channel the Cubs and Sinclair Broadcast Group plan to introduce in February.
Because Vorwald oversaw WGN’s Cubs, White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks telecasts, he’s positioned to provide Marquee experience and institutional knowledge that should prove invaluable. He is a bridge to the Cubs’ 72-year WGN heritage.
“Bob will bring a sense of history and perspective that only someone deeply connected to Cubs television can bring,” McCarthy said in the announcement.
WGN doesn’t really need an executive producer any longer, what with the Cubs bypassing the over-the-air station to put all the TV games they control on Marquee, just as the White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks are doing with NBC Sports Chicago.
“I am grateful to Marquee for offering me the chance to extend my passion for Cubs baseball and to everyone at WGN for allowing me to pursue this unique opportunity,” Vorwald said in a statement.
Besides his work in TV, Vorwald is the author of “Cubs Forever: Memories from the Men Who Lived Them ” and “What It Means to Be a Cub,” as well as “What It Means to Be a White Sox.”
