GA_011719

4 | January 17, 2019 | The glencoe anchor news
glencoeanchor.com
Residents pack Glencoe Library to hear from local author
Hilary Anderson
Freelance Reporter
Join us Tuesday
Jan. 8 was a grand
homecoming for broadcaster
and journalist Peter
Nolan.
Family, friends and former
neighbors packed the
Glencoe Library to hear
Nolan talk about his new
book, “News Stories, A
Memoir,” that Tuesday
evening. Nolan worked
at Chicago’s WMAQ TV
and WBBM TV for many
years.
Glencoe resident, longtime
neighbor and friend
Bob Boone hosted the evening’s
discussion.
“Peter Nolan is a great
storyteller,” Boone said.
“His book is a collection
of 60 small stories about
people he met in his career.
Especially great about the
book is the stories are
short, complete and tell
themselves. Some people
you know, others you do
not.
Nolan gave an overview
of how he eventually became
a TV broadcaster.
He attended Philadelphia’s
Villanova University
where he became interested
in broadcasting.
“I worked on the Villanova
school paper where
I probably got interested
in writing,” he said. “My
campus radio station manager
where I was the news
and sports director asked
me if I could be the voice
of the school’s basketball
team. It was not a good
team at the time and no
other station wanted to
carry it. The team became
good again so they did not
need me. I went back to
through Friday
Closed Sunday & Monday
Froggys
French Cafe
Monthly Special for January
Available for Lunch or Dinner
$16 per person BEFORE 6:30pm
CHOICE OF Soup: Lobster Bisque, Mushroom Creme, Butternut Squash
or Mixed Green Salad
ENTREE CHOICE OF...
Steak with french fries
or
Cassoulet Toulousin
or
Alaskan Scrod with Lobster sauce
All main courses are served with three vegetables and a starch
FOR RESERVATIONS CALL 847.433.7080
WWW.FROGGYSRESTAURANT.COM
306 GREEN BAY ROAD, HIGHWOOD
Not available for parties of 6 or more. Monthly Specials not valid on Holidays.
doing news.”
Nolan graduated and
was getting married but
could not find a job in
broadcasting. He took one
as a temporary seventhgrade
English and social
studies teacher in Buffalo.
That was followed by a job
at a radio station in Niagara
Falls.
“I went to Youngstown,
Ohio and got into television
news,” Nolan said.
“My family was growing.
I needed a bigger market
where there was union
pay. In 1968, I was hired
as a summer replacement
writer at NBC. About three
years later, I got to be a TV
reporter at WMAQ TV
with three years at WBBM
TV. The best part was doing
commentary.”
Nolan said he spent about
30 years as a broadcaster.
“Then I started writing,”
he said.
His first book was
“Campaign,” and it was
about the election of Harold
Washington.
“I saved every script I
wrote for television and
knew I was going to do
something with them,”
Nolan said. “I wrote down
everything I remembered.
One of the first things was
about an interview with a
person who retired from
politics. He told me why
he knew Harold Washington
would win.”
Another story in Nolan’s
book concerned a woman
who went missing in October
1974. The story was
descriptive. The missing
woman turned out to be
Rosemary Kennedy, the
sister of the late President
John Kennedy and Robert
Kennedy. She was born
with a cognitive disability.
The book contains two
Author Peter Nolan, of Glenview, reads from his new
book “News Stories: A Memoir” Jan. 8 at the Glencoe
Library. Photos by Gerri Fernandez/22nd Century Media
Glenview resident Sharee Pemberton asks Nolan a
question.
unrelated, heart-wrenching
stories about individuals
who served in World
War II.
Nolan talked about Civil
Rights issues in the news
at the time.
One story was, “Jim
Crowe at the Abraham Lincoln
Hotel in Springfield,”
about a legislator, Rep.
Corneal Davis, who was
ending his 33-year career
as an Illinois legislator. He
was refused a room in that
hotel when he first started
because of his skin color.
There also is a story
about Roland Burris who
voters elected as controller
of Illinois, the first black
man to be elected to a top
job in the state.
Nolan said there still is
the need for more good
people to get into journalism.
“I do wonder about
those I see on TV news
now. They all seem to have
movie star looks,” he said.
Nolan and his wife now
live in Glenview but he
still maintains his Glencoe
connections.
“We downsized after
the last of our six children
moved out,” he said.