Judy Markey dies at 82
Chicago radio host Judy Markey, the longtime co-host of the Kathy and Judy Show, has died at 82. She died Friday in Switzerland after choosing a voluntary assisted death, and her husband Tom Collinger said she had lived with a degenerative neurological disorder.
Markey helped make the program a landmark in local broadcasting. The show, co-hosted with Kathy O'Malley, became the first in Chicago radio history led by women and built a loyal audience known as the Girlfriends. Its weekday run on WGN-720 lasted from 1989 to 2009, and it returned in 2013 for four years on weekends.
Her on-air style mixed candor, humor and intimate conversation. The program featured listener call-ins about personal experiences and everyday frustrations, creating a space where both women and many male listeners felt part of the same community.
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