Ron Weiner, who worked as a director for WGN Chicago for more than two decades, has reportedly sadly passed away at the age of 93. His cause of death was not immediately made available.
A lovely obituary posted by his loving family highlights many of the esteemed director’s accomplishments. It starts by reading,
Ronald Alan Weiner was born in Chicago in 1930 of Jewish immigrants Hyman Weiner and Min Goldberg Weiner. He and his younger sister Phyllis grew up on the city’s West Side. Ron and his friends played stickball in the streets and biked everywhere.
A favorite destination was Emil Denemark’s Cadillac dealership on Ogden Avenue. Sitting on their parked bikes, the boys would peer through the showroom window at broadcasters doing a radio show from a glass booth next to the new Cadillacs.
Ron wondered how one got to be a radio announcer.
Ron Weiner Obituary
From an early age, Weiner showed a tremendous fascination with showbusiness. The obituary then continues, telling readers about his experience at Navy’s Officer Candidate School, and how he met his beloved wife Phyllis Zolno.
The pair reportedly met at the wedding of a family friend of Weiner’s, and would raise two children together in Illinois.
Possibly his greatest career accomplishment was directing ‘Donahue,’ a sensationallly popular television show in the 1980s. The obituary reads about Weiner’s work on ‘Donahue,’
When Phil Donahue brought his hourlong talk show to WGN from Dayton, Ohio in 1974, Ron was assigned to direct the live, four-camera “Donahue” five days a week.
His work over the next 11 years—the last three with “Donahue” having moved to CBS’s Chicago affiliate—won him three national Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Individual Direction for a Talk or Service Series, in 1979, 1982, and 1984; he was nominated seven times.
His use of a fifth camera (handheld instead of stationary), quick cuts, and frequent shots of faces in the audience were groundbreaking for their time, shaping what is now the standard for an unrehearsed, multi-camera show on television, whether it be a talk show, pop music performance, fashion show, awards program, or telethon.
Ron Weiner Obituary
He was insightful, and brilliant. Rob Weiner helped shape the way that television is filmed to this very day, and for his accomplishments and achievements, we should all be grateful.
We pray for his family and loved ones during this extremely difficult time. Rest in peace, legend!
