Felicia Middlebrooks
Chicago radio journalist Felicia Middlebrooks was born May 29, 1957, in Gary, Indiana, to a teacher and a steelworker. Middlebrooks graduated from Gary's West Side High School in 1975; over the next seven years, she worked as a steelworker to finance her B.A. degree in mass communications at Purdue University, which she earned with honors. While pursuing her degree, Middlebrooks gained radio experience at four separate Northwestern Indiana stations.
Middlebrooks was hired as a full-time employee at WBBM news radio in 1983; for the next eighteen years, she worked as co-anchor of WBBM's Morning Drive, part of a lineup that toppled WGN's thirty-year streak as Chicago's top-rated morning station. The first woman and first African American to co-anchor Morning Drive, Middlebrooks was involved in numerous creative ventures; she served as the CEO of her own company, Saltshaker Productions. As a regular panelist on the Total Living Network's Chicago Newsmakers, Middlebrooks addressed spiritual issues; her written work appeared in a prestigious literary anthology, Souls of My Sisters. Middlebrooks contributed her time and talents serving as a trustee for the Children's Home and Aid Society, and was a member of the board of directors of WINGS, an organization founded to assist victims of domestic violence. Middlebrooks received the Associated Press Best Reporter Award for her insightful series of reports on domestic violence; the African American Leadership Council and the Urban League are among the many other organizations that honored her achievements.
When Middlebrooks left the air following a contract dispute in 2002, the Reverend Jesse Jackson and her fans intervened, and her needs were swiftly met. A longtime mentor to aspiring journalists, Middlebrooks continued working with young people in a teaching position at Purdue University's Calumet campus. In her spare time, Middlebrooks also wrote and published a novel.
A2003.064
Female
4/3/2003
Middlebrooks - Hill
Daniel Hale Williams Elementary School
Ivanhoe Elementary School
Edison Middle School
Purdue University
West Side Leadership Academy
Felicia
Gary
MID01
Fall
Indiana
None
You'll never change that which you can tolerate.
Illinois
5/29/1957
Chicago
United States
Mexican Food, Popcorn
Production company chief executive and radio news anchor Felicia Middlebrooks (1957 - ) is the co-anchor of WBBM's Morning Drive in Chicago.
WLTH Radio
WBAA Radio
WJOB Radio
WGVE Radio
WBBM TV
Saltshaker Productions
Charcoal Gray
Tape: 1 Story: 1 - Slating of Felicia Middlebrooks interview
Tape: 1 Story: 2 - Felicia Middlebrooks's favorites
Tape: 1 Story: 3 - Felicia Middlebrooks describes her family history
Tape: 1 Story: 4 - Felicia Middlebrooks remembers her father
Tape: 1 Story: 5 - Felicia Middlebrooks discusses her father's profession, part I
Tape: 1 Story: 6 - Felicia Middlebrooks remembers her mother
Tape: 1 Story: 7 - Felicia Middlebrooks recalls her family's migration North
Tape: 1 Story: 8 - Felicia Middlebrooks shares the sights, smells and sounds of her childhood home
Tape: 1 Story: 9 - Felicia Middlebrooks describes her childhood personality
Tape: 1 Story: 10 - Felicia Middlebrooks recalls her early school years
Tape: 1 Story: 11 - Felicia Middlebrooks discusses her family's involvement in the church
Tape: 1 Story: 12 - Felicia Middlebrooks recalls her high school years, part I
Tape: 2 Story: 1 - Felicia Middlebrooks discusses her father's other jobs
Tape: 2 Story: 2 - Felicia Middlebrooks recalls her high school years, part II
Tape: 2 Story: 3 - Felicia Middlebrooks recalls famous African Americans from Gary, Indiana
Tape: 2 Story: 4 - Felicia Middlebrooks discusses her early interest in radio/television
Tape: 2 Story: 5 - Felicia Middlebrooks remembers influential teachers
Tape: 2 Story: 6 - Felicia Middlebrooks recalls having to leave college to work in the steel mill
Tape: 2 Story: 7 - Felicia Middlebrooks discusses her early professional radio experience in Indiana
Tape: 2 Story: 8 - Felicia Middlebrooks describes her first jobs in Chicago, Illinois, at CBS Channel 2 Television
Tape: 3 Story: 1 - Felicia Middlebrooks describes getting her first on-air job as a radio reporter in Chicago, Illinois
Tape: 3 Story: 2 - Felicia Middlebrooks considers her skill set as a journalist
Tape: 3 Story: 3 - Felicia Middlebrooks discusses the development of her career
Tape: 3 Story: 4 - Felicia Middlebrooks describes her award-winning news coverage
Tape: 3 Story: 5 - Felicia Middlebrooks discusses the undertakings of her production company
Tape: 3 Story: 6 - Felicia Middlebrooks discusses her payrate negotiations with WBBM, Chicago, Illinois
Tape: 3 Story: 7 - Felicia Middlebrooks shares advice for aspiring journalists
Tape: 4 Story: 1 - Felicia Middlebrooks discusses her volunteer activities
Tape: 4 Story: 2 - Felicia Middlebrooks expresses her hopes and concerns for the black community
Tape: 4 Story: 3 - Felicia Middlebrooks considers her legacy
Tape: 4 Story: 4 - Felicia Middlebrooks shares reflections on her career
Tape: 4 Story: 5 - Felicia Middlebrooks considers how she'd like to be remembered
Tape: 4 Story: 6 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks with Bill Cosby after a taping of 'The Cosby Show,' New York, New York, ca. 1990
Tape: 4 Story: 7 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks's parents, 1994
Tape: 4 Story: 8 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks with other celebrities before a Starlight Foundation ball, 1993
Tape: 4 Story: 9 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks's fifth grade school portrait, Ivanhoe Elementary School, Gary, Indiana, ca. 1968
Tape: 4 Story: 10 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks in a Purdue University choir, West Lafayette, Indiana, 1970s
Tape: 4 Story: 11 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks in her high school band uniform after a parade, Gary, Indiana, 1970s
Tape: 4 Story: 12 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks's seventh grade school portrait, Thomas A. Edison Middle School, Gary, Indiana, ca. 1970
Tape: 4 Story: 13 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks dresses as Wonder Woman for a high school masquerade party, Gary, Indiana, ca. 1971
Tape: 4 Story: 14 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks with her parents upon her high school graduation, Gary, Indiana, 1975
Tape: 4 Story: 15 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks with his sisters and father at her Miller Beach home, Gary, Indiana, 1998
Tape: 4 Story: 16 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks conducts a radio interview at WLTH-AM, Gary, Indiana, late 1970s
Tape: 4 Story: 17 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks early in her tenure at WBBM-780 AM, Chicago, Illinois, 1982
Tape: 4 Story: 18 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks with winemaker, Robert Mondovi, at a wine tasting event
Tape: 4 Story: 19 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks represents WBBM-780AM, Chicago, Illinois, at a March of Dimes fundraiser, 1988
Tape: 4 Story: 20 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks welcomes guests to "Hollywood Comes to Chicago" event, Chicago, Illinois, 2000
Tape: 4 Story: 21 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks with her cousin and sister outside of her childhood home, Gary, Indiana, ca. 1967
Tape: 4 Story: 22 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks and her older sister, Gary, Indiana, 1957
Tape: 4 Story: 23 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks with Chicago radio personalities at an awards luncheon, Chicago, Illinois
Tape: 4 Story: 24 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks and colleagues represent WBBM AM-780 in a Christmas parade, Chicago, Illinois, 1983, part I
Tape: 4 Story: 25 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks at lunch with her mentor and two reporter colleagues, Indiana
Tape: 4 Story: 26 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks and colleagues represent WBBM AM-780 in a Christmas parade, Chicago, Illinois, 1983, part II
Tape: 4 Story: 27 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks with her former co-anchor in the WBBM AM-780 studio, ca. 1992
Tape: 4 Story: 28 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks's mother while pregnant, 1956
Tape: 4 Story: 29 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks with her sisters on a family outing, early 1960s
Tape: 4 Story: 30 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks at her sixth birthday party, Gary, Indiana, 1963, part I
Tape: 4 Story: 31 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks and her sister with their Christmas presents, ca. 1963
Tape: 4 Story: 32 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks at her sixth birthday party, Gary, Indiana, 1963, part II
Tape: 4 Story: 33 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks at her twelfth birthday party, Gary, Indiana, 1969
Tape: 4 Story: 34 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks on Memorial Day, Gary, Indiana, 1970
Tape: 4 Story: 35 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks, her sisters and her mother on Easter Sunday, Gary, Indiana, 1970
Tape: 4 Story: 36 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks's maternal grandmother and aunt, Birmingham, Alabama
Tape: 4 Story: 37 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks and Dan Rather in the WBBM AM-780 newsroom, Chicago, Illinois, 1997
Tape: 5 Story: 1 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks with guest Tony Bennett, WBBM AM-780, Chicago, Illinois, 2000
Tape: 5 Story: 2 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks's family portrait, Gary, Indiana, early 1960s
Tape: 5 Story: 3 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks with Patti Labelle, 2000
Tape: 5 Story: 4 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks is awarded the key to the city of Gary, Indiana by Mayor Richard Hatcher at an NAACP dinner, 1989
Tape: 5 Story: 5 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks's mother presents her husband with a birthday present, late 1970s
Tape: 5 Story: 6 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks with her sisters, mother and maternal grandfather, early 1960s
Tape: 5 Story: 7 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks and friends at her sixth birthday party, 1963
Tape: 5 Story: 8 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks with her sisters and her paternal grandfather, Bessemer, Alabama, early 1960s
Tape: 5 Story: 9 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks's mother with her three daughters in the family home, Gary, Indiana, February 1963
Tape: 5 Story: 10 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks and her sisters before Sunday School, Gary, Indiana, early 1960s
Tape: 5 Story: 11 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks with her mother and sisters on the steps of the library in Birmingham, Alabama, early 1960s
Tape: 5 Story: 12 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks watches her mother barbeque, Gary, Indiana, 1960s
Tape: 5 Story: 13 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks with her Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. sisters, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, late 1980s
Tape: 5 Story: 14 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks's high school senior portrait, West Side High School, Gary, Indiana, 1975
Tape: 5 Story: 15 - Photo - A portrait of Felicia Middlebrooks and her sisters, ca. 1980
Tape: 5 Story: 16 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks's youngest sister, 1990s
Tape: 5 Story: 17 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks attends Homecoming at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 1978
Tape: 5 Story: 18 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks and other contestants at the Voice of Democracy competition, sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, 1970s
Tape: 5 Story: 19 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks emcees the Starlight Foundation ball, ca. 1992
Tape: 5 Story: 20 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks on the cover of Chicago, Illinois weekly N'Digo, 2002
Tape: 5 Story: 21 - Photo - Felicia Middlebrooks included in a feature on women in media, ca. 1988