Nick Digilio

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Nick Digilio is a weekend radio host on WGN Radio in Chicago.

[edit] Radio Career

Nick Digilio began reviewing movies on the Roy Leonard Show in 1985. He started as "the guy who likes bad movies" (reviewing Critters, Friday the 13th Part 5 and the like). He called into Roy's program constantly until WGN Radio management decided he'd be a good permanent addition. Soon, he became a staple on other WGN Radio programs including Steve King and Johnnie Putman's program. Since the late '80s, Nick has been a critic who provides an alternative and sometimes controversial view of current films and plays. Nick can be counted on to defend even his most unpopular opinions regarding the cinema and is not afraid to be the lone voice defending movies even the directors have come to realize are bad (i.e., Joe Dirt and Freddy Got Fingered are "good" while Titanic is "bad"). Nick still reviews all the new films and makes DVD recommendations on John Williams' Saturday morning radio program.

For several years, Nick co-hosted a weekend late-night radio program on WGN with Garry Lee Wright and hosted his own program called "Nick at Night." On February 10, 2006, Nick's program's name was changed from to "The Nick Digilio Show" to correspond with a move from late-nights to prime time on Saturday night and not-so-late nights on Friday and Sunday nights. "The Nick Digilio Show" can currently be heard on WGN Radio in Chicago (720 AM) on Fridays (11pm to 2am Central Time), Saturdays (8pm to midnight Central Time), and Sunday nights (from 10pm to 2am Central Time), where Nick discusses popular culture, current events, all things Chicago, and other hot topics including why the McRib is the greatest sandwich McDonald’s ever produced, and the fact that there actually once was vegetable flavored Jell-O. In addition to interviews with celebrities and newsmakers, listeners to "The Nick Digilio Show" can hear the "Anti-Valentine's Day" special, the "Halloween Spooktacular," "The Three's Company Throwdown" (a trivia contest featuring show producer Andy Hermann whose obsession with and encyclopedic knowledge of Three's Company is, frankly, frightening). In addition, listeners can enjoy "Paula Cooper's Rock Alert", the recent "Drunks in the News", and, during baseball season, "The Pat and Ron Show Highlight Reel" (a review of clips of the wacky things said during the coverage of Chicago Cubs baseball games).

The current producer of "The Nick Digilio Show" is Andy "The Count" Hermann. Mike "Broham" Stephen used to produce Nick's Sunday night program. Both "Broham" and "The Count" (a nickname given to Andy after he provided the voice of a card dealer in an episode of The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas) currently manage the Nick D. Producers' Blog on the WGN Radio website, and are behind a radio program and podcast called Outside the Loop RADIO: Chicago's Almost Above-Ground Audio Magazine (aired on WLUW).

[edit] Personal Life

Digilio grew up about five blocks away from Wrigley Field and is a die-hard Chicago Cubs fan. Aside from his radio activities, Digilio is a playwright, theater director and actor who claims a deep and abiding love for movies, television, music and both the written and spoken word. He recently moved from Andersonville to the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago. Digilio's favorite movie is Magnolia, which is in his number one movie spot with Risky Business. His favorite comedy movie is Used Cars. Some of his favorite horror movies (his favorite genre) are Halloween, Phantasm, The Blair Witch Project, and the Dead Series. George Romero, John Carpenter, and P.T. Anderson are his favorite directors. His favorite novel is J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. Digilio had two cats named Jackass and Bangs, whom he nicknamed Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen respectively. Considered to be a man passionate about the things he likes and believes in, Digilio has demonstrated a rabid love of and support for such television shows as Felicity, Saturday Night Live, Gilmore Girls, Wonderfalls and professional wrestling. Digilio has also demonstrated what may be considered by some an obsessive, yet ultimately harmless attraction for actresses Keri Russell (Felicity), Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls) and Caroline Dhavernas (Wonderfalls) and well has heterosexual man crushes on Colin Farrell, Justin Timberlake and Matthew McConaughey, whom Digilio publicly declared as the patron saint of his radio show based largely on his portrayal of David Wooderson in the film Dazed and Confused as well as his "Just Keep Livin'" lifestyle. In fact, McConaughey's voice is used in Nick's show intro.

As passionate as he is about those things he loves, Digilio claims to be equally committed to those things he does not and is not afraid to broadcast those feelings. Digilio despises television personality Rachael Ray and her use of phrases like "EVOO," "Yumm-O" and "How _____ is that?." (For Halloween 2006, Digilio humorously encouraged children to dress up as Ray and knock on doors shouting "EVOO!" instead of "trick-or-treat" to scare more people.) Other frequent targets of Digilio's tirades include Ron Howard and M. Night Shyamalan, whose name Digilio mispronounces as "N. Night Shamalamadingdong." Every time Nick mocks Shyamalan's name, he is then required to mispronounce his own name in a humorous manner, such as "Digooglio."

Digilio was formerly a member of The Factory Theater.