Dan Ponce
{{Short description|American television journalist (born 1976)}}
{{About|the television reporter and a capella singer|the jazz percussionist|Daniel Ponce}}
Dan Ponce (born December 7, 1976, in Denver, Colorado) is an American television journalist for WGN-TV, radio talk show host on WLS/890{{cite web|url=http://timeoutchicago.com/arts-culture/chicago-media-blog/15097915/wls-adds-ponce-brothers-to-weekend-talk-show-lineup|title=WLS adds Ponce Brothers to weekend talk show lineup|work=Time Out Chicago|accessdate=3 June 2015}} and founder of the a cappella group Straight No Chaser.{{cite web|url=http://www.wgntv.com/about/station/newsteam/wgntv-news-team-dan-ponce,0,5822819.htmlstory|title=WGN-TV|accessdate=3 June 2015|archive-date=30 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120530150034/http://www.wgntv.com/about/station/newsteam/wgntv-news-team-dan-ponce,0,5822819.htmlstory|url-status=dead}}
Career and background
Ponce's TV career began in 2005 when he was hired at WILX-TV in Lansing, Michigan, as a reporter and weekend anchor. In 2006, Dan joined ABC-owned WLS-TV (channel 7) in Chicago as a general assignment reporter.{{Cite web |url=http://abclocal.go.com/wls/bio?section=resources%2Finside_station%2Fnewsteam&id=5771863 |title=Dan Ponce | WLS News Team |access-date=2019-07-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100924022943/http://abclocal.go.com/wls/bio?section=resources%2Finside_station%2Fnewsteam&id=5771863 |archive-date=2010-09-24 |url-status=dead }}
In 2009, after Straight No Chaser's album "Holiday Spirits" went to #1 on iTunes and Amazon, Ponce decided to leave ABC and join the group full-time.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/arts/music/05rapk.html|title=A Cappella Dreaming: 10 Voices, One Shot|newspaper=The New York Times|date=3 October 2008|last1=Rapkin|first1=Mickey}} SNC went on to perform hundreds of concerts throughout the country and record three more albums on the Atlantic Records label.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} The group's televised concert series "Live in New York" (produced by WTTW) aired on PBS stations coast to coast. Ponce later came back to a TV career and was hired by WGN-TV {Channel 9}.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}
His father is Phil Ponce, a Chicago television journalist who hosts Chicago Tonight.{{cite web|url=http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=42,8,80,7|title=About Us|work=Chicago Tonight - WTTW|accessdate=3 June 2015}}
Ponce attended New Trier Township High School in Winnetka. He earned his master's degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in 2004 and his bachelor's degree from Indiana University Bloomington in 1999, where he founded Straight No Chaser. Dan grew up in Wilmette and currently{{when|date=July 2020}} lives in Chicago.{{cite web|url=http://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/summer2008/alumninews/close-ups/ponces.html|title=Ponces Duel: News at 10|work=northwestern.edu|accessdate=3 June 2015}}
References
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Category:American television reporters and correspondents
Category:Medill School of Journalism alumni
Category:New Trier High School alumni