Andrea Darlas is an Emmy-nominated, award-winning radio and television news
anchor/reporter and talk show host based in Chicago. In 2019, she was inducted in the
prestigious WGN Radio Walk of Fame.
Andrea is currently the Senior Director of Constituent Engagement for the University of
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, based at the Illini Center in Chicago. She’s a regular
contributor to WGN-AM, WLS-AM, WCPT-AM, WCIU-TV and the nationally syndicated
home improvement TV show “House Smarts”, as well as other radio and TV
shows/programs across Chicago.
Having worked in the Chicago media for three decades, Andrea was a news anchor and
reporter at WGN Radio for more than 22 years and a news reporter and weekend
break/features reporter for WGN-TV for 10 years. Prior to WGN, Andrea worked as a
News Director/News Anchor/Reporter in Joliet, IL and as a News Anchor/Reporter in
Champaign, IL.
During her tenure at WGN, Andrea won more than 30 awards from the Illinois
Associated Press and the Illinois Broadcasters’ Association for anchoring, reporting,
hosting, breaking news coverage, and investigative series reports. Andrea has six IBA
Silver Dome Awards for “Best Newscast”, three IBA Awards for “Best Reporter” and two
prestigious Peter Lisagor Awards – one for TV and one for radio. A three-time Emmy
award nominee, Andrea has also won two Edward R. Murrow Awards for journalism
excellence, 1st place honors from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and
Immunology for her ground-breaking series on food allergies, and the Better Business
Bureau’s Diogenes Award for media excellence in business and public affairs reporting.
Andrea has a ‘BS in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Illinois and currently
works with the Chancellor, the office of Public Affairs and the Office of Advancement
serving as a media liaison, promoting, and advancing the U of I throughout the Chicago
metropolitan area. Andrea has served on the U of I’s College of Media’s National
Alumni Board, the University’s Alumni Association, and the Campus Alumni Advisory
Boards. She is currently on the Board of Directors of the Museum of Broadcast
Communications, the H-Foundation, and is actively involved with the Special Olympics,
Rags of Honor, the National Hellenic Museum.
Andrea has also dabbled in feature films with roles in WTTWS’s “The Trial of the
Parthenon Marbles” (2018), “The Trial of Helen of Troy” (2019) and Robert Alaniz’
“Honest to God” (2021).
