Connie Szerszen

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Connie Szerszen is an American radio personality on WJMK 104.3 HD2 in Chicago. Connie is a native Chicagoan of Polish ancestry. Connie was discovered while she was Talent Coordinator at WCFL. An air personality whom she had never met, "Den Pal Penny Lane" called, and talked Connie into trying out. Soon after, Connie started her broadcasting career at WSDM-FM (a Chess Brothers station), "the station with the girls...and all that jazz" - "smack dab in the middle." Her radio name was "Den Pal Dawn" - she eventually did the morning show before leaving for WIND.

She was the first female announcer to have a prime time program on AM radio in a major market. That was evenings as a deejay on WIND-AM in Chicago, early in the 1970s, a popular AM station then owned by Westinghouse Broadcasting, a/k/a Group W. Connie was entered into the U.S. Congressional Record for that achievement. The Chicago Sun-Times Midwest Magazine made her their cover story, crediting her as "The Woman Who Invented Strip Radio." CBS-TV in Chicago did a feature story on her show in their 5 PM Newscast.

Connie was also an on-air personality for several stations including WJEZ-FM, WJJD and US-99, guesting on local TV shows and guest-hosting TV's "Kiddie-A-Go-Go."

On August 12, 2005 WJMK 104.3 HD 2 became the first station in America to broadcast live on an all digital radio station. And on August 13, 2005, Connie became the first woman in America to broadcast live on HD 2 with the "70's Saturday Night" show. The show also streams on line on www.WJMK.com.

She is known to her listeners as the "Top Rock Girly Jock" and "Polish Princess" and ends her shows with "Jeszcze Polska Nie Zginela" - the first line of the Polish National Anthem.

In addition to broadcasting on WJMK 104.3 HD2, Connie is a portrait artist (www.portraitartist.com/szerszen). At St. Luke's Medical Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Connie's portraits of donors hang in the main entrance; also,in the Karen Yontz Women's Cardiac Awareness Center in Milwaukee and West Allis, Wisconsin. Her works also hang at The Oconomowoc Hospital's Cancer Center, St. Mary of Nazareth in Chicago, Inverness Golf Club, Holy Family Parish, Inverness, Illinois; Village Hall, Roselle, Illinois; plus works for private and corporate clients, such as USG. In February of 2006, Crain's Chicago Business did a feature story on her portraiture.

Connie also loves to entertain as a mobile DJ (www.DJConnie.com). Connie has attended The Art Institute of Chicago, American Academy of Art and Northwestern University.