HISTORY
The Media Research Club of Chicago was founded in 1953. The group started as an informal meeting of research directors from various Chicago print media companies. Founding members Gene Blackwell (research director of American Weekly), Ira Bix (research director of Farm Journal) and Jean Fletcher (Newspaper Advertising Bureau) met regularly for lunch at a restaurant named L'Aglon on the southeast corner of Rush and Ontario. The club's membership was initially limited to researchers from the print media: magazines and the Chicago newspapers.

Jean Fletcher served as the first official president of the club. She was responsible for inviting speakers to every club luncheon. During the 1960s, Angelo Juarez, Hugh Martin, and Larry Tootikian all served as presidents. Hugh Martin, then research director at WIND, had the distinction of being the first club president from the broadcast community. Through the early 1970s, Tom Patrick of the Chicago Tribune, Barbara Johnson of CBS Publications, Andy Donchak, Linda Fischer of WIND, and Sue Hodgson of IMS all had successful runs as president. Sue was the first president from the media research supplier's side.

Other past club presidents include:

• 1976 Aldona Masilionis, WLS-AM
• 1977-78 Ted Sheldon, Chicago Tribune
• 1979-81 Ray Sheehy, WGN Radio
• 1982-83 Kevin Killion, Leo Burnett/Needham Harper Worldwide
• 1984-85 Alice Sylvester, J. Walter Thompson
• 1986 Pam Baxter, Tatham-Laird & Kudner
• 1986-88 Cynthia Evans, Mediamark Research, Inc.
• 1988-90 Roger Baron, Foote, Cone & Belding
• 1991 Bernadette Cognac, Simmons Market Research Bureau
• 1991-92 Beth Uyenco, DDB Needham Worldwide
• 1993-94 Bill Ross, Nielsen Media Research
• 1995-96 Garnet Pike, BBDO Chicago
• 1997-98 Helen Katz, Optimum Media, a division of DDB Needham Worldwide
• 1999-2000 Scott Turner, Mediamark Research, Inc.
• 2001-02 Nancy End, Telmar
• 2003-04 Jamie Arvizu, OMD
• 2005-06 Brent Lightfoot, SRDS
• 2007-08 Julia Johnston, Icosystem Corporation
• 2009-10 Adam Weiler, DraftFCB/MC Media
• 2011/12 Jim Tobolski, Experian Simmons (current president)

Luncheon meetings from the fifties to the late seventies were quite informal. Four to fifteen people would attend. Luncheon speakers were usually selected from advertising agencies or research suppliers. Occasionally, members would present some of their own work as well.

During Ray Sheehy's term as president (1979-81) there was increased participation from advertising agencies and media research suppliers. It was Ray's desire to expand the membership that led to greater attendance at Media Research Club luncheons. Kevin Killion, then with Leo Burnett's Media Research staff, succeeded Ray and became the first club president from the advertising agency side.

Alice Sylvester, in her first year as president, organized the club's first biennial research symposium. The topic that year was TV commercial zapping. The symposium drew a surprisingly large number of people from New York as well as Chicago, since it was the first event of its kind that dealt with the issue of commercial avoidance. The club also formalized its Academic Exchange Program, which provided college students with their first exposure to media research as a profession. Under Roger Baron's tenure as club president the MRCC established a scholarship fund for college students majoring in the field of advertising. That same year, 1989, the MRCC also established and promoted design standards for media research software development. The following year the club held its first computer applications exposition and also began to publish its monthly newsletter, The MRCC Review, with Bernadette Cognac, vice-president and senior account manager of Simmons Market Research Bureau, as editor.

In 1991, the MRCC decided to change the focus of its academic grants from funding scholarships to funding original media research studies. Two doctoral students were the first recipients of the MRCC research awards: Rose Johnson of Georgia State University looked at how television commercial clutter affects older viewers; Lauren Tucker of the University of Wisconsin-Madison examined African-American values and how they may affect product and media usage.

Beth Uyenco's presidency filled the club's coffers, and brought in a wide range of speakers. The 1992 Symposium on micro-marketing was a big success, and a concerted effort to attract more interest from the academic community resulted in educators joining us from universities in Illinois and Wisconsin.

During his 1993-94 presidency, Bill Ross resurrected the MRCC Media Research and Computer Expo originally started in 1990. It become one of the best-attended industry expositions outside of New York. In 1994, Bill spearheaded "Media Research in an Interactive World" the first Symposium of its kind that concentrated on the issue of measurement in the interactive arena.

In 1995, the Club newsletter, The MRCC Review, was redesigned and expanded. And for the first time, the MRCC began to co-sponsor events, including "Guerrilla Media" in conjunction with the American Marketing Association, and "How Media Work" with Inside Media and Katz Television Group. In 1996, the Club expanded its educational activities, supporting two $1,000 research awards to doctoral students, and establishing the $1,000 Ronald Kaatz Student Internship in media research.

Garnet Pike has kept close ties with the MRCC well beyond her presidency. She was editor of The MRCC Review and took charge of advertising sales for the newsletter. Her history with the group has brought consistency to the MRCC boards that have followed in her footsteps.

Past presidents Helen Katz and Scott Turner have carried on the great work of their predecessors, hosting a wide variety of expert luncheon speakers and planning successful expos and symposia for the Chicago media community.

During Brent Lightfoot's presidency the club has expanded the MRCC summer internship program to two recipients in both 2005 and 2006. One of these interns went on to gain full time employment with Starcom. The Technology Expo was revived in 2005 netting 19 venders showing what that latest trends were in the media research field. The Club spent many hours under the direction of Danny Miletic (Comcast) rebuilding and modernizing our membership database. With the help of Treasurer Tony Hereau (Arbitron), the membership renewal process was streamlined and for the first time offered credit card renewals. The MRCC thanked past President Helen Katz who contributed many years as the newsletter editor and welcomed Matt Wolff (Claritas) into the role. Jennifer Rhodes (Starcom) stepped in mid-term as the club's secretary and worked to improve the meeting registration process. Julie Erbe (VP, Administration, MRI) delighted the membership with a summer outing to view King Tut at the Field Museum. VP of Programming, Judy Bahary (GM Planworks) continued to deliver monthly meetings that were topical and relevant to the changing industry.

2007 was another year of change as Julia Johnston of Icosystem took over the helm and moved The MRCC Review to an electronic format, saving the MRCC thousands of dollars while becoming more eco-friendly with less printed material. The savings afforded the club the ability to provide a much needed increase in the stipend given to the summer internship program. The entire board made vast improvements from streamlining the luncheon registration process, to utilizing the MRCC website, to surveying the members to learn more about the topics of interest for future luncheons.

The 13th Biennial Symposium in 2008 “captured” about 100 attendees with the intriguing theme “Capturing The Consumer: How Research Is Meeting The Challenge”. Jennifer Rhodes and Cathy Terrazas co-chaired the symposium that featured discussions about the challenge of measuring consumers' media behavior, as well as innovative consumer insights research. Many people have made the club stronger including Jennifer Rhodes (Starcom) as VP of Programs, Matthew Hodges (Telmar) as VP Administration, Danniele Meglen (MTV Networks) as Secretary and Membership Director, and Danny Miletic (Weigel Broadcasting) as Treasurer.

Over the past two years under the leadership of Adam Weiler from DraftFCB/MC Media, the MRCC board has continued the efforts of its past leaders bringing in new speakers to lead discussions on a wide variety of issues. The summer internship program continues to be a strong draw for some of the brightest minds in the Midwest, and the number of applications for the two positions has grown dramatically in the past few years. Holdovers Danny Miletic, Danniele Meglen and Matthew Hodges kept the club on track while new VP of Programs Cathy Terazzas (Nielsen IMS) made sure to bring in speakers from far and wide to entertain and inform our members.

The MRCC held its 14th Biennial Symposium in October 2010. The event, titled “Media Research 201.0: The Evolving Role of Media Research”, discussed the state of media research and the media research professional today, with an eye toward recent and future advancements. Panel discussions and presentations took us on a journey that explored old tools with new approaches, the evolving role of media research within organizations, and media research tools/approaches we will be using in the future. Karen Garwood and Jennifer Rhodes co-chaired the symposium.

A new board was elected at the end of 2010. Jim Tobolski from Experian Simmons, the new MRCC president, and the rest of the board are busy making plans for 2011-12.