John Dempsey has worked in Radio and Television News in Chicago since 1985, when he became a morning anchor at Chicago's National Public Radio affiliate WBEZ-FM.  He covered the final two years of the turbulent period in Chicago political history known as "Council Wars", including the death of Mayor Harold Washington in 1987.  John has worked as a morning and afternoon drive anchor at the former WMAQ 670-AM, and spent a total of 12 years at WBEZ, where he hosted his own talk show.

John also worked as a newswriter/producer at Chicago's Newsradio 780 WBBM-AM, and spent five years in television as a General Assignment Reporter at Chicago's FOX affiliate, WFLD-TV.  Most recently, John worked in Kansas City as the host of "Kansas City's Morning News" on KMBZ-AM, Kansas City's leading news talk station.  John won a Kansas Association of Broadcasters award, and is also a winner of the 1997 Peter Lisagor Award from the Chicago chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for a report he did on the history of Chicago political patronage. 1997 was also the year John was also voted "Best Political Reporter in Chicago" by the readers of New City newspaper. 

John was born on Chicago's west side and grew up in west suburban Maywood and Villa Park.  He attended Proviso East and Willowbrook high schools, and is a graduate of the Radio-Television program at Southern Illinois University.