Jock Hedblade – Visit Forgottonia Director / TV & Radio Producer

Some careers are measured by the audiences they reach. Others are remembered for the communities they transform.

For four-time Emmy Award-winning television producer Jock Hedblade, those two achievements became one.

A native of Macomb, Illinois, Hedblade built a distinguished career in national television and Chicago broadcasting before returning to the community where his story began. After producing award-winning programs for Oprah Winfrey‘s Harpo Studios‘ The Rosie Show starring Rosie O’Donnell and NBC television’s nationally syndicated Steve Harvey starring the legendary comedian—work that earned two of his four Emmy Awards—he chose a path few expected. Rather than pursuing larger media markets, he came home with a vision: to apply the same creativity, storytelling, and marketing instincts that had entertained millions toward transforming his hometown into a destination unlike any other.

During his broadcasting career, Hedblade also produced programs hosted by Tamron Hall and David Navarro at Chicago’s FOX affiliate WFLD-TV, executive produced WLS Radio‘s top-rated The Roe Conn Show  and Roe & Roeper with Roe Conn, Richard Roeper, and Bill Leff, and produced legendary broadcaster Bob Sirott‘s Fox Thing in the Morning television program and his weekly WGN Radio show. His documentary work earned Emmy Awards for Smashing Pumpkins: Full Circle and the PBS special How Chicago Rocked the ’60s. Along the way, he interviewed hundreds of influential figures in entertainment, including Jon Hamm, Jennifer Hudson, Billy Corgan, Tony Bennett, Jack Black, Shakira, Kristen Wiig, John C. Reilly, Mel Brooks, Smokey Robinson, Melissa McCarthy, Andy Kaufman, Elton John, and many others.

Returning to Macomb marked not the end of one career, but the beginning of another. As Executive Director of Visit Unforgettable Forgottonia, Hedblade has helped reshape the tourism identity of Macomb and McDonough County by asking a simple question: What if the stories we’ve always taken for granted are exactly what the rest of the world would find fascinating?

The answers have become some of Illinois’ most distinctive visitor experiences. Hedblade conceived Macombopoly, the world’s largest interactive Monopoly-inspired attraction honoring Macomb native Elizabeth “Lizzie” Magie, inventor of The Landlord’s Game, the precursor to Monopoly. Creating the county’s Looking For Lincoln Tour he also envisioned as its centerpiece the nation’s only Living Lincoln Topiary Monument, developed with artist Duke Oursler, established Macomb and McDonough County as an Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area and an National Underground Railroad: Network To Freedom community under the auspices of the National Park Service, and spearheaded the Macomb Murals Tour, transforming the city’s downtown into an open-air gallery celebrating the community’s history, culture, and remarkable people. Together with numerous other heritage, arts, and tourism initiatives, these projects have helped establish the self-proclaimed Republic of Forgottonia as one of Illinois’ most creative, unforgettable  and unexpected destinations.

Throughout every chapter of his career, Hedblade has remained, at heart, a storyteller. Whether producing national television, hosting radio interviews, or developing tourism experiences, his work has always centered on uncovering overlooked stories and presenting them in ways that inspire curiosity, connection, and pride. His return to Macomb demonstrates that imagination, authenticity, and strategic storytelling can become powerful tools for economic development and community revitalization.

For Hedblade, success has never been measured solely by awards, ratings, or celebrity interviews. It is measured by seeing visitors discover his hometown with fresh eyes, by watching local residents rediscover pride in the place they call home, and by knowing that the community which launched his journey and he loves so dearly, is now writing an exciting new chapter of its own. In the end, the greatest stories are not always those told on the biggest stages—they are the ones that help people see familiar places in extraordinary new ways.