Jim DeRogatis
Professor of Practice
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, the year the Beatles arrived in America, Jim DeRogatis began voicing his opinions about popular music shortly thereafter. Together with Greg Kot, he co-hosts the long-running public radio show and podcast Sound Opinions. He spent 15 years as a professor in the Department of English and Creative Writing at Columbia College Chicago; starting in September 2025, he became a professor of practice teaching arts criticism and journalism at Medill. He is the author of several books about music, including Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs and Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly. DeRogatis has played in punk-rock bands since age thirteen, but jokes that he is a drummer, not a musician.