After the sun sets at night, it always rises the next morning.

That’s why Herscher native Mike Janssen looks forward to his next opportunity rather than dwell on his recent layoff on Monday as a weatherman at WGN TV. He’s already looking to defend his grand champion prize at the Squeals Showdown barbecue competition in July in Herscher as part of the 50th annual Corn Bowl.

“I have to defend my title,” an upbeat Janssen said when reached by phone on Tuesday. “This is going to be the 10-year anniversary of the Squeals competition. That should be the headline, ‘Last year’s champion will be back to defend his title.’”

Janssen, 49, was one of a reported nine anchors or reporters let go by WGN TV, which is owned by Nexstar Media, in a round of layoffs by the parent company. Janssen had been part of the WGN family since 2010 and worked mostly on weekend broadcasts. He said his time at WGN was “amazing.”

“I would not change one minute of what I got to do there,” he said. “My sunsetting time at WGN wasn’t ideal. … But again, I wouldn’t exchange those 15 years for anything. It’s been fantastic, and so that’s really all there is to it.”

Janssen, a 1994 Herscher High School graduate, said he’s still processing the layoff and hasn’t given a lot of thought into what’s next but is confident in his abilities. He plans on remaining in the Chicago area.

“I’m going to lean on the contacts that I’ve made over the last 15 years, and whatever comes next, I think is a great opportunity,” he said. “That’s it. You never know what’s down the line.”

Being at WGN allowed Janssen to keep in touch with friends and family in Kankakee County. He also was instrumental in getting a WGN Weather Bug camera placed in 2020 on top of the Kankakee County administration building at 189 E. Court St. in Kankakee. He also helped put in a Weather Bug station and camera in Herscher.

“There was nothing that could have been better for me than to get to come home and be in front of an audience of the people that I grew up in front of,” he said in retrospect. “When I could give a forecast that impacted friends, family that are farmers, for instance, around Kankakee County and Iroquois County, how much better could it be?”

He declined to comment on the reports that Nexstar reached a deal to buy rival TV station owner Tegna for $6.8 billion, pending approval by the Federal Communication Commission, as a reason for the WGN cuts.

A barbecue aficionado, Janssen will be honing his skills on his smoker at his home in the northern suburbs in preparation for the Squeals Showdown.

“I’m not in the darkness,” he said. “I look forward to the sunrise on what comes next, and that’s just the way I am about it, so I’m not going to dwell on it. You have to keep moving on and it’s kind of like barbecue. If I burn that last rack of ribs, you know what, I’m going to make the next one great.”