On New Year’s Eve, host Tony Sarabia caught a little bit of “Chitown Rising,” the live event billed as Chicago’s answer to the festivities in Times Square. It was the first year, and it was broadcast on NBC 5, Telemundo, and had Mario Lopez — yes, AC Slater — as the MC. Tony’s first thought was: CHITOWN? Really? He posted on Facebook: “No self respecting life long Chicagoan refers to Chicago as Chi-town!” And the comments rolled in. The term Chitown shows up in a lot of popular music, in advertisements, and it has a long history, going back until at least the 1930s. Here with a little more on that is Peter Alter, historian and director of the Studs Terkel Center for Oral History at the Chicago History Museum