Posted by chicagomedia.org on June 25, 2008 at 07:47:20:
North, WSCR part ways
At 9:47 a.m. Tuesday, Mike North learned—via e-mail—that he was out after 16 years at WSCR-AM 670.
This was not a flimsy negotiating ploy by management. This was the equivalent of CBS Radio officials tearing up their final offer—the one that hadn't changed since April—into little pieces.
"I don't understand why they took the offer off the table," North said Tuesday night. "It leads you to believe they have had this in their minds all along."
North first suspected the Score planned to oust him in February 2007, when a media report contained speculation about management's plans to replace him.
Seven months ago, North said, CBS Radio officials encouraged him to hit the market. The Tribune reported June 6 that he might lose his morning show.
Still many never expected this day to come. North is a Score original, tied to the station like Dick Butkus to the Bears or the Daley name to Chicago politics.
"He was the single biggest reason we, as a station, took off out of the gate as strong as we did in the early '90s," said Dan McNeil, now the afternoon host on the Score's chief competitor, WMVP-AM 1000. "It's a pretty remarkable story when you consider he was a 39-year-old hot dog stand owner who made a tremendous fortune doing what he loves to do."
North was outrageous on his morning show, making comments that some deemed racist (he referred to former Cubs Korean pitcher Jae Kuk Ryu as a "Chinaman") and sexist (saying a female ESPN reporter must have slept her way to getting plum assignments).
But off-air, North was generally low-key. That continued Tuesday, when he refused to fire on the Score, calling it "a great brand."
Asked whether he was sad, angry or disappointed, North replied: "I'm fine—only because I know I have greener pastures ahead."
North won't say where he'll go next after his contract expires July 1. But he implied he will remain in Chicago and mentioned the concept of a "reverse Imus."
Don Imus is a news guy who used to work for a sports station in New York. So perhaps North will be a sports guy who does morning drive for a news station in Chicago. He has had discussions with WLS-AM 890.
Even though both North and Score management released statements saying he's done at the station, some aren't buying it.
"I've seen this movie before," McNeil said.
North signed a five-year deal in 2003 that paid him $1.5 million per year. North said the Score's offer to him, which they told him Friday was a take-it-or-leave-it, would have been worth $700,000-$900,000 a year.
North said money "had nothing to do" with his decision to turn it down. Over the years his beef has been with Score officials, specifically general manager Paul Agase, for their lack of promotion and the decision not to let him meet with the Asian-American groups who were insulted by his "Chinaman" comment.
North also believed the station put out bad information about his ratings. While many disparaged him for losing to ESPN's "Mike and Mike in the Morning," North pointed to being ranked eighth in the city in the morning among men 25-54.
"I'm proud to have worked in my hometown," North said. "And I will continue to work in hometown."
Mike Mulligan and Brian Hanley have the inside track to nail down North's old time slot. Laurence Holmes and Matt Abbatacola are among those who will be considered for the mid-morning spot vacated by "Mully and Hanley."
(Greenstein)