Posted by Kim Kardashian on August 19, 2011 at 14:30:46:
The following appears in the current issue of Time Out Chicago, which features a retrospective of WKQX-FM (101.1), the former alternative rock station known as Q101:
While family, friends and fans of Q101 gathered in its waning hours July 14 to share loving memories of a Chicago radio institution, the man who was its biggest star of
the past two decades wanted none of it.
Matthew Erich Muller, the former shock-jock host of Mancow’s Morning Madhouse, refused to participate in celebrating the history or mourning the passing of the station he
had dominated for eight years.
“I found it repulsive,” Muller, 45, later said of the outpouring of nostalgia. “I was invited to be part of it, but I chose not to because I don’t live my life looking in
the rear-view mirror. I like James VanOsdol a lot. I hear he’s writing a book. I was the biggest player in the story, and I wouldn’t read a book about that. I don’t
understand why anyone cares.”
Starting in 1998, when Emmis Communications lured him from Chicago’s former Rock 103.5 FM, Muller redefined Q101 and brought stability to a station that had seen seven
morning shows come and go in four years. With a colorful cast of characters (who can forget daredevil sidekick Jeff “Turd” Renzetti?) and the bluster of P.T. Barnum,
Muller kept the show at or near the top of the ratings among men between 18 and 34 throughout his run.
But like many music stations with high-profile morning personalities, Q101 had trouble retaining Muller’s audience for its alternative rock lineup the rest of the day. And
Muller often found himself at odds with other jocks and alienated from members of his own crew.
“They had ratings with me, but they never appreciated what they had,” he said of his former co-workers. “I found them to be a bunch of selfish, unappreciative people when
I worked with them. Lazy, miserable, ultrahip nobodies who loved to hear themselves talk. They’d celebrate this local music show [Local 101] with 10 people listening, and
over here you’ve got Mancow with millions. Why was I not the hero? I’ll never know.”