Posted by chicagomedia.org on July 04, 2008 at 08:44:26:
Radio gets readers all fired up just in time for holiday grilling
Hot dog
Another installment of cards and letters across the television/radio desk:
John Hogan, chief executive officer, Clear Channel Radio: I enjoyed your piece on Darren Davis. He is a star for us, and I am thrilled we will be employing him in more places around the country.
Tom Fallon: Great interview with Darren Davis -- a radio executive who is positive and actually admits he made a mistake with Whoopi Goldberg and Melissa Forman. How unique is that? What a contrast between Darren and Joel Hollander, who, as the head of CBS Radio, brought in Rover and canned Oldies 104.3 for "Jack" and never admitted he made a mistake. Maybe there is hope for terrestrial radio, after all.
Monette Yarrington: It's good to hear that Darren saved WNUA, and it's good to know he's a happy-go-lucky person. With the changes he made, I'm not sure if everyone was happy. I don't know if I'll miss him or not.
Wayne Chicko: When I first saw your headline "Christmas comes early for Clear Channel's rising star," I thought the Lite started Christmas music today!
Maureen Greene: I liked the honesty of Darren Davis to say he made a mistake taking Melissa Forman off the air for Whoopi Goldberg. I hope WSCR does not have the same results by taking Mike North off the air. I know he made some people's hair crawl, and he is a Sox fan, but I enjoyed his honesty. The people on the Score now are as boring as Whoopi was.
Dan Vidal: The departure of Mike North should not be any Earth-shattering news in today's economy and the state of radio. While he did very well for himself, he did poorly for his program. By allowing himself to be an ardent White Sox fan, he lost more than half of his potential audience -- Cubs fans. Worst of all, credibility and objectivity went out the window.
R. DiMaio: North's show has never been the same since they pushed out Anne Maxfield.
Paul Greenlee: I shed no tears at the demise of the Mike North's morning show. His "undeniably Chicago" line made me cringe -- as if his show represented what Chicago represents, then we are a vile, foul-mouthed, profane area. Good riddance to bad rubbish in every sense of the word.
Larry Brody: It's a sad day for all the knuckle-draggers and a joyous one for the civilized world.
Dave Sypniewski: So Mike North's job is done? His arrogance, big mouth, and "know-it-all" attitude won't be missed on the radio.
Richard Doughtery: The Score must think we are in some small town.
Gene Wuestenfeld: North is an overpaid, ignorant, no talent, loudmouth blowhard with an inflated opinion of himself and his so called "talent." A real phony. An embarrassment to Chicago. The best thing for Chicago sports radio is to send him back to a hot dog stand.
Kitty Marks: Mike North has four offers in different venues? Let's hope one of those is from Superdawg -- finally a position that he is actually qualified to do.
Mark Glenn: Even if CBS is only reacting to the low ratings of the Score's morning show and not the tasteless and talentless broadcaster that is ex-hot dog vendor Mike North, so be it.
Tom Keller: Is it necessary to note that Mike North worked in a hot dog stand every time you mention him? . . . North and Steve Dahl should start drinking again and team up. That would be entertainment.
Alex Caputo: North is a poor man's Mancow Muller. Muller is a poor man's Howard Stern.
Tom Zander: Maybe, in a move of complete desperation, some program director will put together a morning show hosted by Mike North, Mancow and Garry Meier.
Neil Ringquist: Your comments and insight into Mike North's situation was a good example of why your column is a "must-read."
John Sauber: Does Mike North really need to be headline news? Let's not waste our energy and time with his story.
Jonathan Baltz: I just wanted to be in one of your awesome reader response columns. How does one get in one of those?