What Mancow says about new WLS job

Subject:

Comments:
: Mancow: WLS-AM an 'oasis' : : "WLS scares the hell out of me because those call letters in my world really mean something," Erich "Mancow" Muller said Thursday, his return to Chicago radio next week just days away. : "When you're on dog stations ... you go on, you do whatever you want, you have a ball," he said. "WLS means something." : Citadel Broadcasting's WLS-AM 890 and the 9-to-11 a.m. slot it's giving him, beginning Monday, means a shot at redemption. : Muller, whose syndicated Chicago-based "Mancow's Morning Madhouse" lost its home station 27 months ago when Emmis Communications' WKQX-FM 101.1 pulled the plug after eight years, gets another shot. On a legacy station, no less, the one-time wild child, now 42, has a chance to do the more focused and mature talk program he has said he coveted in recent years. : "It's going to be like feeling my way through the fog at first," said Muller, a self-described Libertarian. "I have been through the desert the last 2 1/2 years. WLS is the oasis." : As reported Thursday in the Chicago Tribune, Muller will replace Jerry Agar between Don and Roma Wade, whom WLS boss Michael Fowler believes he is close to re-signing, and Rush Limbaugh's syndicated midday juggernaut. His first week, Muller will be paired with Pat Cassidy, who jumped from CBS Radio's WBBM-AM 780 this summer. : "It could be great. It could be a train wreck. We don't know," Muller said. : Fowler, who has been leaning toward adding Cassidy to the Wades' show, called it "a good little test [but] Erich can do a show by himself." : Muller will continue to do the "Madhouse" program for stations around the country. There's still some back and forth between him and WLS over which elements (and personnel) he'll bring to his local WLS show, which begin when the national show ends each day. : "I'm looking forward to talking about Chicago and to Chicago," Muller said. "It's been a hellish 2 1/2 years. I've continued to syndicate, but when I walk around Chicago, everyone thinks I'm out of work." : Since Emmis booted him, contending his antics were not only vulnerable to government scrutiny but had become a tougher sell to advertisers, Muller has done commentary for Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends" and WTTW-Ch. 11's "Chicago Tonight," and filled in on WLS. : "Mancow was always intelligent, but he was always split," Fowler said, referring to being both topical and racy. "[The new show is] not going to have any of the old Mancow-type 18-to-34-year-old elements. It's going to be broad" in its appeal. : "It's going to be odd for Jerry Agar listeners, whom I have a lot of respect form," Muller said. "It's going to be odd for my listeners. There's going to be a period where it's going to be odd for everybody." : Fowler said Agar, whose contract is running down, will be part of WLS' election coverage "and if there's a place I can find to put him, I will." But he felt his couldn't pass up his old pal, Muller. : "I don't know how it's going to shake out, but it's always worked out in the past," Muller said. : : : (Phil Rosenthal, his new "Tower Ticker" blog)

Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL:

Enter verification code: