Posted by chicagomedia.org on February 06, 2009 at 07:19:28:
Busy times at WLS
We wouldn't want to have been Mike Fowler the past few months. Citadel Broadcasting's market manager and the man who oversees operations at news/talk WLS-AM (890) has had a lot on his plate of late.
In addition to negotiating complicated, time-consuming contracts with morning drive hosts Don Wade and Roma and new mid-morning co-host Mancow Muller, Fowler found time to bring on board a new programming director, Bob Shomper, while also trying to figure out how best to deploy another relatively new WLS on-air talent -- Pat Cassidy.
Based on a conversation with Fowler on Wednesday, we think things are going to begin to quiet down at WLS at last. Fowler has finally gotten that 54-page contract with Don and Roma signed, even though sources say Wade was heard complaining (not too loudly) that he's getting less money now than he deserves. And Fowler is expected to sign off on Muller's two-year contract with WLS this week.
That's one year more, by the way, than Muller was talking about getting when he went on the air last fall. And sometime very soon, Cassidy is expected to start doing his two-hour shift on the Don and Roma morning drive show, after which he will immediately segue into his two-hour stint with Mancow, where Cassidy has been a fixture since that show began.
Fowler apparently was leery of dropping Cassidy into the Don and Roma mix until everyone had a signed contract.
(Lewis Lazare, Chicago Sun-Times)