Founder of WSCR, dies at 78 from cancer.

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Didn't Mike North invent the idea of the Score and tell Danny Lee?

Did you ever hear those airchecks North did? Before he brokered his own air time at, i think, that little station in Skokie. I'm sure Curious Hair knows what frequency/station he was on. He has no Chicago accent. He sounded like Eliza Doolittle after Henry Higgins got done with her.

I guess North got in Danny Lee's ear about creating a sports station when the XRT boys would stop for lunch at BeBe's, but saying that he "invented" the Score is overstating the case. I believe WFAN already existed as an all-sports station in New York. It isn't a great leap to figure out that something similar would fly in sports-crazy Chicago. But kudos to Danny Lee for actually doing it. My guy, Jim Kezios, the greatest spot time salesman in Chicago history, pitched the idea of a 24/7 sports station back when he was at WMAQ in the late 70s/early 80s and got laughed at for his trouble.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I've never heard Professional North, but I would like to.

Looking it up, the Skokie station would have been Spanish at the time. He could have been at the old WVVX in Highland Park, which was a brokered station that usually aired heavy metal.

I think WFAN was like '87 or '88, but pace the name, they were never as fan-oriented as the early Score was. I think their early days were especially Chet-like. One of their main hosts was Greg Gumbel. They didn't hire a village idiot until Joe Benigno, who graduated from chronic caller.

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I'd never give north credit for inventing the format.

I do give him credit for creating the character of the station. All those other hosts they first hired would have been more than happy to present the Coppock like sports format of the team/players being god and the hosts the high priests keeping a wall between the people and their creator. North shifted the entire paradigm, focusing on the fans and their thoughts rather than the team/players and their thoughts.

I think Mac wanted to be that kind of host as well and North liberated him to be that guy. Murph was always a fans talking to fans guy. North always admired Murph so maybe he actually took that style from him.

Boers never would have embraced fans and always warned Mac about getting close to the people. Jiggets, Shaer, etc. were used to no interaction from their tv days.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Unfortunately, 80% of the fans who make it to the airwaves are usually meatballs and provide pretty shitty content. But hey, if that's what floats your boat.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

I don't think Swirsky gets enough credit. I listened to his show all the time when I was in high school and there was nothing else like it. Definitely a precursor.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

No Steve Dahl, no WSCR.

His antics and vernacular broadcast-style loosened-up the whole entertainment radio genre.

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We Now Know That JOE BIDEN has been COMPROMISED by CHINA! (let that sink in)

Election 2020-The Largest Fraud in the History of Mankind.

*If you believe that Biden won, you also believe that Epstein killed himself*

I think "Athletes' Feats" was a really successful segment for XRT. It became clear that there was an appetite for more.

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North started his own brokered show with Danny on 1240AM. I want to say it was WSBC or something like that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSBC

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You know what floats my boat..."in the next segment we will talk with Cubs insider, Jesse Rogers"? That is some brilliant insight being produced. These content producers you rely upon would be callers if they didn't have parents/spouses who could support their low paying careers.

I'd suggest you give Kap and Hood a listen. They are caller intensive and the show works incredibly well. There are plenty of smart and funny people who call. The golden era of the Score is proof of it

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

The producer can allow whatever type of callers he wants. You can set up good conversations if that's the goal. Unfortunately, bernstein-era WSCR went down the path of setting up bowling pins for li'l danny to knock down.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don