Right, but I swear that early on, like right at the launch, there was some buzz that that was what they seemed to be going for. Obviously, the concept of "woke Barstool" doesn't really work, so if they ever went for that, they got away from it in a hurry, but I do have some faint recollection of that. It could have just been that they had Jay Zawaski and his mere presence was enough to invite that comparison.

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I'd definitely listen to that garbage.

Zawaski was on the SCORE promoting a podcast that CHGO was doing when the Hawks drafted Benard. So I checked it out that night. There were two other slobs on the show in t shirts or jerseys talking with Zawaski.

I thought to myself, they're paying 3 guys for this shit? I asked at the time who the hell was funding this. Still don't know that answer.

I get taking a loss initially to make something a success. But I knew right away this thing can't make money. Obviously they didn't.

It lasted 2 or 3 years at a loss. But eventually you get sick of bleeding money.

I mean Zawaski is 50 or so. He's got a kid and a wife. So you figure he needs at least 50k a year just to scrape by in life. So I guess they gave him that. But all these guys on this outfit are in there 40s or 50s. So that's 50k times 20 employees. That's like a million in total pay roll salary. Just a guess. Couldn't make it. Cuz they ain't bringing in a million a year with ads.

I've caught some of Hoge and others doing Bears podcasts. Comes up in my youtube feed. Hoge is just not likable. Just seems like a dick. Has that "Punch me" face. Which is what Olin Krutz did to him.

too bad, most out-spoken of the 3. not that i agreed with every take...deserves kudos for being a 'professional' as in covering games and post-game locker room work, doing his homework and not afraid to have an opinion. i believe boysen did bleacher nation before this. never sent this show any DM nor even a 'like' on you tube - i believe i had read that he's a 'one day at a time' guy. i hope this career setback doesn't mess with his well-being.

truth is, if this was 1979...would be a great fit as a neil milbert, mike perricone or oscar madison as blackhawk beat writer for a major newspaper. times have changed. good luck to him.

not that i've seen lots and lots of zawaski and co.'s podcasts - the ones that i have, never seen zawaski checking in live for a post-game show from the united center dressing room. no note taking, no questions and answers from players, no recording answers.

in union terms, he must be the engineer, the others are the brakeman and fireman. there's a problem 103 cars behind, they walk to the problem, not the engineer. snuggly fits into to his favorite lazy-boy, folds his leg under his torso and gives his hockey thoughts. nice job, if you can get it. good luck to boysen.

Why is it the guys with the biggest fucking mouths on Twitter , who love their attaboys when it comes to criticizing others , pointing out “racism” , DRUMPF BAD !! , are the first ones to retreat into their echo chamber when something bad happens to them?

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Gave it a try early on, basically just a couple of Bears media types doing a podcast for no apparent reason.

They just repeated what every other Bears media type said, nothing new which seemed odd considering they could have been a much more critical outlet, but fired the only guy that went against the approved narrative. They all were telling you the Bears had a solid offensive line and there was no need to move on from Braxton Jones when you could see the line sucked and that Jones appeared to be regressing. Fell into the WR trap that Poles fell into, celebrating the needless addition of Keenan Allen and the drafting of a punter in the 4th round when the actual smart fans were openly mocking the Bears for making such arrogant moves when the offensive and defensive lines were glaring weaknesses.

It does seem the woke types have a difficult time with people that have differing opinions and approaches, but in reality everyone has a different opinion and approach than they provide, and we are seeing that as the legacy media circles the drain.

Their white sox coverage was ok, but who is looking for extra white sox coverage these days. Herb is what he has always been, a behind the scenes worker. He is awkward on camera/microphone. I know that is difficult for him to accept but he just is. Vinnie Duber was good with his reporting but he looks like a guy you don't let around the kids. Again, not an on camera guy.

Their Bears coverage was obviously the centerpiece and I think it could survive in some kind of reorganization. Hoge has really grown on me. His reporting and analysis are excellent. Mark Carmen sucks and is probably expensive. Launch him. They also had some guy who was a bricklayer before being on air. I like that, conceptually. Pair a voice of the fan type with some established people to see if you might have something. The Bears show must have been making money. They sent them to London. They had guys like Briggs on (even though I think they got him cheap after the surprise blow up of the cable station)

I didn't watch/listen to anything else. I do think it was bloated. Nobody is looking for out of season coverage of bad teams but they had to keep these guys employed full time.

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

Yeah, that's a big part of the reason why this never succeeded. Not only did they fill a niche no one was really asking for, but they did it with people who spent their entire careers as producers and made them their content people.

No one ever tuned into 670 to hear what Herb, Zawaski, or Hoge had to say. In fact, Hoge's entire legacy at 670 is Grobber screwing up his name. "Our own Adam Hog just tweeted"

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

Agreed this is a challenge too. No need for a daily podcast in the offseason. You're more likely to unfollow the feed

Maybe keep NFL as full time, but they should have less 'talent' spread out over the different team seasons.

Agreed.

This thing shouldn't have lasted 6 months. The fired guys should actually be grateful. They got to make a living salary, talking sports, for 2 years or so where nobody listened to them. They should look at it that way. It was a bullshit concept from the beginning. Guys that wouldn't be in sports media any other way.

I know it's not over and this is just layoffs but it's only a matter of time where the entire thing folds for CHGO.

Nobody answers me, but I'll ask once again. Who the hell finances this thing? Who's the boss? And why would somebody that has this type of money waste it on this operation. I would just be a day trader on the stock market rather then investing in Zawaski, Herb and Hoge. No offense boys.

Right. One expert on each team and a couple of swiss army knives to sit in on different seasons when one is out. Then maybe one cheap guy trying to get into the business or a failed local comedian who needs drug money as a part timer

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

Hoge isn't in the same category as the others. He's been paid for 10-15 years to cover the Bears and been on mic for a long time. Hoge and Jahns is a very good podcast

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

These clowns are among the fools who lit their VC money on fire to invest in this dumpster fire

https://www.matchstick.vc/companies/allcity-network

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

Apparently their total raise as of their Series B is $25 million so they must've burned tons of cash if they are doing layoffs 4 months after a funding round. Typically you expand after such a round.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

Why didn't you just look it up like I did? It's Gannett's old TV division.


I think another part of their business model that drew Barstool comparisons was that they wanted to have co-branded sports bars in every market. I know Denver, where they started, had "DNVR: The Sports Bar." I don't think that made it to Chicago, but running a mediocre restaurant seems like a great way to make money disappear.

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Ok. Sorry. Missed it.

I don't get it. If you've got 25 million to burn why not just do an IRA or other safe investments.

Christ, even if this podcasting venture is a success, how much money can it fucking make? Especially in this climate with 1 million podcasts out there. Not much. The risk to reward was never worth it.

Think about it. Radio stations are in bankruptcy. Hell, RSNs for MLB teams bleed money. And you think Zawawski, Herb and their kind are gonna make money? Stupid.

Is this a real comment? Like who the fuck listens to 670 now a days? places like CHGO and PHNX probably get more listeners easily. On demand podcasts, post game shows, etc etc

This is how sports media is going to be moving forward, you can't be serious boomer?

People pay for good products?

This is a crazy out of touch comment. Have you seen the post game shows? Youtube, Twitter, Facebook etc are all jam packed with listeners or viewers. Its the new sports radio. They have high powered sponsors as well during the shows, circle K, on and on

I'm very much aware of that, thank you. That's my point, though. These dumb asses aren't gonna compete with that. Compete with the other shit that's out there. And I said that when they started. And I was proven right. Cuz...ya know...the lay offs. And they probably went a long time losing money before these lay offs.

I'll admit, the fact that all of Chicago sports teams sucking in the time they started this hurt them as well. This has been a really shitty 5 year run by all of our major sports teams. So no interest because of that as well.

Yup, it does seem that running a Hawks pod would be tough given the historically bad performance of the team over the past five years.

Nobody has done a better job of making themselves irrelevant than the Chicago Blackhawks, good thing the games are not on TV so nobody can see how bad the product has been early this year.

People still watch Lacrosse on frozen water? Pretty wild that's still happening.

Zawaski's Hawks podcast was listenable when it was the Madhouse with him and Neveau. It was never going to be his full time gig and his attempts at growing/monetizing it like having Fels and McClure on as "special guests" and "watch the Wolves with us at some brewery in a strip mall in Homewood that winds up not surviving the pandemic" were laughable, but it was decent enough Hawks/NHL content. Then it got folded into CHGO, Neveau's bosses at channel 5 wouldn't let him come along and Boysen and Tirabassi came on board and sunk it, particularly the latter. Monotone, forced "banter" (with Tirabassi's fake ass laugh) and awful sound drops. I'm surprised two of them DIDN'T get whacked.

I probably have not heard one second of 670 in at least 8-10 years. Who the fuck listens to radio?

CHGO was doomed from the start because it lacked any sort of investment in talent. So I ask again, who is the audience for this?

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Its so interesting that not even you listen to it.

You were listening.

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Great show today!

You've exposed my bit

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Boring bit, douchebag