I'm driving home last night and flip on WGN. They now have a guy with a thick french accent hosting a show. It sounds like a practical joke,but it's not! the new PD gets rid of SportsCentral on weekends for this? If Wally Phillips was still alive he would be hanging himself with a scarve by Seymour Peyson!
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Bonjour Chicago! Simon Badinter signs on at WGN-AM

By Lewis Lazare
on April 30, 2009 5:07 PM

If there are any lingering doubts in the radio world that Program Director Kevin Metheny was brought on board to shake up and expand the somewhat older-skewing audience base at news-talk WGN-AM (720), the Chicago debut on Sunday of Frenchman Simon Badinter and his "Simon Rendezvous" show should quickly dispel them.

Badinter may be a stranger to Chicago and WGN listeners, but he is very much a known quantity -- and something of an oddity -- in Cleveland. Yes that would be Cleveland, Ohio, where rivers used to catch on fire and where Metheny was based before he abruptly turned up at WGN in December to replace Bob Shomper, who abruptly jumped to news/talk WLS-AM (890) as program director.

For the past two years Badinter, who was born and raised in Paris, France, has been doing his "Rendezvous" schtick at WTAM-AM (1100), and Badinter has had a fun time playing his worldly sophistication off against the somewhat more provincial mindset of his Cleveland listeners (no offense intended Clevelanders!) But Badinter would tell you that his radio show's real appeal has less to do with his aristocratic Frenchness than it does with the wide-ranging topics he chooses to discuss every week and the heated debates he apparently sparks with lots of listeners. Recently, for instance, he has addressed gay marriage and the cojoined themes of drugs and rock 'n roll. "My show is not really about what Simon says, it's about the passion my listeners have for the topics we debate," Badinter told us.

For his part, Metheny isn't predicting how Badinter will fare with many current WGN listeners who aren't necessarily used to interacting with an aggressively-opionated radio talent like Badinter, but Metheny is sure hoping he'll draw fresh, younger ears to the station. The curious -- young or old -- can tune in to Badinter's first three-hour WGN show at 6 p.m. on Sunday.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

I heard some of that guy. His accent was so thick I had a hard time picking out what exactly he was saying.

Good choice.

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"But 1st I want you to say I LOVE CREPES!"

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"You can kill the revolutionary, but you can't kill the revolution."

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This is my signature...

What do you call a dehydrated frenchman?

Pierre!

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

Who are you talking about? Mike North?

"Jagmir Jaguar"

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He's probably better than the boring fuck on Saturday mornings. As soon as he said Nick D wasn't going to be reviewing movies the radio was turned off.

Surely you're talking about whoever follows Mr. Fixit.

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Yeah, I think his name is Joe somethingoranother. And don't call me Shirley.

I'm 99% sure this guy isn't French. Does anyone have any idea what's going on here?

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Sure, GN is following the SCR model - drive all the listeners away.

As long as he is not a goalie, Im okay with it.

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I was out in the mancave last night and caught his act, it was mildly laughable. Kept me on GN for the rest of the night.

they should just replay Milt's taped shows

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"It's not exactly a rocket surgery." D.J.