How is it that other cities, cities that aren't consider "on par" as Chicago when it comes to their sports fans, cities with fewer teams, can have more sports talk stations than Chicago? The Interwebs allows one the ability to listen to other markets and shows, and thus allows for 100% confirmation that there is better radio available. Hosts who are just as intelligent, just as articulate, and in many cases have a much broader sense of experience and understanding.
Chicago has two sports outlets that in too many ways look to duplicate each other. Part of that is the impact of Dan McNeil, but part of that is that anything halfway good is treated like gold, and anything halfway bad is somehow mimicked. Worse, those things that would make either station more appealing is viewed through the jaundiced eye that if it wasn't thought of or endorsed by the incumbent station management then it shouldn't be considered.
In too many aspects the management of the sports stations here is facelessly interchangeable. It isn't just that they spent time in the other's shop, but that the results are about the same. Both have their corporate masters, and thus their strengths and limitations. But because both are recognized for being major market/flagship stations they get to appear a little autonomous. The result is that instead of distinguishing theirselves, they act the same.
I'm in my car Wednesday, switching back and forth, and I hear on one station the newest ridiculous trend: making fun of the aged or mentally impaired. One station has made this all but the centerpiece of their show, the snickering condescension towards an elderly person. It makes really. smart. radio. sound just that much more smarter. Now the other station has gone the same route, less condescension but more snickering.
I don't know if the hosts and management still have their parents, if not then you should just take these words and be ashamed of yourselves without further consideration. But if you do have your parents, or aged loved ones, I hope you don't ever have to endure their mental decline. Karma has a way of working, and in too many aspects for your sakes (not theirs) I hope you find yourselves having to deal with grappling through their episodes. I hope Karma bites on your collective dicks, and you one day wake up and realize that you really are borderline dispicable in your approach to the elderly. And given that both stations seem too content to emulate each other at every turn, I hope the bite from the Karmic bitch hits you both, the same way, at the same time.
I hope that a third station comes around soon (Chicago deserves one) that looks at the both of you as one, and that if nothing else takes on the attitutde, "We're better" and that they see and exploit that opportunity of crushing one (if not the both) of you. As a long, long-time listener to sports talk I am beyond ready for a new station to introduce new voices and personalities (hell, there are even a few old ones I wouldn't mind). But most of all, I hope that the new station has management that isn't as inbred as the current two stations, and thus will see that they can be the better listen by putting just a marginal bit of effort and emphasis to be better.
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