Steve Stone returns to WSCR, is this the Jack Silver?

NearWessSideHussra · **Posted:** Thu Feb 20, 2014 8:53 pm

Quote:

After a one-year detour on one station and a strong overture from another, veteran White Sox broadcaster Steve Stone has agreed to return to CBS Radio sports/talk WSCR AM 670 as its resident baseball expert.

“It’s great to have one of the best baseball analysts in the game back on the Score,” program director Mitch Rosen said in a statement Thursday. “Steve is truly the best at breaking down and talking about both the White Sox and Cubs. Steve’s brand along with the Score brand is a Chicago sports radio home run.”

Starting March 10, Stone is expected to appear several times each week on all of the Score’s prime shows and occasionally on weekends, Rosen said.

Stone had been a fixture on the Score for more than seven years before he signed on last year with Cumulus Media news/talk WLS AM 890 as its baseball correspondent. The station’s brief flirtation with sports all but ended last month with cancellation of its low-rated 5 p.m. sports hour on Roe Conn and Richard Roeper’s afternoon show.

Before agreeing to the Score deal, which was negotiated by agent Steve Mandell, Stone was heavily courted by WGWG LP 87.7, the new Tribune Broadcasting sports/talk station known as The Game 87.7 FM. He was blocked from accepting the offer by CBS Radio bosses, according to multiple sources, after the Score exercised its right as the White Sox flagship station to veto his work for a direct competitor.

The brief tug-of-war over Stone was the latest skirmish in what’s shaping up as a spirited battle among the city’s sports talkers. Earlier this week, The Game 87.7 picked off the Score’s midday producer and weekend host, Ben Finfer.

Meanwhile, The Game 87.7 confirmed plans Thursday to hire Todd Hollandsworth as its “exclusive baseball insider” and host of his own weekly baseball show, starting this weekend. Hollandsworth, a former Cub and veteran of MLB Network Radio and Cubs’ pre- and post-game shows on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, had been a finalist for the Cubs color commentary job on Tribune news/talk WGN AM 720.

Also starting this week on The Game 87.7 is overnight programming supplied by NBC Sports Radio, whose program director is Chicago native Jack Silver, the former program director of WLUP AM 1000 (precursor to ESPN Radio’s WMVP AM 1000). The network’s interactive talk shows feature Super Bowl champion Amani Toomer and co-host Eytan Shander from 10 p.m. to midnight, followed by Dan Schwartzman from midnight to 5 a.m.

http://www.robertfeder.com/2014/02/20/s ... #more-2451

Peoria Matt · **Posted:** Thu Feb 20, 2014 8:55 pm

Stoney. Wow. What a get.

pittmike · **Posted:** Thu Feb 20, 2014 8:57 pm

I would like to here Stone's take on the Cubs plan and all these sure fire prospects to be honest.

Score is doomed · **Joined:** Sat Sep 17, 2005 9:29 pm **Posts:** 4614

Let's see, last year he signed with WLS but they dropped the sports segment. He was going to the
new WGN station, but the Score blocked him. Wow, how many choices did he have. ZERO.
Big get. LOL

pittmike · **Posted:** Thu Feb 20, 2014 9:17 pm

How could score block him? Because of Sox broadcasts?

Score is doomed · **Joined:** Sat Sep 17, 2005 9:29 pm **Posts:** 4614

pittmike wrote:

How could score block him? Because of Sox broadcasts?

Read the article
http://www.robertfeder.com/2014/02/20/s ... the-score/

Curious Hair · **Posted:** Thu Feb 20, 2014 10:04 pm

Maybe Stone was a double agent sent to 890 to make their half-hearted grope at sports talk even worse.

bigfan · **Posted:** Thu Feb 20, 2014 10:18 pm

This is such an amazing show of weakness by Zimmerman and the Score.

First of all, Stone was terrible his last few years on the Score. He became PTFB radio. His constant shots at the cubs became boring and while I didnt care, he continued to deny any bad feelings under the "I never said that exactly" line.

Second, when Stone started at the Score he wasnt broadcasting any games and actually was pretty good when he would watch games. Now he watches ESPN highlights when he gets a chance and tells us how the 3rd pitcher in cinci is doing after he talks to some of Bernsteins sources....yawwnnn...after he saw the ESPN highlights.

Third, the discontent between him and Hawk is so bad and amazing that Reinsdorf allows it to go on and on, because he 'respects' each one so much, that it translates into Stone not saying or doing much anywhere these days.

All that said, Zimmerman and Rosen consider this "A GET" and didnt want TheGame getting him. So, Rod and Mitch see them as a serious threat.

As I said, Maybe the Score will step up its game from a step better than my High School radio show.

Beardown · **Joined:** Thu Mar 02, 2006 4:29 pm **Posts:** 34081

Stone is horrible. And I know Hawk is bad too, but I hate people blaming Hawk for Stone being bad now. Stone is 65 years old. A 65 year old shouldn't be scared of his 72 year old partner. It's not like it's some young guy starting in baseball broadcasting wanting to keep his job so they defer to old ass Hawk. I would understand that a little. You want to say something Stone, SAY IT. What the hell? Make Hawk mad if he's gonna get mad. Make him uncomfortable. I also think Stone sucked with the Cubs. But everybody in the media says he was great because that's what you have to say about him I guess. Also, Stone kisses Reinsdorf's ass on Sox broadcasts just as much as Hawk does. It's pathetic that old guys like them do that.

He's bad on the Score too. Bitter, cranky bitch. Like you said, Big Fan. Still hates the Cubs and always takes cheap shots that make no sense. You know what? Bernstein rips on baseball broadcasters that don't get into the new age stats of baseball. Guess what, Bernstein? Stone doesn't believe in that shit. He makes fun of it even though all baseball GMs believe in it. Including the Sox GM. He still talks WINS for pitchers mean something and he rips on Billy Bean just as much as Hawk.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater · **Posted:** Thu Feb 20, 2014 11:47 pm

I didn't even know WLS had a 5pm sports hour.

Stone is not a MLB expert at best he's a Sox/AL expert.

City of Fools · **Posted:** Thu Feb 20, 2014 11:52 pm

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater wrote:

I didn't even know WLS had a 5pm sports hour.

Stone is not a MLB expert at best he's a Sox/AL expert.

there won't even be any satisfaction with him trying to be critical of the Cubs, because everyone that kicked him out is gone now.

If he were to still be a sourpuss, I would actually listen to him on B&B because that would be cosmic cognitive radio . People never gave Murph his due for actually challenging Stone every show.

Curious Hair · **Posted:** Thu Feb 20, 2014 11:59 pm

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater wrote:

I didn't even know WLS had a 5pm sports hour.

No one did. Their ratings have sucked. I think they tied with Q87 recently.

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=77835

Zizou · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 12:07 am

Another retread failure of a hire. Always a PTFB moment when I heard this smarmy creepy old fuck.

donspiracy · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 12:43 am

Curious Hair wrote:

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater wrote:

I didn't even know WLS had a 5pm sports hour.

No one did. Their ratings have sucked. I think they tied with Q87 recently.

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=77835

WLS is a mess. They don't know what the hell they want to be. The traffic on the 5's during Roe Conn is an abomination.

"Do we want to be personality driven or news driven?" "Don't know, let's do both!"

On-air Schedule

Monday
12:00 a.m. - 4:00 a.m. - Red Eye Radio
4:00 a.m. - 4:30 a.m. - Wall Street Journal This Morning
4:30 a.m. - 5:00 a.m. - First Morning News
5:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. - Bruce Wolf & Dan Proft
9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. - John Kass and Lauren Cohn
11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. - Rush Limbaugh
2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. - Roe & Roeper
6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. - Michael Savage
9:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m. - Mark Levin

Let's start at midnight. To drop Coast To Coast for all us tinfoil hat wearers for RER, Red Eye better be paying the station to air that garbage!

Morning Drive: Bruce Wolf...? :lol:

"Shut and drive to work..."

9-11: Never Forget, Sisco Cotto. Isn't Nate Clay available???

Rush: We get it. Ratings monster $$$$. Hillary's biggest fan.

Afternoon Drive Time: I enjoy Roe Conn. Pompous and smarm spill through the speakers. The sponsors have to be driving the traffic every 10 minutes. How do you expect any segment or interview to work when constricted to 8 minutes tops??? Inconceivable!!!!!

6pm-12am: The listenership and billing fall off the table, that is understood. These shows better also be paying to be on the air. The fact they are not local and possibly tape delay makes them unlistenable, besides Levin's voice, not to mention what comes out of it. Ugh.

Am I way off or does any of this sound reasonable??

spanky · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 12:58 am

I honestly thought Stone was still with the Score last year.

Curious Hair · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 7:31 am

donspiracy wrote:

WLS is a mess. They don't know what the hell they want to be.
. . .
Am I way off or does any of this sound reasonable??

Don't forget the all-infomercial weekends.

I think we're in the twilight of conservative talk radio as a format. In spite of the Democrats' recent push to paint Rush Limbaugh as "the leader of the Republican Party" or some such shit, American conservatism has shrunken and shattered into four or five internecine lunatic fringes, not all of whom take their marching orders from syndicated, oxy-popping AM talk show hosts -- or at least not the same ones as the so-called Angry White Males of the Clinton years.

On the local-origination side, WLS got complacent and cheap under Citadel and then Cumulus management. They've done nothing to foster any new talent; I don't believe they've made a star on their own since Roe Conn, and that was almost twenty years ago. Hard to do when you're running the place with what amounts to a skeleton staff for a station of their size in this market, running nothing but syndicated and brokered stuff outside of drivetimes and that mid-morning shift which I am convinced is the Indian burial ground of Chicago radio.

rogers park bryan · **Joined:** Wed Sep 24, 2008 12:16 pm **Posts:** 81625

I still enjoy Stone

badrogue17 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 7:48 am

They never should've dumped Coast to Coast. Perfect time slot and for anyone who worked nights , an enjoyable listen .

Curious Hair · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 7:51 am

Also, it probably bears mentioning that under ABC ownership, 890 had no shortage of voices from the left, which probably helped them to thrive in Chicago during the peak of political talk radio. There was Mike Malloy (late of Air America), Jay Marvin (late of, like, almost dying or something), Nancy Skinner, and I'm pretty sure Catherine Johns was some order of moonbat or another. Oh, and fucking ART BELL.

When they launched the format, they did so with Bob Lassiter, who was solidly liberal and pretty much pioneered the trope of "I'm smarter than you and better than you but I will deign to argue with you so I can hang up on you and call you an idiot," which should certainly sound familiar to our little board. Check out his airchecks one of these days. Really ahead of his time, wound up dying a diabetic recluse.

jimmypasta · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 7:55 am

The Score is running scared,pure & simple.

Minooka Meatball · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 10:55 am

What's gets me is that 9 - 11 am block on LS: John Kass??? He's living proof that a competent-to-decent columnist does not automatically equate the same in the broadcast world. TOTAL comafest.

Don Tiny · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 10:59 am

donspiracy wrote:

WLS is a mess. They don't know what the hell they want to be.
. . .
Am I way off or does any of this sound reasonable??

That was my favorite donspiracy post not about Shitfoot & The Ditcher. :lol:

[quote="Curious Hair"]

Curious Hair · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 10:59 am

I heard like five minutes of him once and it felt like a year. In fairness, they had to throw John Kass and Jake Hartford together on short notice because Wolf and Proft got moved to mornings to fill in for Don Wade and Roma. Then Don Wade died. Then Jake Hartford died. But again, it's the mid-morning shift on WLS, if you don't like it, come back in three months. Remember when it was Mancow and Pat Cassidy? What the hell was that?

Minooka Meatball · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 11:00 am

donspiracy wrote:

Curious Hair wrote:

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater wrote:

I didn't even know WLS had a 5pm sports hour.

No one did. Their ratings have sucked. I think they tied with Q87 recently.

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=77835

WLS is a mess. They don't know what the hell they want to be. The traffic on the 5's during Roe Conn is an abomination.

"Do we want to be personality driven or news driven?" "Don't know, let's do both!"

On-air Schedule

6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. - Michael Savage
9:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m. - Mark Levin

6pm-12am: The listenership and billing fall off the table, that is understood. These shows better also be paying to be on the air. The fact they are not local and possibly tape delay makes them unlistenable, besides Levin's voice, not to mention what comes out of it. Ugh.

Am I way off or does any of this sound reasonable??

Not that I was a Hannity fan (I'm not), to jettison his show for the raving lunatic that is Savage (and keeping the other one afterward) is just plain idiotic. A move to go MORE right-wing than what the trends would clearly tell everyone otherwise, especially in late-PM drive/early evenings, makes no sense.

IF they must have Savage, place the oldest-sounding-middle-aged-man-on-Earth Levin at 6:00, and put the nutcase on late-evenings.

Curious Hair · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 11:03 am

Dumping Hannity was a Cumulus decision. I believe all their stations stopped carrying him, even his flagship WABC.

Hatchetman · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 11:10 am

stone is bad as a general baseball analyst. another poor WSCR management decision.

8675309 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 25, 2014 8:24 pm

Stone certainly fits the stereotype of someone who hates the Cubs more than he likes the Sox.

Urlacher's missing neck · **Posted:** Tue Feb 25, 2014 8:30 pm

If the Stone Pony an Hub get stuck in a Score elevator together....how long before they start banging?

bigfan · **Posted:** Tue Feb 25, 2014 11:01 pm

8675309 wrote:

Stone certainly fits the stereotype of someone who hates the Cubs more than he likes the Sox.

he plays the part of the ex GF amazingly well!

the one that would come back in a second. :lol:

Next time I see Zimmerman, I will ask if he listens to the station?

Scorehead · **Posted:** Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:32 am

Steve Stone is the best Baseball analyst in Chicago. He should still be doing Cubs games.

Steve Stone returns to WSCR, is this the Jack Silver?

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