So there roster is a joke during the week. Mully and Hanley get all the GMs and coaches on, but are brutal at their job. I'm guessing they get these guests because they don't ask anything that is hard hitting. Mac and fatass are also brutal. The shit hockey talk alone makes you want to push the button. B&B are a joke. Danny with his fake sources, and constant dbaggery gets annoying. I think it's time to make changes.

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Fuck Edwards and Zobrist

Yep, not hard to leave this shitfest known as the score.

Perfect example of SCORE weakness is that the Tourney is right around the corner and I will tell you they have nothing planned. No contests, no events, no nothing.

The excuse will be they need CBS legal to go over it and ran out of time....because the Tourney can sneak up on you.

Last year, I think they missed a live remote deal for opening day at Wrigley, because of the same excuse. They forgot and didnt have the time.

Neither of the above makes you not listen to the station, but it might make you stay on for a week instead of tuning to the ESPN or THEGAME?

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

If anything DeCastro will want to promote. Maybe it will wake up the other lazy two?

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Elections have consequences.

They're saving all their remotes for 2016. CBS has a plan.

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I think they blew their load on tournament of bad, abattacolas baby...which sucks by the way.

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They blew their load on the hall of fame where Mr. Abattacola decided the threshold for induction should be 90%. Thereby ruining the entire thing. Plus, you already had a stupid "voting" type tournament with the Tournament of Bad, so there was no real reason for this in the first place!

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"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

What were some of the immediate changes made on The Score after AM 1000 was sold to ABC in 1998? I would imagine they had to step it up and realize that some serious competition was coming backed by all that corporate muscle?

I know WGN is not "The Mouse" but echoing some other posters thoughts, deCastro is a sharp guy who is in this for the long run and, IMO, determined to make The Game number one in town. Sure, they will go through some initial missteps and personnel changes - you don't know what works until you try it out. It happened on The Score and AM 1000 - to a certain extent, it still does.

It seems that deCastro is not shy about seeking out talent and making offers. FWIW - I also think Mac is eventually on his way to WGN as well. The big hook here is that the idea of a Chicago sports radio station being ran by a Chicago radio station. The way WSCR used to be. The corporate thing changes everything, We've seen it happen to both WSCR & 1000.

Serious question for you guys that have been around for a while; How did The Score react to other competition in the past and what/who worked and what/who did not?

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"This is Chicago, my friend. Anything can happen."

Isn't the Big East Tournament in Chicago this year? They are the flagship for a team in that tournament. They should have some kind of tie in.

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

The Score doesn't give a sliver of a fuck that they're the flagship of DePaul. They don't promote the games, they just take DePaul's money for the brokered time. Anything above having the update guy mumble "and you can hear that game on the Score tonight" isn't part of the contract. They have the same attitude toward U of I and NIU play-by-play, which creates this sort of infinite regress where they don't promote the teams when they're not popular, but they can't be popular when you treat them like they aren't, but you can't promote them when they're not popular, and so on. This was probably a contributing factor to the Blackhawks leaving in 2008.

But White Sox! Oh boy, the White Sox!

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WSCR should take a page out of the WGN playbook as to how they treat all the teams they air.

WGN promotes the hell out of Northwestern, Cubs and Blackhawks.

Obviously the job is easier with The Hawks recent Cup wins but it seems like they really pump up The Cubs and Northwestern football & basketball equally even in less than successful seasons.

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"This is Chicago, my friend. Anything can happen."

The SCORE aint perfect, but if you guys want all this "sports for dorks" stuff there are other options. Lots of them.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

The Score kind of is "sports for dorks" now. I think people want "sports for regular human beings."

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two other local options for you, plus plenty of national stuff online I'm sure. blogs, message boards, news, WTF do you want.

waaaaah they don't promote DePaul, one of the worst programs in the country.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

I can't disagree with you, Hatch. Nobody or nothing is perfect. Admittedly, I love my Sox on The Score and over all I think they do a pretty good job for the fans and the team. Can they improve? Sure they can.

However, recent sports history in Chicago tells us that once a team or entity (media outlets included) loses touch with their readers/listeners/viewers fan base, bad things happen and it eventually goes down the tubes (Pre-Rocky/McDonough Hawks, for a prime example). Look what McDonough did for the Cubs even in the lean years. What he and Rocky did for the Hawks is a template for ultimate success far beyond wins or losses. They let us fans know that we were indeed valued and we mattered.

It seems that WGN 720 has that "edge" and supports and promotes like no other. Do some of the supporting personalities come off as homers or cheerleaders? Sure, admittedly so and some are drippier than others but I would rather hear that stuff than people continuously berating, insulting and telling people that they don't matter.

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"This is Chicago, my friend. Anything can happen."

The problem with the Score is poor management. Giving Mac too much leeway. Hiring sup-par young talent that mimics Bernstein. Allowing hacks like Drinky/Goff/etc to even touch a microphone. Having your Bears reporter be a Bears employee for god's sake! Taking on the Sox and their ratings poison. whoring out for shit like DePaul and NIU. killing your potential evening audience with Larry.

those are some of the real problems. not a lack of boosterism of the local teams, or lack contests, or "serious" hockey talk.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Again - I can't disagree with you, Hatchetman! Good stuff.

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"This is Chicago, my friend. Anything can happen."

Well now wait. NIU football isn't shit. It's not a powerhouse, but they've had a nice thing going, and on their merits probably deserved a little more recognition from the nearest adjacent media market than what the Score gave them before selling them up the river for Illinois football, which is basically a dead program walking at this point. NIU basketball, let's not speak of that.

The problems you laid out are real, but the problems you dismissed are also real. The Score is neither a superfan of all things local nor a voice speaking truth to power. They're just an arm of the Bears and Sox at this point, with very little interest in the Cubs or Blackhawks. As for contests and promotions, it certainly doesn't help that they've grown to be pretty distant about the little people.

Basically, it all comes down to cheapness and laziness, and cheapness and laziness come down to Rod Zimmerman.

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That we can agree on. Poor management.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Who in this city gives a shit about the Big East Tournament?

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Big. Boy. Radio.

Very. Smart. People.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

What is the cost of a remote?

I think there is an unmined interest in college basketball in this city and a good amount of loyal alumni of schools from the current Big East.

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

Pretty high, actually. PDs and GMs loathe remotes with a fiery passion, typically only relenting if it's a condition of someone bringing in a big contract (which is so big partly because of the costs of putting on a remote).

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well now I know

I just figured it was the cost of gas to send the van out with the equipment

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

Agreed.

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Pretty much every remote consists of the sales rep overpromising and underdelivering, which of course is gruesome suicide in radio sales. The client gets this idea of their place of business being a hot destination for a big event, whipping up all this additional business, and everyone having a great time. What actually happens is that the crowd is smaller than expected, people show up for prizes and don't buy anything, and the hosts are grumpy about having to work outside the studio where things are likelier to go wrong and they have to mingle with the diehard fans who are there at every single remote.

Of course, Bud Light is to the Score as Lucky Strike is to Sterling Cooper, so I'm sure it's brave faces all around for everyone, and the Who Needs Two bars aren't shouldering the costs of all the extra staffers and the prize hogs who don't buy anything, but one-off remotes generally leave all parties involved very unhappy. And yet everyone keeps doing them.

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Managers and coaches generally start their days during the morning shows, which works for both because they aren't constrained by their own schedules (gotta break off contract negotiations champ, the radio sports zoo is calling and I promised them 10 minutes today) and it gives the morning drive time topical content.

WSCR grew their brand by being up close and touchable with their listeners and fans but now that they're just another cog in the CBS media empire that relationship is viewed with distinct corporate detachment. One might think there'd be a symbiosis with CBS products and their properties, i.e., March Madness/Big Dance but as the years have gone by it seems that CBS wants to present their product their way and WSCR is content to meet their minimal obligation, and nothing more. The same with the teams they cover (Bears, White Sox excepted), they meet the minimum and leverage their audience/station wattage in a "take it or leave it" approach.

I like the remotes but I sense the reluctance from the station to be more on the part of the hosts than management. The hosts are out of their comfort zone and are expected to act as though they're normal people, and the drives to and from can add an extra hour or three to their already busy day. Management charges a premium for the remotes, the beer sponsor picks up the bulk of that expense and rewards those accounts they deem worthy (unless the host venue wants to come out of pocket). Some venues have benefitted from the experience while others have found it to be a great big waste (seems some establishments have trouble with their hosts acting like normal people when not around their regulars).

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DRINK BƎTTƎR. @theRIPH