Man these are some dull choices and they seem to know nothing about radio without Bernstein coaching them up.

Have there been any further references to the fact that one of the finalists for whom the Score has Searched is a former Boers & Bernstein intern?

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I'd be willing to bet Michael Ramos wins...I figured that the moment I heard him earlier tonight. He'd win for the same reason Maya Gavin (I think that was her name) won last year -- and was never heard from again. Anyway, the contestants all pretty much suck and Mitch Rosen sounds like a D-Bag. His ability to judge talent should be seriously questioned considering the current Score lineup.

So, which one is Sini?

lol, as i said there's clearly some sort of worldwide conspiracy against me because i'm pretty sure i could mop the floor with these guys. i was so excited for tonight's smackdown! that i forgot to listen.

i showed up to the very first audition in full expos regalia. i was also an hour late. i was pretty cocky in that i tried to be cute and clever with a mocking big radio voice when i did the read at the end of the audition; a waitress chick working the event said that i was far and away the best contestant that night.

i'm guessing that i was probably too "risky" for them. looking back with 20/20 hindsight, i went for the "hey i'm interesting and unique" angle insomuchas i wore my expos gear as i'm an expos fan, and when the question presented to me was "does anyone still care about the cubs?" i ended up telling stories about my family from a very personal perspective. in other words, i didn't really invest a lot of thought into presenting myself in such a way that would try and pander/appeal to the brass over at the score; moreover, i thought that my potential "star quality" would carry the day.

looking at the mugshots (kind of like when you see one of those lottery flatscreens @ your local convenience store and they show all the winners with their tickets: that ish looks like a mugshot!) of these guys, they're all in nice suits and looking VERY salt of the earth and "joe sixpack, chicago bears fan at large!" and like, i don't think i even own a fullblown suit, let alone a $5000 suit. i wasn't exactly invited to bob love's funeral.

you can check out the twitter of the winner @thestevenberger --- i reckon he was clever enough to make this twitter account just for the contest, seeing as it's as drab and dry as any "professional" twitter account i've ever seen. i wonder if there's a secret steven berger "after dark" twitter account where he lets loose and talks shit about the world like he was having a beer with you at the bar.

see, my "business" twitter, @jamesschaefer6, is clearly too risky for the score brass. outside of the semi-perpetual serenade of alexa chung, you're treated to luminary thoughts such as these:

james schaefer ‏@jamesschaefer6
Little kids in the summer smell like an eclectic combination of sunscreen sweat stale urine and sour milk #ourfuture

james schaefer ‏@jamesschaefer6
I like to metaphorically compare twitter 2 wading in a mental septic tank of human discourse * grunts and waits for redeeming splash sound *

james schaefer ‏@jamesschaefer6
Whenever i blow a snotrocket i hope it sizzles a hole in the ground akin to alien blood #bringmehometomeetyourparents

...and those are just from the last ~2-3 days alone!

long story short, i didn't really put on my thinking cap and go about trying to impress the score brass by playing their game. instead i surfed a wave of ego and vanity and said to myself "holy shit i'd be the best damn host on the station" and had this attitude of "you're a goddamn idiot if you don't pick me" and while i didn't technically say or do anything that formally conveyed that message (ok, maybe the expos gear kind of did that) still, that's what i was thinking and i'm thinking in the end the station was looking for a "safe" everyman who can LITERALLY be chicago's "voice of the fan" and if that's what the station is trying to get from this contest, lamentably, i am not that.

i wouldn't merely be awesome on the radio, i'd be admiral james danger awesome sailing the high seas of adventure on the free scotch circuit of internet wii mariokart. i mean, i come up with non-sequitur laden phrases like that throughout my average day much like people come up with gastrointestinal sound effects through theirs. my problem has never been being intelligent or clever, or even being interesting and technically able to astound.... it's been having the discipline to reel in all of these talents of mine and turn them into some sort of a presentable/salable output that would allow me to earn a solid living by plying said wares upon the masses.

i'm a wannabe rapper with communication issues, basically. i'm so damn neurotic and wavering between supreme confidence and sheer and utter self-loathing that people think i'm psycho, and if the score brass actually reads the board, welp, my whole epic alexa chung troll definitely didn't help my cause. forgive me for that one, guys, but when some model chick fucks with you like HEY LITTLE (PEASANT) BOY.... I'M THE FUCKING WOMAN!!! quoteth howard stern "you wanna fuck with me? i can fuck" so i went back full tilt boogie all OMFG YOU'RE THE ONE I'M MADLY IN LOVE WITH YOU I THINK YOU + ME = JESUS CHRIST I'M SO SORRY I DIDN'T SAVE MY VIRGINITY FOR YOU OH MY GOD YOU ARE MY EVERYTHING THEY PROPHESIED OUR LOVE THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO ONCE YOU TAKE ME INTO YOUR LIFE WE'LL BE THE BIGGEST ROCKSTARS ON EARTH ONLY YOU KALLISTI ONLY YOU CUZ YOU'RE THE MOST BRILLIANT WOMAN ON EARTH YOU'RE THE CUTEST CYBER STALKER EVER OMFG I'M GOING TO GO AROUND THE INTERNET AND FLOOD ALL OF MY COMMUNICATIONS MEDIUMS/OUTPOSTS WITH NOTHING BUT 24/7/365 SERENADING OF YOU CUZ YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE MY OOOONNNLLLYYYY SUNSHINEEEEE!!!!!

and yeah, you saw some of my posts where i took the piss and ran with it like bo jackson in tecmo bowl... panther is alexa chung? lol. it was fun, i proved my point, but in the end if score brass read the board and figured out that i was that excellent audition at the first night of auditioning, they prolly just said "that dude's nuts, there's no way we can fuck with him! on to the next one"

that and all the producers/update-guys over there would hate me cuz if i got a shot at doing a show i'd invariably move up the latter and start taking all of their airtime within 6 months.... they don't want/need someone who'd come in there and school them all, they want someone who's safe and sterile and the literal "voice of the fan" to relate to the everyman..... whereas like, i'm not your average/typical chicago sports fan. i'm an encyclopedia like les, just with a weird wigger complex that compels me to rap and dj and play basketball a lot. people wouldn't be able to relate to me en masse, it'd be a passive/aggressive love/hate thing like les has got going on when people lash out and make fun of the guy because he knows waaaaaayyyyy more about sports than them. it's kind of intimidating, which is something i have yet to learn to cope with in just about every facet of my life. this post is a sterling example of my self-important whinging/bluster.... who cares?

odds are someone who's in the latent sini fan club cared, so hey rock on i do it all for you and instead of working from 3-6am every saturday morning on the score i'll just have to make a few podcasts and youtube videos and show all those score clowns how it's done. can you imagine how good i'd be at life if i actually like, got under control and started putting forth discipline and effort to make something really good? i pretty much don't try at anything, which is why all my rap songs and dj sets are 1/2 assed.... i just kind of fly through and record all my shit in one take and it's on to the next one. that's about to change really soon once i carpe diem and figure out how to make a shit-ton of money in a relatively short time =D

so yeah, tl;dr/off-topic, my bad on the self-important/aggrandizing drivel here, but long story short there's basically a worldwide conspiracy against me to hold me back and keep me insignificant and doubting myself until i break free from my self-imposed shackles of genus homoputzoafus existence and get to showing the world how "it" is done.

LAMBE FENESTRA!!!!!!!!!!!!! (that's bad internet-translated latin for "lick the window")

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Overpaid, diversity hire?


Glad we did this, then.

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lol i immediately thought diversity when i saw the mugshots for the finalists. it's like they were careful to make sure that they included a latino and a balck, but i'm pretty sure they knew that they wanted to go with steven berger unless he shit himself on the air. this was probably decided when mitch had interviews with the last 10 finalists.

steven berger has some mini-bernstein in him... check out this twitter exchange from may where lays down the law and tells some twitterjockey what to think about the 04 pistons:

Kim English ‏@Englishscope24
And Ben Wallace all the dirty work. This was a really good basketball team. All knew and were bought into their rolls.

7 Apr Steven Berger ‏@TheStevenBerger
@Englishscope24 Billups was/is way better than he was given credit for at the time. That whole no Superstar thing just wasn't the case.

Kim English ‏@Englishscope24
@TheStevenBerger. I don't think that is in true, they all were all star selections and Chauncey was the Finals MVP.

7 Apr Steven Berger ‏@TheStevenBerger
@Englishscope24 Perception varies. Hard to remember how everyone felt in 2004. Either way 04 Pistons clearly a great collection of talent.

---

lol. bernstein tweeted that bergertime! here is "smart" so i reckon that means that he grew up a b&b fan and therefore subliminally apes some of bernstein's style and mannerisms when presenting sports thoughts/arguments. you know the logic, if you're just like bernstein in how you consume/ponder/regurgitate sports thoughts, then you're "smart" cuz you "get it."

don't get me wrong tho, i'm in the same camp and i pretty much do the same thing when i'm providing on-the-spot analyses of people whom i encounter. it's kind of like george carlin's routine where he says that 99% of people are either fucking stupid, an asshole, or full of shit. since everyone pretty much judges people like that due to the caveats of human nature, you're going to naturally shower people who are just like you with the highest praise =D

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heh, i just tweeted @ the dude to be sure to come here for INSTAREFERENDUMS(tm) when he starts hosting shows. i'd bet that if DAS GOLF likes him and tries to recruit him for the GOLF'S LITTLE HOMIES(tm) branch of the GOLF ALS i should be earning my well-deserved block in....* checks watch * .....3....2......1

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I'm glad this exhaustive search found another Bernstein clone. He's even from Northbrook: the lesser Deerfield (unless he's from Glenview: the lesser Northbrook).


or intern

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This annual contest is garbage. The best & most entertaining contestant was Saccomondo. Berger is weak.

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

the depressing thing is like, shit.... i would have been so fucking awesome at this gig... just like any job i apply for, but my problem ad infinitum is that i have trouble communicating with people in the "interview process" and the result is that people think i'm "weird" or "crazy" or etc. in reality, my lack of proactive effort to procure a "life" leaves me bored at home and i love pretending i'm a crazy person on the internet. sometimes IRL too, lol, cuz salt of the earth regular yuppie dudes love to be all "oh fuck it's him" when i walk into a bar where i've previously done my admiral awesome schtick.

for shits and giggles i'm going to watch the cubs and sox for a week and do a mock radio show in the form of a podcast... or hell, if i did a live internet radio show you lot would listen, right? i can prolly pimp some bandwith through stickam or ustream.tv or something. i've even literally got a yellow pad sitting around down stairs to take notes on.

oh yeah score search ON TOPIC / LESS-SELF-AGGRANDIZING >>> i'm sure this guy will be solid and do his best and the results will be solid if not spectacular. i also think that i had no shot at winning this because if i got in there and kicked all of their asses at radio, management would look bad for having a from-the-wilderness contest winner outshine 90% of the station's production/update/b-team "talent" =D

i'm crying in my coffee tonight! also me me me me me me me me me me me til i'm a goddamn meme =D

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I'm reading his twitter. It consists of retweeting/interacting with Team Bernstein, Bulls minutiae, bitching about the Blackhawks' continued existence, boilerplate WSCR hyperbole about eradicating Penn State, and jokes about being Jewish. They really drafted off the board here.

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After seeing the above posts it's safe to say the winner has been groomed well by Berndusky and will now join the victim farm of Important Radio.

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Kenny Williams fell for the banana in the tailpipe

So the guy who admires Laurence Holmes got the job?

There was one guy who didn't "most admire" either Bernsie or Ethnic Bernsie.

Hopefully Pete Vercillo starts posting here like Chip Egan. He should've won.

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I was in the car for about an hour last night, from 8-9, and I turned on the Score, not knowing this stupid contest was going on. It was unequivocally THE worst hour of radio I have ever heard. It was so bad, it was good, and I couldn't stop listening.

The 4 finalists had to be coached on every freaking answer they gave. Bernstein put on a show for the youngsters on how to make every question sound important. It was ridiculous. I'm not breaking new ground, but Bernstein is easily the host who most loves the sound of his own voice, and it's beyond annoying.

I know these guys were probably nervous, but if I had a nickel for every "um" or "ah" uttered by those numbskulls, I'd be rich. If the job entails being able to communicate, seems to me they might want to narrow down the finalists to 4 people that can actually do so. I can only imagine the trainwrecks that were the people who didn't advance to the Final 4.

The 4 I heard all sucked, and I look forward to avoiding any of the winner's shows.

Should be easy. Don't listen at 2am on Saturday.

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Why do you think I didn't show up for the tryout. With Dan Bernstein and Mitch Rosen judging me I have a better chance winning the lottery.

Nobody is going to listen anyway....

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@audioidkid

I must admit that I did not listen to any of the broadcast and did not check the Score's website to see the finalists (too much pain from the original Score Search contest). I honestly have no clue as to what management looks for when selecting the winner of these contests. It could be easy to make blanket statements like some have that the finalists are represent "diversity", when Maya won it was because "she was a woman". I've even heard people suggest religion as a part of it. A poster earlier mentioned that Berger was joking about being Jewish. The person I spoke with brought up adding him to the list with Rosen, Bernstein, Spiegel, Finfer, Rozner, Rosenbloom, Schuester, and Grobstein (For the record, I don't subscribe to this theory). There could be any number of reasons, but I really have no idea what they want.

When I participated in the original contest I thought it would be fun to do and thought that my backround in broadcasting could be an advantage. I knew a lot of guys who were in the field at one time who came and tried out and we all thought this would be a great opportunity. I was as shocked as anyone that I was selected to be a finalist and I really thought that this could be the break I was looking for. After the interview process, the group was whittled down to four and I made the cut. I thought I had a lot going my way until I read a post on chicagoradioandmedia.com in which a poster who has good information into the workings of Chicago media brought up the fact that word he got was that management had already made up their mind as to who was going to win the contest. The post, by the way, was several days BEFORE we did the live remote broadcast from 115 Bourbon Street and it had said that Connor McKnight was the winner. I had hoped that the information was false and thought that I still had a chance. I remember the remote broadcast and how excited I was about it. Laurence was the host and the judges were Bernsy, Rosen, Ron Gleason and Drew Hayes. I thought I was nailing the questions that were asked and felt that I really had a shot to win. I even remember Bernsy criticizing each candidate, except myself. When each gave a quick thumbnail sketch of what they thought about the candidates before they left to come up with a winner, several questioned Connor's knowledge of Chicago sports and history, while the only negative I got was a very quick "I didn't like some of your answers" from Hayes. In fact, that was all he said. A couple of times, Bernsy even went out of his way to point out errors of the contestants, but told me I was the only one to give a correct answer to his question of "should sports be covered differently than news?". I was third in line to answer and was the only one to say "no". Gleason gave us a menu from the restaurant to read from and asked us to pick a sandwich from the list and "sell it" to the audience. Connor chose a salad and Bernsy immediately stopped him and said "for the record, let it be known that the directions asked for a sandwich to be read." It was then that I thought I had at least one judge in my corner.

As you know, I didn't win. I really thought I had it after all we went through, but when Connor's name was mentioned, I thought back to that post on the website and knew that there was a lot more to the decision making process that what we did in the interviews and on the stage. I was really unhappy because I thought I nailed it. I remember sending emails to Hayes and Gleason asking what I could have done better or what I was missing and all I got in return was the " it wasn't anything you did" response. One thing that did come up (and what many of my friends belive to have been the reason why I didn't win) was my age. During a response I gave to a question I mentioned how things were when I was younger and how they have changed. That may have been the part that did me in, although it was not criticized after mentioning it. At the time of the contest I was 41, but that was never brought up in any conversation. All the other contestants were in their 20's. As I talked to each of them (and all were really nice guys) I did notice that I had a number of years on them. Still, I thought that I could use that to my advantage as every host and reporter on the Score was my age or older. That wasn't the case. There are many people I know who said they listened to the broadcast and didn't know why I lost. Most asked me about the ages of the other contestants and when I told them I got a "well, I think you now know why you lost." Maybe that's true. Perhaps I was brought on as a finalist to show a range of contestants. I really don't know. What I do know is that when I saw that post days before the broadcast it told me that management had an idea of what they were looking for and found it in one contestant. Regardless of how myself or anyone else did, management had their guy and that's who was to be chosen.

Again, I couldn't tell you what they are looking for. If it is a younger voice, then why are all of their weekday, on air hosts aged 35 and older? If I'm not mistaken, Laurence would be the youngest (35) with Bernsy being next at 44. After that, I think everyone else is in their 50's. I know the weekends have the younger guys, but that isn't what they are really looking at regarding ratings and the programming that brings in the money. I hope the winner of the contest makes out well for himself and that the station works with him to help him along. Maybe he does have something that many don't see. I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Spiegel isn't in his 50s.

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@audioidkid

Great insight and honesty, Chip.

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To all Mitch's new "Bernstein clone" hires

Beardown: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMgGNxyCHsY

Bernstein clones:

So this winner was a former B&B producer?

I've got a feeling Bernstein is gonna fast-track this kid just like he did McNight.

Drinky:

Goff:

Beardown: Hey man, he's gotta like ya. Don't blame me.

Drinky and Goff: Oy.

Beardown: Yep.

I'll just reiterate, Mitch could have had Berger resume on his desk through a traditional interview process. There was no need to have this contest if your winner is someone with experience in the business. He may work out fine but this was not a search.

It is pretty obvious that Score administration avoids bold decisions in exchange for the safe...and bland.

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

I'd love to call this level of sleaze unbelievable, but when it comes to Score management, it's actually the complete opposite. Like Ed_from_Lisle, I am eagerly anticipating ignoring this person entirely.

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The Bulls haven't done anything wrong, and they're not going to do anything wrong.

I remember on the same show where Leery bragged about how many Score Search finalists were former interns, Dan also said something about how most of their interns are advertisers' sons. Can't confirm that part, but that adds another potential layer of sleaze to it.

Some real gems here:


White Sox flagship ingratiation? Check!

SHAKE THAT ingratiation? Triple-check! I, too, admire Leery for the long and tough road he took through Homewood-Flossmoor High and DePaul, and it's no wonder he indeed has the undaunted courage to prattle on endlessly about creepy shit no one cares about. Redeemingly, there's almost a hint of self-aware sarcasm as he lauds his Most Admired Score Personality for curating a "cougar tournament."

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I should correct that. At the time I did the contest Spiegel was not a part of the on air staff. Even now, though, I believe he is in his 30's.

As for those who subscribe to the theory that since Berger was a former intern that that gave him the inside track, I have to say I disagree...to a point. When the first contest came along I ran into a number of guys who interned at the station who were also looking for the break. One of which was Ryan Sudol, who staffers will talk about on air from time to time. Ryan is working in the business doing on-air work, I just don't remember the state.

I wrote "to a point" because, again, I have no idea what exactly it is that management is looking for. It could be that they wanted someone with knowledge of the station from a working perspective and felt he would be the right selection. The contest is a great advertising and marketing tool. It generates a great deal of interest and traffic to their website and sponsors. If all the factors they tell you go into the decision making process were heeded, there might have been a different outcome in all instances. The online voting means nothing (Michael Ochita had the highest online total when I took part) and the half hour audition myself and the other candidates had also meant nothing. I just think that the decision is handed down to the "judges" from managment (be it station or corporate).

Said it in the DB of the Week thread: it's purely out of necessity. Berger has designs on becoming a second-rate Dan Bernstein, and Leery's not gonna let anyone swagjack him like that without a little tribute. Start sucking up now and maybe he'll let you into his poker game.

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The Bulls haven't done anything wrong, and they're not going to do anything wrong.

As if there aren't enough of those already.

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Don't take it personally.

So how is this gonna work?

Is it gonna be called the "Bernstein train"? Where Larry stands behind behind Bernstein giving a reach around while Berger does the same to Larry? SHAKE THAT!!!

Drinky, Goff and Larry have failed at trying to be Berntein. But that's still the game plan for everybody that goes to the Score. I guess Berger thinks he can do it better.