I will preface this by saying that I have only lived in Chicago for 6 years, so I don't know Chet's history as a pioneer and all that crap, but I am a die-hard all-sports radio listener and frankly Chet Coppock is really embarrassing. There are some hosts who get little pub, but when you actually listen to there content, you realize they actually are really clear thinkers and know a lot about sports, and then there are those hosts who get a lot of attention (attempt to bring a lot of it to themselves) and yet don't actually have anything insightful to say about sports. Chet Coppock is by far the latter. First of all, he has to turn every simple statement or introduction into some wierd long-winded 5 minute speech. Second, he always continually uses the same studid phrases like "You're dime your dancefloor"........Third, he continually tries to promote ESPN 1000 in such a wierd shut the hell up kind of way that I just have to change the station. For instance, continually calling ESPN 1000, the "Powerhouse" (if it was the powerhouse, wouldn't they have done a little better in the recent ratings....God knows Chet isn't halping with that), continually calling it the "Home of Mac, Jurko, Harry and Silvy and Waddle"...OK, we get it they have a show on your station, now shut the hell up!

And lastly, Chet just doesn't know jack about sports....he just spews crap that he will knows he will never have to be accountable for because if someone challenges him he will just hang up on them. Chet is bad and one of the reasons ESPN 1000's arrow is not pointing up right now.

Wow, I don't know where to start with this one.

You've only lived in Chicago for six years....then you're right, you don't know jack.

Chet is a legend. And also a hellofa nice guy. Since I work with him, I would know better than you.

I'm resisting the temptation to take you apart sentence by sentence...but I realize that you are probably 12 and posting on your mom's computer while she's out shopping or something.

You aren't too young to be called a douchebag though.

Smarten up kid.

I'm pretty indifferent to Chet history or not but I've heard a lot worse on local radio recently. The thing about him I can't stand is that damn "Hot Towel Treatment" commercial for whoever. It is the most annoying commercial on radio aside from Jeffin Trotter and the Coors Light mountains win again spot.

I compare Chet to a movie that you loved as a kid, now watch and realize that its actually a crappy movie. But, for whatever reason, it still entertains you. I was a sports-talk junkie well before I was 10 and Chet is what got me hooked. Call me nostalgic, but I am actually glad that he has found a little niche back in Chicago sports radio. Would I like him to have a regular, daily show, probably not. But him and Bruce Levine take me back to the days of Michael Keller Ditka, a pre-championship Michael Jefferey Jordan, and even the early days of Dangerous Dan McNeil. Granted everyone is entitled to their opinion, but since you were not here for Chet's hay-day, you may not appreciate that at one time, Chet was the only game in town.

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"YOU GOTTA BE BLEEPING ME"

No, actually I would love to hear you take me apart sentance by sentance........feel free.

I understand that if I was never around when Chet got people hooked on sports talk radio and didn't hear him in his prime, but who cares. If Chet is only good and entertaining to people who were around at that time, then you are dealing with a limited audience. The majority of people listening to sports talk radio now DID NOT hear Chet in his prime...they are hearing him now and right now, he is bad. One of the reasons the score is starting to run away and hide from ESPN is the young blood that is emerging at that the score while ESPN keeps treading out a has-been like Chet.

<sarcasm>

No one knows more about the Bears than Chet Coppock.

</sarcasm>

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If you are 35 and older...you heard Chet in his prime...

The majority of people who listen to sports radio? I'd guess that more than half of listeners are my age or older.

The Score is starting to run away and hide? They won one Arbitron ratings book in four years. Abberation or trend? I think the former.

What youngblood is emerging at the Score? The "youngblood" doesn't even have a regular show yet...just on Saturday mornings. And I'd guess that Chet and Bruce would beat them overall too.

OK, here is my point. The majority of people who listen to sports talk radio NOW did not hear Chet when he was good. Maybe that is because they are younger, maybe they just got turned onto sports talk radio in the last few years, maybe they moved to Chicago like me. The point is that when you have options in a large market like Chicago, how good Chet was years ago doesn't mean people will listen to him now. Just because a professional athlete was good 5-10 years ago doesn't mean you want him on your team now. Yes, we can give Chet the respect for being a "legend" or whatever, but that doesn't mean he is a good sports talk show host NOW.

Oh and as for the young blood:

Jason Goff
Matt Abattecola
Lawrence Holmes
Dan Bernstein
Zac Zaidman
Brian Paruch

They all are young and good............and they all host shows. ESPN would be wise to give more air time to Carmen, JD, Jay Hood and even give Jason Balenki(?) a shot too......and if it means cutting into Chet's slots, you won't hear me complaining.

That's one thing that bothers me about this board, and the opinion is stated clearly enough today that I can poke at it... The notion that the only people who listen to sportsTalk is 18-25. That we need to keep bringing out new voices for the new listeners. I don't think so. Furthermore, I would rather new voices to be brought in to replace the BAD voices.

The Score has appeared to be a training ground, but on careful examination, on the time shifts that matter (6-6 weekdays), they've been pretty consistent as to the hosts they've used. Boers, Murph, North have been with them how long..? Mully and Hanley appear new, but Hanley's been there in various & sundry roles since day 1. What you do see is a lot of producers, update guys and reporters doing the slots in-between Sox games and their weekend obligations. But here's the problem: there's no fulltime slots. Because baseball and hockey run on weekday evenings, you can't assign someone that slot and not have them on 2-3 nights a week. The weekends are a hodgepodge of collegiate games. The last time the Score needed new hosts was when they went 24hour. That was two slots...

As for ESPN, they only have as many slots as Bristol allows them. Three on the weekday because they don't carry the Sox anymore. It'd be two if they carried play-by-play. Lots of room there; think Bristol will give them the "Dan Patrick" slot?



I know for my part I'd rather Baum had remained in that slot -- there are listeners that liked the collegiate/local high school focus. It certainly broke up all the "sameness" of the weekday guys working the pro sports/latest moral outrage/steroids angles, day in, day out. When you listen to the end of the Saturday morning show, it's instructive that these guys tell you when they'll next be on.

Look, if I were promoting that Saturday morning slot, I'd call up imagery of "young blood," and "score hosts of the future," too. And it's cool to listen to these guys grow into bigger roles. I used to enjoy that with Memolo, Greenberg, Bernstein, Sweika, Meatpants, even Jesse... But outside of getting rid of SNR overnights, or ditching the play-by-play contracts, it's not happening. And even if it did, it's two whole slots. One host per slot, and if you're lucky, maybe a producer for the overnight...

Even though I'm old enough to have heard Chet in his heyday, I didn't live here (so never did.) So like others, all I know is the over-the-top delivery of today with little sustenance. And those early 90s Chevy SportsFires where he seemed to be interviewing people in a restaurant setting. Those were often outre...

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Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

When I was in Kindergarten/First Grade I would come home from school everyday and watch Teen Wolf. I saw it recently and realised its a poorly made movie but I stll love it.

CC gave me some good advice in the 90s when I applied to be his producer at the dead WMAQ: he said "go to the new WSCR & you'll last longer & make more money." I then asked if I could use his name & he said "no, I've already talked to them & they don't like me over there."

I don't mind Chet. His old style broadcasting makes me laugh sometimes.

Just so you know, the target audience for sports talk is usually males from their 20s to their 50s. If you call 1988 as Chet's prime, that means that most of the target audience were young adults during Chet's prime. Now I am in my mid to late 20s and actually do remember tuning in to Chet during his prime. There are very few hosts on talk radio that I DO NOT like, I am not very picky. But, Chet is one that I will make a point to tune in to. He is Chicago, he reminds me of my youth, and he usually gets great guests. Also, he is unique. The "young blood" that you speak of is all fairly the same. Drinky, Goff, Silvy, Carmen, et all seem to be very similar. Like him or hate him, Chet is unique. At least when you tune him in you know who it is--which is a lot more than you can say about most of the up and comers that you speak of.

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"YOU GOTTA BE BLEEPING ME"

Dan Bernstein has had a regular show on the Score for almost 10 years, he is not "young blood". Other than Paruch (who has potential) and Drinky, the rest are second rate hosts. You have to understand a few things.....
1. Most fans of sports talk are above the age of 25; so, most of them may not want to hear about how cool the bar scene was the night before. If I wanted to hear about the bars in Lincoln Park, I would talk to my brother that is in college. If I want to hear about sports, I will turn on the radio.

2. You are not from Chicago, so you really can not criticsize a radio legend that in his hayday when you were wherever it is you come from.

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"YOU GOTTA BE BLEEPING ME"

I can criticize a host, even if he is "legend" in Chicago, if I think he is a bad talk show host. As long as you are on the air, you are open to both praise and criticism.

I'd take you more seriously if you knew how to spell.

I see where Hardcore is coming from... I really do. The guy has a right to his opinion, as do I. I liked Chet back during the old Sports Channel / Fox Sports Chicago days when he hosted "The Game Room" and did Bulls pre/post games with Norm Van Lier.

I don't mind listening to him on the air today, as long as it's on occasion and with a co-host (such as Bruce Levine on Saturday mornings). I actually don't enjoy listening to him when he is solo.

The only "back-ups" that the Score has that I really like are Drinky and Paruch, who I think should be teamed together and make a serious run at a regular M-F timeslot. Zaidman doesn't bother me too much, but his inconsistencies and attitude should hold him back. Laurene is an Urkel, and I think Mitch Rosen is making a big mistake hoping that Matt, Laurence and Zaidman will someday be his second coming of "McNeil, Jurko and Harry."

When I first saw the topic of this thread I thought it was Chet Coppock is Old and Wired. Which is the only thing that made me peruse it.

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Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

Coppock rules. He knows his stuff and he does good radio. He's a pioneer. As for some of the youngbloods you mentioned...I'll pass.

I think that Chicago's Sports talk radio in general has it's arrow pointing down. It's not getting any better and hasn't for years. In fact the last time it got better was when ESPN shit canned Rome's daytime show.
Hard Core has a point. He does represent a significant portion of the demographic listening to Sports Talk Radio. Maybe not a majority, but a decent chunk. A new transplant sports fan might listen to sports radio to learn his new city, I don't know.
But he has a point. Chet is a characture of himself. He's allowed himself to become what he's been perceived as being.
I don't disagree that he's a wonderful guy. I'll bet he is a real swell guy. But I'll also be that Harry Caray was too, and his time had definatly been long gone before he was forced to hang up the mike by Mother Nature.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I never heard Chet in his prime. I only have his "now" as a reference for him and he's not very good at all. As Nas said, it's "turn the dial" radio. for me.

IMO, all of you defending Chet are basing a lot of your opinion on the host that he USED to be and the fact that he is, in fact, a radio pioneer. And, it seems like he rides that pony whenever he hosts a show (I'm thinking later years Harry Caray - sucked as a broadcaster, but had a HUGE sentimental following).

Maybe he should be doing some sort of baseball history show or something like that. I think he'd actually excel at that.

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[quote="Darkside"

That's for sure. I'm trying to think of what the best addition has been in the last few years and I guess it would have to be Mully & Hanley off the top of my head.

Chet seems absolutely frightened in this new world of talk radio where a host has to actually take a call.

Chet has a place in Chicago media history. Unfortunately for him it is right alongside Victory Auto Wrecker/Boushelle/Danley/Tru Link commercials, the Magikist sign, and Kup. He was smarmy both on Channel 5 and on the radio, beholden to Chicago sports tradition, of which there was little worthwhile(unitl the 90's, unless you remember the days of Sid Luckman) and just a name droppper.

He was made to be an emcee at reunions and convention dinners, that's it for me.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

That's totally revisionist. The guy was sports radio for a long time in Chicago. You may not like him but he is due some props. Besides, Danley and Tru-link commericals rule!!!!!!

In small doses, I really get a kick out of Coppock's "Coppock On Sports" caricature. He knows he's an anachronism, a throwback to an earlier era of talk radio. He constantly makes jokes about his failures and setbacks.

But he also gets a crapload of decent guests when he hosts the 7pm slot.

I heard him in his prime. He was a long winded guy then & he is the same now! If you remember pastafajool one of the reasons the Score was successful in the beginning was the fact that they put fans on the air & not just Brendan Suhr, & Milt Pappas. He was the only game in town except for Murph on the weekends on Wls. So if you want to legislate opinions based on someone being here dispute those facts. I have listened to the all of these guys from day 1 of the score. Bring it on big boy.

Hey you guys might be onto something- pair him up with Murph!

Just try to get a word in edgewise.

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You cannot make me care about the WNBA.