I hate to be Grid here, but we have a bout three topics that you should be taking a look at right now for comments ("Jurko" and "Thought From today's show" along with this one.) Anyway, back to hating to be Grid, but i wanted you to see this and respond. I've never got an answer from any host that's really had any sound logic and backed up evidence as to why not talk a bit more college football. Anyway, my thoughts below in a response to my favorite Doctor.

Ken, I completely agree with you. Something I find funny about this is the only people I know in the city that aren't interested in college football are either people that don't care for football to begin with or sports talk show hosts. There are numbers upon numbers of people in the city packing into the Big Ten bars in the city Saturday after Saturday. There's a mass of Big Ten grads and followers that live in Chicago as well. Yet, it's the sports talk show hosts that don't thinkwe want to hear this talk. I don't know where they are getting their numbers from. Are they pointing to college football shows of the past that have failed because they had a weak host or were in an awful time slot? There's seems to be a lot of love for the show Hood and Silverman did back in the day. But back to this sports host thing. It cracks me up. Mac seems to enjoy the Big Ten but believes just because we are in Chcago it's not worthy of discussion in this town for 45 minutes in a week worth of shows. Hell, I'd take 30 minutes. One 15 minute segment on Tuesday and one on Friday.

There are other hosts in this city that grew up not following college football and did not go to a school with a good college football, so therefore no one wants to hear college football talk on the radio. This is the biggest myth of sports talk show hosts. And before the posters that come on here that say they don't like college football either, I know plenty of people that don't like baseball at all either. What are you going to do?

In a perfect ESPN Radio 1000 world, I'd like to see Hood and Jeff Dickerson do a show once a weeknight that covers college football for two hours. If we can do motor sports weekly, why the hell not College Football Weekly with Hood and JD? They both know their stuff and have good chemistry.

I might be in the minority here but I liked "WHO DO YOU LOVE" as well. As a guy who went 34 and 11 last college football season (on this board) I thought the segment got people pumped up for Saturday football and brought some energy to your Friday show. It makes me want to pop open a beer and get ready for kickoff.

BTW , If you bring back Sunday night John , very small doeses as well.Became more annoying than a Linda S. post.

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"NEED a friend...Buy a dog"..

STU, I have to admit you did a FANTASTIC job last year with your picks. You were on one hell of a hot streak. Bring back Late Nite with STU simply for your weekly picks. They were second to none last year

Is "Who do you Love" history? I hope not. One of my favorite segments.

i dont follow much college football at all, and i even i liked 'who do you love'

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[[/quote]

I was contacted by a person to do a Handicapping segment on a small college radio station but it was squashed by the college..No gambling at "Bushwood" appearently. I'd be happy to do it as I have had about 25 hours of handcapping all the Div 1 schools this week alone.

I will have a bet the house game for you guys when USC is at Nebraska. I'm already droolling at the money I will make you guys on this one.

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"NEED a friend...Buy a dog"..

If anyone would know about handicaps, it would be STU.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I'm not usually gambling but I liked Who Do You Love if only because it did discuss college football in some respect.

I'll say that segment and a set Critics segment are also chances for the callers to spread their wings a little and be creative. I like straight calls on topics of the day but I will say B&B have opportunities (Friday Fung, WYC, etc.) for callers to add something creative to the show.

As much as people hated What's in the Vending Machine? it was a least "good bad". But even that didn't lend itself to "creative participation". But I think there are some creative guys here that are MJH fans so I would think the callers for MJH have the potential to be just as good and add just as much to the show as B&B's do.

I was contacted by a person to do a Handicapping segment on a small college radio station but it was squashed by the college..No gambling at "Bushwood" appearently. I'd be happy to do it as I have had about 25 hours of handcapping all the Div 1 schools this week alone.

I will have a bet the house game for you guys when USC is at Nebraska. I'm already droolling at the money I will make you guys on this one.[/quote]

Stu, Nas was also excellent in his picks last year. I would love to hear a pick em show starring Nas and Stu. Your lead in music could be the SNL bit where Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder sand Ebony and Ivory. That would have some real potential.

As a non-gambler and a non-follower of college football, I liked who do you love at first, but it got stale....and I wouldn't say it was 'bama Brian's fault, either.

CRITICS is a definite favorite, though, and I'd like to see it brought back.

Is Marty Jones coming back??
I wouldn't mind some college football talk- 30 minutes a week.

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SideshowBob311: "Sadly enough, I think we're the "intelligent" portion of the sports radio fanbase".
"I make fun of whoever sucks, including me"- Harry 11/30/07

One last suggestion Mac. Get those guys to do something about your lead-in. It's brutal. LeBatard? If he plays that Winehouse drop again, well, it won't matter because I quit listening.

I'll try to remember to turn ESPN back on at 3pm. But, that crap isn't helping you guys.

Rabid Rabbit! Alpha King!! Gumballhead!!!

I hate to be seem like a curmudgeon by harkening back to the "good old day", but it was a winning formula. I have always contended that the true reason for the popularity of the SCORE was the ability to generate a feeling of personal friendship with its listeners. In effect the host was one of us plucked from the crowd to act as our representative to interact with the sports we love.

This was a complete breakaway from the Chet era paradigm, where the host acted as the high priest and he alone was sufficiently worthy to speak directly to the diety.

If my opinion is true then the way to boost ratings is to regain or increase the feelings of personal friendship.

One way the political world creates bonds is by creating a common opponent or boogeyman. The easy common opponent is management or people who are usually unassailable.

How would this work for MJH? If you are going to have an interview, forget the everyday player. Only have controversial figures on and push the envelope with them (by the way, this is exactly what North is doing over the last 3 months with tremendous success).

Management also means station management. Create an us against them attitude. If it ends up being a hostile work environment, so what, they are obviously hostile to you already (as Pastor's public comments and the term of the suspension was completely out of line with the sin).

Another way to create strong bonds is through common ritual. I think the best way to do this is through some sort of signature weekly segment. Some have suggested bringing back Who Do You Love or Critics. I think you have to go a step farther. I want to hear something filled with raw emotion. The classic days of Who You Crappin come to mind. I don't want a little disagreement. I want a guy like Jovan performing scream therapy before he starts his weekend early on a Thursday.

Another way to strengthen friendship is male bonding. Remotes are a start, but they are really the dilletente's way of meeting the people. I think the anniversary golf outing is a great way to meet people. Do more of it. Before Mike North became Pappy he used to be available to people ALL the time. If you didn't get to meet him on a informal world tour or casual day out, he would invite you to pappyland. You don't need to be a drunk or open up your home but something similar can be done while still retaining privacy.

In the end, we have heard too often that the advertiser is the client. That is true if the goal is to sell the most ad time. If your goal is to increase listenership, then treat the listners as the client. What do you do for your loyal advertiser's to instill loyalty? Extrapolate that to the audience as much as possible.

The invoice will be sent out in the september billing period.

Critics was a good segment but it needed a make over. There were too many people calling in with "the announcer called "Player Johnson," Johnsen. His name is clearly spelled with an o not e. Thumbs down."

I liked who do you love and college football. If nothing else somebody usually called in with a good game that I was not aware of.

Some of us seem to share a common opinion that this show has lost something. Some have stated an edgyness. I don't think that is the hosts fault. I think Mickey stepped in and hope you guys find a diplomatic way to tell him to step out. This show has definitely been ESPNified.

good dolphin - dead on right. I 100% agree. Unfortunately Pappy pissed the hell out of me with his Tony Dungy comment, but he has been a very good listen lately. I just don't feel the "fire and passion" from MJH these days. I feel like it's on cruise control. Again, their cruise control is far better than other's best efforts, but these days it just hasn't been cutting it.

i know this is an off the air issue, but i had a minor problem with it and it seems as though others here have had issues as well.

when somebody wins a prize, make sure they get it in a reasonable time period and dont have to send emails or make phone calls to hosts, producers, etc

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In their defense, I got my prize in about a week. I had sent them an email of clarification after the fact so it may have sped up the process but they did a good job. I believe I even talked to Danny Zetterman on the phone, which is a top 5 moment of my life.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

good. seems they've been better lately. after i talked to zederman at a remote, i had my gift certificate about a week later. but i remember WR and some others had to email mac and such about getting stuff they won

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I've met him in person and it was definitely the best moment of my life.

im betting you met him in person....about 8 months ago

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So, you want them to hire the Goose as "the common enemy"?

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Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

Such a sheltered life.....

"Goose is dead Maverick. Goose is dead."

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Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. ~ Benjamin Franklin

The REAL brainstorming occurs on Thursday the 30th around 7:05PM.

yeah, not like sports underground. that show rules

On Who Do You Love, I wish it was the old way when anybody would call in and give picks, and there was no limit on Mac, Jurko, and Harry picks.

Critics is good, but yes, confine it to 20 or 40 minutes.

2 things to get rid of in my opinion, you guys have too many remotes, so do less and less or no more Sunday Night John.

Critics is not the problem. It's people dozing off during the show, forcing one voice to do the majority of the talking/pontificating. The third voice to me is annoying. To me the third guy is always looking for an edgewise to slide an opinion in. If you're setting up the show to have edgy disagreements between the hosts, then the #3 can be fun, either with a third opinion or a tiebreaker. But whether that third voice could be satisfied by a Finji turning the mic on, a la Eric Beverly, is a matter for consideration. (And where do you suppose he is, of late? Baking pies next to Julie Swieka? Down the dial somewhere/place?)

As for Harry doing the blind Cub love, that's okay. That's merely crafting an on-air persona. The bad bits though have to go. Why in the hell doesn't anyone else have any control over that show when the cats are away?

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Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

College football chatter is a button pusher for me...so the dearth of discussion on the show suits me just fine. Like others, I propose a 0% ratio of Harry involvement - freshen it up. Drive it as a duo, or bring in Hood, Dickerson, Drinky, hell, Dan Plesac or Teddy Greenstein. Thanks, Mac, for letting us peak behind the curtain of MJH.

RE: The FCC - J. Hood dropped the word "schlong" this afternoon while describing how he won a contest on the old Huge show. Funny story.

Hey Stu - sundevil wants his oversized avatar back

so many thoughts...so little time.

Mac,
please...please...please...take the "advice" of the peanut gallery (myself included) with a grain of salt. you've done just fine without us.

Critics: as long as "We" have it, I'm happy.

suspensions: they usually tend to happen when sports are boring. you guys get in trouble when there is nothing to talk about.

"the fire": it happens every year...and everyone seems to forget every year. Sports pretty much blow from July until your Fantasy Football Draft (unless your baseball team is in the playoffs and wins the WS...SOX!!!)

Who do you love?: i liked the email version after the Bama Brian deal. Three long winded pix by a caller while on remote makes for bad "sounding" radio. but, the segment is decent. maybe limit callers to one pick and a "sleeper" to keep it moving?

MJH: Yes. If/When/Whatever it isn't....I'll adjust then.
Now, let me tell you how awesome my Receivers are on my fantasy team.


College Football Expert: is needed. Danielson when doing BigTen was appointment radio. No different than J-Clay or Sunday/Monday Night John when "on", like future mail......or NOT. The Dan Pompei segments have been great. Maybe you guys could track down a Don Pierson for some additional NFL talk? I miss Don Pierson.....


btw...
in regards to the weirdo caller giving you shit about betting against the cubs...the sox are 2-9 their last 11. I'd be betting the crap against the Sox
if I did that sort of thing.

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@audioidkid