DeCastro is a shrewd operator who has been magically successful just about everywhere he has gone, but I don't think that makes him immune to being in love with guys he considers "his people". Mitch Rosen is no dummy but he's blind when it comes to Sir Laurence.

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Don't take it personally.

I can't believe DeCastro is trying to sell this lineup as something geared to a younger, thinking sports fan.

My car starts at 87.7.

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You know me like that.

The 76 Fleetwood has an aftermarket sound system?

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Fixed

happy happy happy!!! Grote was in for Haugh sitting in for Hanley this AM!

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

Every station only pulls old people. There's pretty much zero future in radio.

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I don't disagree, which is why I actually think a station dedicated to the younger crowd makes a ton of sense. But it's beyond crazy to say you are going to be that kind of station, and support it with literally no talent that can back that kind of statement up.

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I cannot wait to turn this station on then turn it off and say how bad it is. I don't know if my car hits this signal, so I will have to dig out the old transistor radio--just like when I was young and hip.

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You cannot make me care about the WNBA.

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kaplan's 2nd "father of the year" title is going to be in the bag with the exposure he gets from this station.

fathers who give their kids a kidney? overrated. clearly dave "kiss the ring" kaplan transcends all of them cuz he can take his kids down to get autographs from athletes on a fairly regular basis.

and yeah, i tend to buy into the theory that decastro is only starting off with the retreads cuz they're on the veritable radio-waivers/scrap-heap and cheap and old and storied enough to start off the identity.... but if he really wants to get his fingers on THE PULSE of the chicago sports talk community he'll bump sir laurence up to 600k/year and get him on during mid-days to put an end to b&b's reign of terror.

PAGING J-HOOD..... PAGING J-HOOD..... THERE'S A NICE OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU TO GET SOME DECENT HOURS HERE. plus he's black and kids nowadays sure love those negroes, don't they? =D

also, * ducks *

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Trib writers, Kap, and Harry telling everyone how to be educated sports fans is going to be a smash hit with the younger, hipper audience.

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Webio lasted longer than this will.

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

Harry and Spike? I guess they couldn't find a recording of nails on a chalkboard long enough to fill that shift. Unbridled Harry? Wow.

Harry has more trouble with the saddle than the bridle.

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same story in any media industry, radio, tv, print, porn, even baseball. GMs have a preference for their draftees/former players or even other guy's most favored veterans. Long after everyone else knows Brandon Inge shouldn't be anywhere near an MLB roster, he's riding the pine for the Pirates; taking a roster position away from a younger guy whose presence on the MLB roster could help the team more going forward while costing considerably less.

To some extent, they're being good guys: Frick and Frack, who they've known for years, need jobs and they have jobs to hand out. But isn't part of the deal of being a radio/tv personality, porn star or baseball player that at some point your time behind the mic, in front of the camera, on top of Jenna Jameson, on an MLB team is going to end, in all likelihood long before you're ready for it to end.
There are no second acts in American lives wasn't even true for the guy who wrote it.

No it's not. That statement wasn't for you. It was for advertisers. "Yute with money" demographic.

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Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

So I tuned in to 87.7 The Game at 1:30 today to hear Quigley & Griffith. Worst radio that I have ever heard. Quigley sounds like he should be doing Figure Skating color commentary...he sounds like Johnny Weir...& Griffith is in the wrong business. Just horrible. What is 87.7 wattage, 5000? It hardly comes in in the western suburbs.
I assume that the lineup here will look very different a year from now.

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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

FEDER COLUMN:

A combination of seasoned veterans, promising young talent and a few players to be named later are teaming up as Tribune Broadcasting’s WGN AM 720 expands its franchise to a brand-new sports/talk station on 87.7 FM.

They’re calling it “The Game.”

David Kaplan
David Kaplan
At 1:02 p.m. Monday, WGN will kick off The Game under terms of a local marketing agreement with Venture Technologies Group, owner of the low-power station’s license. As first reported here Friday, Tribune Broadcasting is leasing the signal of WKQX LP 87.7 through September 2015. The call letters are expected to be changed to WGWG by midweek, pending government approval.

“We’re going after a young, more educated sports audience,” Jimmy deCastro, president and general manager of news/talk WGN, said of the new addition. “We want this to be young and hip and fun.”

With two other full-time sports/talk stations entrenched in the market — CBS Radio’s WSCR AM 670 and ABC/ESPN’s WMVP AM 1000 — The Game is counting on its unique positioning on FM and what it hopes will be a more entertaining approach to sports in order to gain a foothold.

“For everything the FM band is different. That’s why people went to it,” said deCastro, who turned WLUP FM 97.9 into a powerhouse of the ’80s and ’90s. “It’s our belief that sports in Chicago is now analogous with pop culture — and that includes music and entertainment and movies. Like we have at WGN, we’re hiring smart spoken-word people who, in this case, are able to talk about sports.”

Mornings will lead off with Jonathon Brandmeier (who’ll also continue to be heard online on the virtual station wgn.fm). The rest of the day will be sports-oriented, starting with veteran WGN sports host David Kaplan and Chicago Tribune sports columnist David Haugh in middays. WGN’s Alex Quigley and Big Ten Network’s Howard Griffith will host early afternoons, followed by the duo of Harry Teinowitz and Spike Manton in late afternoons. WGN’s Mark Carman will be on in evenings, followed by overnight programming from NBC Sports Radio. WGN’s Jordan Bernfield will be a full-time sports reporter.

Pete McMurray
Pete McMurray
Todd Manley, vice president of creative content at WGN, said a number of other significant hires — including at least two women — will be announced as those deals are finalized.

With Kaplan shifting to 87.7 FM (along with cohorts Carman and Bernfield), he’ll relinquish his long-running evening sports talk show on 720 AM, Manley said. To accommodate the move, WGN late-night host Pete McMurray will be promoted to an earlier shift — from 7 to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Look for more adjustments to WGN’s lineup in the coming weeks. “People think we’re done at WGN,” deCastro said of his rebuilding effort. “We’re not even half-way through.”

Although deCastro acknowledged that it might be “a little challenging” to draw listeners down to the far end of the dial at 87.7 FM, he has 18 months to perfect the new format and prove its viability before the FCC pulls the plug on the low-power channel. By that time, Tribune Co. likely no longer would be restricted from buying a full-time FM station in Chicago to which The Game and its audience could migrate.

Jimmy deCastro
Jimmy deCastro
This isn’t the first time deCastro has put a sports/talk station on the air in Chicago. As president of Evergreen Media Corp., he transformed the former WLUP AM 1000 into WMVP (for “Most Valuable Player”) in September 1993. Since the Score was still only a daytime station at the time, deCastro billed his upstart competitor as “Chicago’s first 24-hour sports and personality station.”

The initial sports/talk format lasted only three years before the company reverted to a simulcast of the Loop. Then in 1998, ABC Radio bought WMVP AM 1000 and flipped it back to sports as the network flagship station for ESPN Radio.

“It’s changed a lot of times since it was [the original] ’MVP,” deCastro said of his earlier effort. “Yes, we launched that format. But what we’re doing now is a whole new show.”

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Tuned in 87.7 in the truck this afternoon, nothing but static on this side of the Lake. Better than any North show.

Any new venture that gets Kaplan off the AM (along with Haugh) is fine with me.

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Not a mult.

Turned this on in my car at 3:04. Heard Harry's voice and had it off before 3:05.

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OK, so they are not fucking with Brandmeier's show. That's the good part.

Now that it's here, what I don't understand is: why now? Even DeCastro said this is very preliminary, and there will be more changes coming. It's already a foregone conclusion that 87.7 is only temporary, and that they will be moving to a new frequency, so why not wait at least a few months and launch when you're ready? My only guesses are that they want a low-key spot to audition shows, and/or is seems like a rush to position themselves for...something, or somebody.

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Not a mult.

So is Goff going to get offered a show here sometime in the next year?

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

Harry took a little shot at B&b, explaining that you will have to be really dumb to get yelled at on his show.

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Don't take it personally.

Yes, several veiled shots at them, including from callers.

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-"God is great. Beer is good. And People are crazy!"

from a new article in the Trib:


"The station is also planning on hiring several women as hosts, two of whom, with Comcast and ESPN, are under contract, de Castro said, though declining to identify them. The two will likely be announced this week."


http://www.chicagotribune.com/site/ct-w ... 9366.story

Sayers?

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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