Curious Hair wrote:
Just to come at this from another perspective, I'll aver that Feder has treated DeCastro with the softest of kid gloves since the Tribune brought him on. Despite all the drama surrounding 670/1000, WGN is always going to be The Story as far as local radio goes. Sometimes I feel like as far as Feder and Larz are concerned, WGN is Chicago radio here and beyond, and so the quality of the station is always of foremost concern. Of course, PPMs shattered the myth that people actually listen to WGN when the Cubs don't play, but this idea has continued nevertheless.
Obviously, with this WGN obsession in mind, when Randy Michaels came in and took a hot bubbly shit on everyone and everything that could be shat upon, it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, particularly Feder, who eventually grave-danced for Michaels's initial firing, the failure of FM News, and finally the sale of his stations to Cumulus. He made a lot of terrible changes at what broadcasting geeks consider a broadcasting institution, and was a real prick about it. Now, mind you, hindsight has vindicated Randy just a little: yeah, Kathy and Judy had to go, Steve Cochran didn't really have anything to say, they had to have more creative weekend programming than Steve Dale's Pet Fetish or whatever it was called. But still, he took a fading station and drove it into the ground, and that upset people on some greater level than if someone had come in and fucked up WLS (which has happened, but like I'm saying here, has drawn comparatively little attention).
So when Tom Langmyer resumed control of the station and then DeCastro came in, Feder and Larz both acted like they were perfect men who could do no wrong and would restore their precious WGN to its previous greatness. DeCastro hasn't; in fact, all he's done is restore WGN to its previous fading mediocrity by reinstating the aforementioned hosts that Randy Michaels fired. But because they worked themselves up into such tizzies over Randy Michaels and his poker parties of debauchery, they can't double back and say that wait a minute, maybe bringing back Steve Cochran and Bill Leff and dredging up Bob Sirott for his third or fourth tour of duty is not the best way to build a station, especially when you're (correctly) hailed as a radio visionary. This is all to say nothing of the pre-ESPN 1000 reunion tour that The Game has been, trying to build a station in 2014 on Harry Teinowitz, Dave Kaplan, and Spike Manton, whoever that guy even is.
With all this in mind, then, I can see where Rosenbloom is coming from in terms of feeling wronged by the Tribune and also Feder (who is now a partner of the Tribune). Whether Steve Rosenbloom deserves a daily talk show on a sports talk station is debatable (and I'm leaning toward no; he wears out bits like I wear out my running shoes), but it has to feel frustrating to be spurned by your own newspaper while similar co-workers and radio retreads get gigs, as all the while the media columnist (who also works for your paper) is engaged in a constant blowjob for the guy who turned you down. Is this fair?
this is why dude should make it a clean sweep of march madness winner, poster of the year, and all of that semi-/related junk. CH brings it as a bonafide "thing knowing motherfucker" when he loads up and throws some 98mph cheese on the black of the plate low and away.
WGN always strikes me as hallowed ground, but i've never had a life boring enough to require listening to it. maybe when nick D did the movie reviews saturdays @ 11pm/midnight i'd try to remember to tune in, otherwise my little brother saying that he uses WGN as background noise to fall asleep at night = about right. don't even get me started on milt rosenberg, who i'm pretty sure my 90something grandfather would turn off and say "i'm not old enough for that show."
btw CH, for me the absolute epitome-of/one-image-that-symbolizes the randy michaels era was when i read that he got caught throwing parties in colonel mccormick's personal office, including that oh-so-damning part where he specifically went and lit up a stogie in the old man's office. that's symbolically taking a big shit all over the holistic/hallowed legacy of the tribune empire right there, and once i read about that i knew the guy was toast and that a lot of oldschool people would do everything in their power to make sure the guy is nothing but a complete abject failure for the rest of his time in chicago, let alone @tribune.
TL;DR = CH rules and don't fuck with col mccormick.
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Curious Hair wrote:
Les Grobstein's huge hog is proof that God has a sense of humor, isn't it?
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Thank you for that hilarious reminder.
