As everyone knows, I like to not only listen to, but call into and contribute to sports radio talk shows. But lets leave my calls out of this and really focus on the subject of calls into these shows. Mac and Parkins take very, very few calls these days in comparison to the number of calls Jiggets and North, or Mac, Jurko and Harry took in years past. I feel like the policy of having regular remote shows and taking a fair number of calls, resulted in many callers developing a far greater sense of loyalty to shows, that resulted in those shows having higher ratings. I feel like Mac and Parkins go off sports topics more often, because they run out of things to say about topical sports subjects. But callers often can supply subject matter the hosts and producers may have not thought of, or angles not yet explored. Anyway, I have noticed on the Score, taking far fewer calls, seems to be the trend, while ESPN has remained more status quo. What do listeners think about this?

_________________
Go Cubs!!!!

Not all of them do.

_________________
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 agree callers are the life blood of a good show

_________________

That's part of the fun

_________________

Maybe 1 in 10 callers EVER contribute anything interesting in the show. I wonder if some of the call screeners aren't intentionally singling out the dumbest callers to get on the air. And the dumber the caller, the longer the hosts seem to want to keep them on the air. Giving an inarticulate amateur a few minutes on a radio show is one thing, but then prolonging the call to just allow himself to TOTALLY embarrass himself is simply not enjoyable radio time.

I contrast this to ancient history when I lived in Dallas, listening to KCTK when each show on that station had a pretty loyal list of frequent callers, many had developed their own schtick. Yes, a lot of these dudes were trying to audition for a radio show of their own (and a couple got one), and yes, a lot of THAT was annoying. But it was better than "Bob from Niles". And as goofy and tiresome as Old Bob is, he's actually one of the BETTER frequent Score callers. Most are awful.

Absolutely agree and it is up to producers to sift through the calls and find ones that offer more interesting thoughts/ opinions. The habit of Bernstein's producers for years seemed to be trying to get the dumbest callers on air and then making sport of them, while hanging up on those with views that differed with Bernstein and made sense. The producers role in this is very important. These days, it seems Mac and Parkins have producers not interested in taking on that work. I just wonder if it is a station edict, or just based on their producers not wanting that element of the show to be as big as it used to be?

_________________
Go Cubs!!!!

Honed bit callers are the worst.

I'll take a rambling drunk 99/100.

What was that fuck on B&B with the sound effects on his WYC? Fuck that guy.

And fuck schmootzie and black physicist while we are at it.

Give me full meatball idiot callers or give me death.

_________________

mully and haughly will actually do runs of callers on the morning show. most callers are bad.

i think it could stem from the fact it seems like some hosts prefer rigid programming and are simply unable to react on the spot to caller opinions.

i mean B&B used to famously not take a call until 3 or 4 hours in to the show

The fucking creepy mouth-breather guy who always call in Hub's show needs to see himself out.

_________________
I like thinking big. . . If you're going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big.
-Donald J. Trump, BPE

Bernstein's behavior became almost impossible to put up with. He would ridicule some poor simple bastard on one call......FOREVER. Then scream bloody murder at the guy on the next call, and NOT ALWAYS about political or social issues. It could be something simple like "is Cutler a good QB or not". IE: Lame sports opinions from meatheads simply incapable of explaining themselves, but hung out on the air for SEVERAL MINUTES, just to be humiliated by Bernstein. Why anybody thinks that is fun to listen to is beyond me.

And this isn't ancient history. A lot of this was going on in the final years of the Boers and Bernstein show.

I loved the Cutler era bad calls. I remember some goober who said Cutler didnt play well at night games because of night blindness from his diabetes

_________________

You're right, 90% of the callers do suck, and I really don't miss them. Even the regular callers that don't suck tend to develop this sense of entitlement that gets kind of annoying. If the producers actually screened the calls and let people on who had something different to say, and knew how to say it, that would be interesting. However, 670 is either not getting those calls, or the producers are not doing the screening work.

Also, why current players or coaches are considered desirable guests is beyond me. They almost never say anything remotely interesting.

Let me try this again.

Not all of them do.

_________________
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 heard about 30 minutes of today's show and it was just Shep and Parkins agreeing with each other about the system being broken because Harper isn't signed yet. "You're right, Shep", "I agree Danny", "100% correct".

Take a damn call.

_________________

One of the few reasons I've stuck with the Score is that they have had decent insiders and analysts. I happen to like Hub Arkush, and I liked Matt Bowen's X and O stuff before he apparently decided he'd be better off coaching somewhere. The other analysts are a mixed bag. (I abhor Mike Florio, despiite having just posted a link to one of his stories.) I have noticed that the guest analyst line up these days seems to be getting thinner.

That's how I feel too. I get tired of the hosts talking and basically saying the same thing over and over and GOD FORBID someone say something in opposition to the other. Years ago, it was one host VS the other, just to spark conversation. Half the time the guy with the opposing view was disingenuous about his stance, but just wanting to get a conversation started. I think radio is most interesting when there are 2 people with strong opinions opposing one another having it out, with stats and historical examples to refer to, to bolster their position. Having 2 people that agree with each other and compliment one another for their enlightened and intelligent view, is just boring radio. Mike North might have insulted and offended some people, but he was anything but boring. And he took lots of phone calls.

_________________
Go Cubs!!!!

They take few phone calls because most phone calls are not very good. They don't get many phone calls because most normal people have no interest in sitting on hold for 30 minutes + to get 30 seconds to make a point before being cut off.

These guys go off sports because Mac likes talking about music/movies from the previous century and they aren't going to stray much to national sport topics unless the NFL is involved. Parkins sounds apologetic when he mentions the Bulls and there isn't much to say about either of the winter teams in Chicago. In other words, they get bored from talking sports sot hey stray.

It's shocking how little hosts have debates or disagree with each other. Perhaps because they don't challenge each other to begin with.

That also got old pretty quickly. It's funny once in awhile, but to treat every caller that way....

100% callers fall one and/or two categories: mouth breathing idiot, mic sniffer.

_________________

Didn't used to be that way. When they took calls on a regular basis you got to know the callers as well as the hosts. They would actually engage in debates.

_________________

I think I’ve heard hosts say that they no longer get many calls. Most listeners just text them. As we all know, there are other myriad ways to interact with the hosts directly. Including Mac posting here.

I haven't called in in years.

I used to do it mostly so my buddies, who were also listening, would call me afterwards and say, "Hey, was that you?"

I always thought that was fucking hilarious.

_________________
I like thinking big. . . If you're going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big.
-Donald J. Trump, BPE

Phone calls to anyone but Les are PTFB for me if they last more than 20 seconds. Ask your question or make your point quickly, and get off the air.

I didn't use to feel that way. There were a few callers back in the day who I really liked. Wild Bill in the lead on that. And I didn't mind if Stan from Bellwood called Rozner, because Stan generally has better baseball thoughts than Rozner.

_________________
"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Chicago sports radio in the beginning was all callers and guests. It's morphed into these bizarre self imposed little godlike hosts spewing out the gospel of sports, and politics. And they talk on, and on, and on themselves or with their mostly certain to agree co-host. A lot of early score guys had charisma and attracted interesting callers. None of the new guys have charisma. Sure they're smooth talkers, but common and bland. As annoying as M & H are at times it's still highly listenable how fast paced it is. B & B attracted interesting callers. A lot were crackpots, but fun listens.

Les attracts brain dead genius callers praising him to no ends. When he gets a good one he's too paranoid and insecure to bash it out with them. Julie actually attracts good callers and let's them speak. She'll then get into a good discussion with them, unless they offend her crossing the PC line. Then, she flips out.

When the producers send calls immediately to "on hold" without even saying a word to the caller and then don't get to that call for 10 minutes or more, most callers are going to give up and terminate the call and after it happens a few times, stop calling altogether. The problem is that the producers don't want to deal with calls. They like texts and tweets better, but it doesn't translate the same. Mac doesn't really post here much, if at all anymore. We talked about it last week and how it really is a somewhat valuable tool to gauge how listeners feel about the product they are producing. So here is my take on your show Mac......I think you should hire an additional person just to man the phones. Have that person screen calls carefully to ensure you are taking worthwhile calls and then take them as you had in years past and breathe a little more life into the show. I think you will find the ratings will increase and the show will be more lively.

_________________
Go Cubs!!!!

Engaging in debate......hey, there is an intriguing idea! That might actually be interesting and entertaining!

_________________
Go Cubs!!!!

Hey, sounds like you referring to "Gary in Evanston".....as Hawk would say "He gone!"

by the way, I haven't called into the Score since I called Ditka a crybaby, and he threatened to kick my ass!

_________________
Blackhawk goal, scored by number 20, Al Secord.

One thing I am finding is the idea of "debate" is almost dead. It is almost insulting to a person now to willingly engage them in a debate.

I think it may be due to the phones providing such quick fact-checking measures now.

We move away from skillfull argument to see who has the quickest thumbs and can navigate the net the best.

_________________
I like thinking big. . . If you're going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big.
-Donald J. Trump, BPE