All about Mike, he started the place, he made the score what it is and no one else. See Mac, North didnt need you or terry or anyone.
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Mike North proclaimed, "I'm sitting in the catbird seat," a day after the longtime morning host and WSCR 670-AM officially parted ways.
And while he added, "I will be on real quick on another station here in Chicago," at the same time he didn't rule out that this is all just "hardball tactics" on his part and the Score and he may yet reach agreement with the all-sports outlet.
"I never say never," North said.
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Mike North Web site Mike North MySpace page Still, it seems fairly certain North is headed elsewhere after being the defining voice on the Score since its inception 16 years ago. The Score and its CBS Radio corporate overseers had an offer on the table for about half of North's reported salary of $1.5 million, but the station pulled it back Tuesday and North wrote on his northtonorth.com Web site, "I am now done at the Score."
"Their offer was fine," North said Wednesday. "It's about reinventing, doing other things.
"It's good money," he added, "but I can't work for people I really feel uncomfortable with."
North has been critical on the air of Score General Manager Paul Agase, but he expanded his blame to CBS Radio's Chicago head Rod Zimmerman as well for being obsessed with the bottom line and the profits he was sending back to New York.
"I never worked for Zimmerman. He worked for me," North said. "I started that place."
The Score floated newspaper reports last year that it might be interested in removing North or slashing his salary. "Seven months ago they told me to go out and get a better offer," North said. He now claims to be considering four better offers. "They were dumb enough to think I was bluffing."
Score Program Director Mitch Rosen issued a stoic statement Wednesday, saying, "Following several discussions and extensive negotiations with Mike North, we have been unable to come to terms on a mutually beneficial agreement that would have Mike continue his tenure with the station. We wish him well in the future and thank him for the contributions he has made to the Score over the past 16 years."
Morning-midday hosts Mike Mulligan and Brian Hanley will extend their hours to morning drive "until a permanent replacement is named," Rosen said. He declined to comment on reports some advertisers, including Budweiser, pulled business from the station.
Although the Score made much of North losing to ESPN Radio syndicated hosts Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic on WMVP 1000-AM, other stations apparently envy his ratings. While Mike & Mike sometimes won the morning ratings race among men age 25 to 54, North most recently finished a respectable eighth in morning drive, counting three Spanish-language stations.
"Don't tell me my ratings were bad," he said. "I beat (Jonathon) Brandmeier, I beat (Lin) Brehmer," the WLUP 97.9-FM and WXRT 93.1-FM morning hosts.
Most speculation has focused on North perhaps moving to WLS 890-AM and reviving the political talk he sometimes indulged in with former co-host Anne Maxwell before more recently returning to more of a sports focus.
Yet, in any case, at the end of his current deal, the former owner of a hot-dog stand doesn't need the money. "I need to work because I like to be busy," he said, "and that's the only reason."
North said his only regret was not being allowed to say goodbye on the air to his listeners after the Score pulled the plug on him this week, before his contract formally expires July 1. "You should be allowed to have the last week," he said, adding there was nothing for the station to fear. "I think I was above-board the last three months."
So, again while not ruling anything out, expect North to be saying hello to his listeners on another Chicago outlet in the near future.
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