Bruce Levine and Carmen just started their show by thanking Mac for all he's done to carry the station and all the people he helped.

I do agree with some of the posters, Harry is going to have all the things thought up, that will drive more people away. I like Jurco, but I think he was Mac's guy and that's he got the job, so I could see him not doing much on the show.

I think they lost the ratings war last June when Mac was suspended, and wouldn't you think it was because he wasn't on there, now they probably will never win again.

Sadly for a game Harry thought of

FUTURE HEADLINE- MAY 5,2009 END OF AFTERNOON SALOON.

Mac, Jurko, and Abbatacola in the morning???????

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My word he's not dead.He will be back. Maybe he was to loyal to Jurko and Harry???? North got another job so Danny Mac should. Maybe this is a wake up call for Dan and the rest of Chicago media! I can see him replacing Murph.

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

You've got to be fucking kidding me. Harry is a survivor, like a cockroach. And he's laughing his ass off.

Mac = Mike North. Windbag has beens.

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I don't think this is a negotiating ploy. Given that B & B just passed MJH in the most recent ratings, I don't see how it would make financial sense to get thoroughly trounced the next 1-2 quarters when they know some of those dials won't come back. This is their cash cow...a bit of salary savings won't make up for lost revenue across the board for the station.

Besides - the recent track record in these kinds of high profile situations has clearly skewed toward the talent not returning (Garry Meier, Mike North, Eddie & Jobo, Steve dahl,...,etc.)

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

MNJ mac north jiggets weekdays on 560 the wind my friends.


but in reality i am with some of you where i never even took my dial off 1000 and i doubt ill listen much now.

My guess is around May 1st
In all seriousness, this may make some sense. The weakness of the Hampton & Holmes show will only become more evident once football season ends. On the other hand Murph (who recently re-upped by the way) will be basking in baseball glory. He's not going anywhere...except perhaps to another time slot.

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

This was not a cost cutting move like Pastor will want for us all to believe. I'm wondering how Much Mac's Sun Times column on the state of Chicago Sports Media had something to do with this. Pass-Hole probably wants someone who will blindly kiss the collective asses of management and play nice with the below average talent of the TV media. They want political correctness. Mac put this station on the map and ESPN clearly forgot what it was like when the Score used to beat their brains in late 90's. if Mac goes back to the Score, I'll be a Score-head again.

Let me add something might not be popular. I like Dan and MJH is the only sports talker I listen too.
That being said , did Dan offer to take a pay cut? Come on he is always bragging about how much he makes and throws it in our ears, like the boat show comment. Think he is goign to buy one now on impulse?
If he did offer to take a pay cut then Pastor needs to be stoned with large rocks biblical style. If he did not offer then Dan deserves this as he would appear to have lost touch with the common man. sorry but I think Dan refused to take a pay cut as his ego would not allow it

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

I'm thinking "After-M*A*C*" - in tribute to the ill-fated attempt to continue M*A*S*H without the main stars (After-M*A*S*H lasted less than 1 season for those too young or too lucky to remember it)

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

This is definitely a cost-cutting move. Radio is changing in a huge way. Clear Channel will announce a huge round of cuts this week and more "national" programming which is what ESPN is doing. Mac never saw it coming because he was too full of himself to see it but it was very predictable. They had a window to let him go and they took it. I'm sure they didn't like that column but they wouldn't have canned him over it. It was very arrogant of Mac to write what he wrote but arrogance has always been his strong suit. Maybe not so much now, huh?

Maybe but there is something else going on here. They have to pay him til May, that's 4 months that he will be paid for nothing.

I think he saw it coming, maybe not Friday but it was on the horizion.

I wonder if Mac's recent posts in the MEDIA GRAVEYARD section support North/Jigs morning show had anything to do with this?

Well, I'm done listening to ESPN radio. Harry and Jurko don't bring enough to the table for me. I hadn't listen to them much anymore, besides when B&B went to breaks. Hope Mac ends up with Terry again. Make Berns the morning 6-10 host, Mully and Hans 10-12 or 10-2, and Mac and Terry 2-6. I know they just signed Murph last summer, so it will probably be to hard to get rid of that d-bag, unless you go old school and make him late nights again.

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Fuck Edwards and Zobrist

If he gets to collect $266,666. over the next 4 months while having to do nothing but search for a new gig, thats not too bad. Maybe that was Pastor's way of thanking Mac for all he did for the station. Giving him a substancial amount of time to secure another job, while still getting a handsome paycheck from ESPN. If that's the case, my criticism of Pastor over this move would be retracted, to some degree. Perhaps the guys in Bristol ordered this and Pastor is trying to help make the fall for Mac a bit softer. I hope thats the case.

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Go Cubs!!!!

Speaking of his column, it'll be interesting to see how much longer he'll be doing that. I think the main reason he got that gig was because he was part of a highly-rated sports talk show and could mention the Sun-Times and SunTimes.com umpteen times a day. Now that he can no longer promote the paper and their website to that demographic, I wonder how much value they see in him.

Well I guess Mac will be doing play-by-play into a Ross portable cassette recorder while watching Blackhawks games on the tube until May.

Best of luck Mac!

Maybe you can blog from Fred Huebner's basement with your pants around your ankles to let us know what's growing on:

http://fredhuebner.blogspot.com/

It looks like Mr. Naked Man being assisted up by Eddie Olczyk has thoughts:

(It's good to see Fred still has his sense of humor too)

I sat down at my computer at 12:30am Saturday, just to look at some e-mails and my Facebook account, when I was shocked to see that ESPN had gotten rid of their ONE star...Dan McNeil.

I had hoped to see McNeil at the station next week when I plan on being in the area, but now I guess I could see him anytime...anytime two out of work guys want to get together that is.

Danny Mac was the MAN at ESPN. The economy being the way it is, I guess it was ESPN's time to cut costs, and Danny was the victim.

It should be some interesting listening the next couple of weeks as to which direction that show goes, and how the Boers and Bernstein show on the Score may benefit from McNeil's absence. Fred, Jurko and Harry...Hmm, sounds inviting! It would even be my initials...FJH!

MJH was the first sports show I ever listened to and for the last five years or so it's what keeps me sane in the afternoon. I'm not too shocked by the move just the timing of it. It's the nature of the beast and I think Mac knows that. He's a talented guy and like cream, he will rise to the top. Life is all about overcoming obstacles seen and unseen. Mac will be fine, I'm worried moreso about the show itself. I like Carm, Hoodie and most of the hosts, but none of them are Mac. This is like TLC losing Left Eye, they couldn't go on. MJH was so unique that if you take away any 1/3 of it, it's like taking away all three parts. They all balance one another, take one away, you now have an unbalanced show. It's why the show was never good if one of them was on vaction and I was happy when they generally all took time off together. So the show we all love called MJH is no more. But in life you lose things you love. I'll call-in and listen on Monday because I know this will be the topic of conversation. I'll pay my respects to Jurko and Harry and will probably find other things to do now on weekday afternoons. As much as I enjoy and respect Mac, I'm more concerned with the 30,000 Circuit City workers who've lost their jobs. Mac has a little bit to fall back on and great prospects for the future, I don't think the same can be said for the majority of those CC employees. Well wishes to all.

jason from Chatham

Here's my choice for YouTube video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oRGZUx-8Z0

try this one, the guy looks a little like Mac

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDZ63sy3H9I

Carm's song. I thought this was mean.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmGTmtTBlvs&feature=related

Wow, that's a stunner. I didn't listen to the whole show yesterday, as I was feeling a little crappy.

In my world, looking for cost cuttings, I'd look to Carm/JD/Hood, then at Jurko and Harry, then at Silvy and Waddle. I'd be less prone to looking at Mac, although if I could do something to avoid the situation where Mac was the big fish in that pond... maybe now would be the time to make that move.

All told, though, I think this was Bristol. Here they got talent doing mid-morning and afternoon shows, and Chicago's not using them. You have to ask yourself at a certain point, yeah, OK, MJH's getting better ratings than what we'd run, but HOW MUCH better ratings, and what would our income be with the lesser/less popular/Bristol talent? Or for that matter, Jurko/Harry/Carm?

If I were anyone at MVP, I'd be slightly wired right now. Predicting a ratings drop-off in the afternoon is a no-brainer. Wondering why, next, there's a mid-morning show has to be next on the docket. The evening show was already in danger when this came through.

What to do? In my world, I would have transformed MJH into the ESPN afternoon show, but I'm not a Bristol bigwhig.

I see the idea of a satellite show bandied about here and dismissed. Rightfully, too, I say. I haven't even looked at what's being offered as satellite receivers until just now as I was writing this: I see handheld sets that look like wireless phones, and car kits. Nothing I'd park next to my computer while I worked. I'm kinda old fashioned: I'd want to also get AM/FM and play CDs. They already have their sports talk talent through Fox and Sporting News on them. As if that's the reason why Sirius and XM merged.

Other radio stations? All owned by equivalently stressed bottom-liners. Ad budgets are being scrutinized heavily this year. To which I say, put on more effective ads, but that's not the sort of thought that goes through an MBA's head. (Flipside: I already know Chevy, Ford and Dodge makes trucks; I don't want to hear about 'drinkability', the 'commish', the 'high life' and other carpet bombs of stupidity. Place ads sensibly, put something out there that makes me possibly want to be seen _buying_ your product.)

Internet streaming, done right, this time? Where's Seth Mason?

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Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

Mac stays classy and offers this song up for Carm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR0jcrPzkb8

If you really are upset then let the mangt of ESPN know email them all the way to the top in Bristol, also let the people who advertise that you will not support them because of this . that is all we can do . Like I said before Mac got too big for his own good. The BS wit the NBC station didn't help him and the constant egging on his bosses and acting liek he was gods gift to sports radio sealed his fate.

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

All they have to do is read this thread. Sure, we aren't the entire listening audience, but a lot of us here are (were) "P1's" and contributed to the show in multiple ways- phones, email, this forum, remotes, etc. Besides, they'll see the mistake they've made by the next few ratings books. Tirico sucks and any other national show would get trounced in afternoon drive.

I am not a B&B listener, but I would be baffled if all of a sudden one of them happened to be let go unceremoniously.

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i wonder how mac feels about this? i ask this because over the years listening to him he's seemed to show a happiness for other peoples suffering. i've always thought he was kind of jerk because of this. that being said, i thought he was the heart and soul of the best sports radio show in chicago. i hope he lands on his feet bigger and stronger than ever. espn 1000 is going to miss him!

I am just as shocked as everyone else on here. I've actually read all of the posts (now 10 pages) and there is nothing I can add that hasn't already been said.

ESPN 1000 made a big mistake, and with the decline in ratings that they are going to receive, they earned all of it.

This is the first song that came to my head when I heard the news, and I'm surprised no one else played this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-L0NpaErkk

It's a sad day for sports radio in chicago. Whoever made this decision is an assclown.

Mac's silence on this subject says that this board had something to do
with his being let go. He was told many times not to post, but he did not listen.

I would find it hilarious if they sent Carmen to the Super Bowl now, that might have been
a factor also.

Adios good friend........

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Blackhawk goal, scored by number 20, Al Secord.