The Mac Jurko Harry show is no more or at least without the Mac. What is the fate of the pitiful Chicago sports media? First start with ESPN 1000. J Hood would be the best replacement for Mac. With Hood the show would be decent. But for some strange reason Carmen will replace him, and the show will struggle to survive. The station will be a distant second to the Score and be slowly cast aside other than for the good Bulls broadcast team but the actual team doesn’t help. Silvy and Waddle is not that good of a show, but better than its counterpart. They still have Mike and Mike the highest rated sports show in Chicago. Probably will stay that way despite the new Monsters of the Morning. This show is bound for failure. Both North and Jiggets are past their prime, especially Jiggets. North is not fit for television where he is restricted. Anyways who watches t.v. in the morning? The show won’t last for more than a year unless it barely costs Comcast anything. The thing is that this is the slowest time of the year for Chicago sports. Luckily the Blackhawks are good, but otherwise there is nothing to talk about until spring training. So it is not a good time for a test run for shows. Ratings should hopefully pick up with the coming of the baseball season, although who could be excited for the Cubs anymore except for those yuppies at the convention.
Now onto the Score. Mully and Hanely are a good show but they don’t have that personal touch of Mac Jurko Harry. They are easy on their interviewees and they do not think like the common fan. They are two writers talking, not two fans. Still there show is good and they do fill in the four hours nicely, but it can not be a number one. The H and H show is terrible. Hampton is not a radio personality. He is good on Bears game days with his creative metaphors and motivation, but he can not talk about other sports. I really like Laurence Holmes. Holmes used to host the 5 hour “Me” show in the evenings before the Sox moved to the Score. He did a surprisingly good job all by himself. This guy has talent, and even Mike North labeled him as an up and coming star. He is not as flamboyant as North, but he has the wit and knowledge to be great. If he gets the opportunity and does not have to be a reporter any more, he could become the best sports radio man in Chicago. The Score needs to dump Hampton asap and find a better role for Holmes. In fact if they can afford Mac, Holmes and Mac would be a promising combo. The Boers and Bernstein show is so so. They have their good and bad days. If they just add some more passion towards Chicago sports rather than just laughing the entire four hours over sound bites, then the ratings could improve. They can keep the same culture of the show but they have to get rid of the carelessness. As for Mike Murphy, well, he finds some way to stay on the air, how I don’t know. Overall the Chicago sports media needs some people who are first fans not writers/reporters who need to keep it friendly with the people they talk about. Second the media needs people with personalities that are unique and appealing. I don’t want to hear just some guy with an ordinary personality (i.e. Carmen DeFalco, Chris Rongey) on a radio show because then I might as well just call up my friend or talk to myself. Not to bash DeFalco and Rongey, they both were/are good on pre and post games, but they are/would not be good on regular radio shows. To get an idea of my point just think about Chet Coppock