No. This is not the kind of publicity you'd want - bounced checks?!

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Member of the 1 username club.

Hmmmm......maybe a Murph/Fred reunion at 1000?

views on other boards http://www.chicagolandradioandmedia.com/ & http://www.chitownradio.com/index.html

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If anybody cares, Coztansa is in a new band:
http://www.myspace.com/groverclevelandband

Need to reiterate something...

The majority of the blame here goes on Hernandez. Just trust me on that, there will be more news to follow. He is in big trouble.

Based on what we've heard so far it sounds like he is the one responsible for the bounced checks, especially since he was the dough behind this. But North was the "brains" behind this and he will not escape blame and scrutiny. Talent was supposedly given contracts. If the money is gone they'll have to file bk to get out from under the contracts and any deposits, pre-paids etc. A judge will be looking at everything...timing of payments, who got paid, who didn't etc. It will all come out in the wash. One thing is for sure...this was an unmitigated disaster for all involved.

For those who think North had a good idea and that this is where radio is going you forget one thing. This is where radio is going but you need more than local appeal and you need a lot more than 7,000 to 10,000 hits per day...you need hundreds of thousands and a natonal audience to get them.

Advertisers pay a CPM rate for ads. CPM stands for cost per 1,000 views. A website like CSW might get a $10 CPM given the tight demographic of the viewers so that is $10 per 1,000 meaning they may have been earning $70 to $100 per day. THat is if you believe the 7,000 to 10,000 hits per day which was stated by Hernandez, the same guy who said they were prfitable, guaranteed a radio deal by Friday and, according to the news reports, has been bouncing checks all over town.

This model will likely work in the future but not with a local city audience but rather a national audience and certainly not with Nort. Stern, Oprah, Rush and the like (there are very few) could pull it off but not North or Dahl or anyone else who is limited by a local audience can't. Just simple economics. It takes a huge ego and a serious lack of intelligence to think otherwise.

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"I still think its a tremendous idea".
"It's my baby".

The internet is like a jet...but it takes MONEY to fuel the jet and someone with KNOWLEDGE to fly the jet. Webio appears to have neither.

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Proud to be UNVERIFIED.

Maybe the douchebag can put some spin on it and blame all the other employees. After all, wasn't everyone supposed to be able to bring in ad money on a commission basis? Didn't North say that was going to be one of the great features of this setup? Man, if a Fred Huebner would've just got off his ass and sold a few ads, this wouldn't have happened, folks.

Hmmm . . . huge ego + serious lack of intelligence . . . was a more perfect description of Mike North ever written?

What's gonna happen to this poor girl? We should be thinking about her. I know I am.
http://www.chicagosportswebio.com/april_rose.aspx

A possible dumb question, but the only real dumb question is the one never asked.

Is it possible that Mike has enough money saved up to take over cswebio himself without Hernandez. From what I recall, he put a lot of his own money in starting this up so maybe he could take it over. Much of this situation seems to be up in the air so maybe this question is stupid, but I'm just thinking of possibilities. I guess I'm a bit confused in the fact that North, Bebe and Spaceball were fired, but the show is still happening?

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-"God is great. Beer is good. And People are crazy!"

So, as we contemplate its potential demise, what was your favorite moment from the Chicago Sports Webio era?

North comparing himself to the Wright Brothers?

The Tribune telling Teddy G. he's grounded and can't go out and play with Mike North?

The hiring of the highly-experienced and qualified BeBe North as COO?

Boom Boom Mancini thinking Ben Wallace was still on the Bulls?

David Spada announcing the severing of his relationship with the Score to commit to North and Webio?

And, finally, the issuance of paychecks that were printed on some substance that might as well have had the Goodyear logo on it?

God, it was a Golden Age in Chicago sports talk, wasn't it? I'm already nostalgic over it.

Hmmm I think we should refer that THAT Mr. Hernandez as David

Its a terrible situation tho. All these people put in the hard work only to see their check bounce. Can't wait to see more details come out

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"You can kill the revolutionary, but you can't kill the revolution."

That would be the last and best IQ test for North. Anyone who would put another dime down the rathole known as Chicagosportswebio is a certifiable idiot. There is no more "if" or experiment here...we know the answer...this dog don't hunt. Most of us here knew it before it started. If North does try to resurrect this it will be financial suicide and the final proof of his ego being exponentially larger than his pea-sized brain.

To quote Baby McNown and a few others here and, of course, the original, Judge Smails..."Well, we're waiting..."

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"I still think its a tremendous idea".
"It's my baby".

Just a little question from someone like me who's ignorant of the ways of high-level corporate movers and shakers like the Norths and Hernandez:

Should the Chief Operating Officer of a company be expected to have any awareness or foreboding of a financial crisis so dire that employees' paychecks have been bouncing and were about to bounce some more? Would any knowledge or inkling whatsoever of this be a reasonable expectation to have of someone with the title COO or is that strictly under the purview of the money guys and he/she would never see financial statements and could be kept ignorant of the impending doom?

Just asking.

That's what I find funny. Media outlets, all across the country, are firing employees yet webio was able to hire like 30 people including North's wife.

She's the COO. Mike's the GM. Their response to the bounced checks is "We'ze tried to email him and gots no response. We'ze knew somthin' was wrong at dat point. I'ze is street smart and I'ze knows bounced checks is a sign of somthin' dat ain't good."

The COO and GM didn't know that they had gone bust before they went bust?

Everyone with an ounce of business sense knew that an owner of an employment agency didn't have the type of money this required. North suckered him in and brought in NO advertising, as I'm sure he promised(like he promised Comcast).

North is nothing more than a bad con artist and he's doing the spin first. When the dust settles, I'm sure he will look just as bad as the clown Hernandez.

"Everyone with an ounce of business sense knew that an owner of an employment agency didn't have the type of money this required. North suckered him in and brought in NO advertising, as I'm sure he promised(like he promised Comcast).

North is nothing more than a bad con artist and he's doing the spin first. When the dust settles, I'm sure he will look just as bad as the clown Hernandez."
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I'm not saying North won't end up looking bad. He will. But this is just the tip of the iceberg for Mr. Hernandez. It's going to be way worse than just looking bad.

This couldn't have been shocking to them. This was a new venture in a bad economy with two established competitors already in the market. Being an Internet station only made this even more risky as well. Point is, since this was in it's opening stages, I'm sure they had to have been very aware of how much money was coming in. It would be pretty surprising if the GM/COO of the company had no idea that the finances were that tight. For North and his people to act shocked that there were bounced checks everywhere.....who's buying that?

My question is, I thought he was a co-founder with Hernandez on this. Was Hernandez the boss because he was fronting all the money for this?

"I's really not dat much of a management guy. I don't know why David really gave me dat title anyways. I didn't know nuttin' about no checks bouncin'. I'm more of a seller. I can go out and bring in da sponsors . . . yeah, well, OK, so maybe I didn't do so much of dat dis time aldough I tought gettin' Notre Dame High was a real coup fer da show . . . but ya know what else I is? I's really a good creative guy. I comes up wit great ideas fer shows an' bits an' who would be good hosts an' stuff--like Annie an' Boom Boom. Just look at my track record . . . OK, so maybe I's in a bit of a slump right now. All right, fer once in my life, I's gonna tell yas all da troot about what I's really good at. Runnin' off my big mout and bein' ignorant. Dere, I said it. Now are yas all happy?"

I think the biggest problem was the lack of true talent. Advertisers would have flocked to webio if they had brought the OG in.

"Be? Be? Goddam it, Be, I still can't work dis goddam e-mail ting. Can you help me e-mail David about sometin'? What's dat? Is it important? Well, let me ask you dis, did yous and mine last paychecks clear? Dey did? Ok, good, den, no it's not dat important, you can help me after you finish all dose hours of charity work you puts in every night on da over 200 charities we's involved wit. Dis can wait."

As bad as I feel for Webby and Timmy and the rest, haha, this one.

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Chris,

this financial disaster certainly reflects poorly on people like Ed Sherman who is and was too lazy to investigate anything told to him, like the Hernandez piece. Ed Sherman is nothing more than a PR flack. Crain's should fire him, he certainly embarrasses them as a business publication.

The only thing worse than a rubber check is a rubber biscuit....because "you go hungry...bow bow bow, yeah"

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"I still think its a tremendous idea".
"It's my baby".

Shame on Hernandez for handing over his checkbook to someone else. The CSW situation is all on Hernandez. He is either a terrible businesman or dumb...maybe both. North layed a pretty good foundation at CSW. When North asked Hernandez to address his financial health and the health of CSW, he would not respond. What kind of shit is that? I commend North for pressing Hernandez to address the financial concerns...then Hernandez addresses it by firing North? Wow...that is some great leadership there David...
I believe that CSW is North intellectual propertt & that Hernandez was just the money Man, correct? Lets be honest...who has a better chance of making a go of it with CSW...North or Hernandez? I gotta believe that North has a pretty nice nestegg and that he could also get a bunch of "his guys" to kick in some money, and continue CSW and try to sign a AM radio deal with AM820 or someone.
David Hernandez...YOU...are a jagbag...

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

Very true...lazy journalism...just talking to friends and printing as gospel...no fact checking...no other sources. The only one who looks worse on the lazy reporter front is that Zenger guy from the Chicago Business Examiner who printed yesterday Hernandez's claims that they were profitable with no push-back at all. Hacks, I tell ya, hacks!

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"I still think its a tremendous idea".
"It's my baby".

Slither away Kirk, you are a despicable shill for North and CSW. Heck I suspect you may be Hernandez and you're covering your tracks now.

JohnKirk=

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"I still think its a tremendous idea".
"It's my baby".

Funny stuff there johnny. You sound like a north relative, must be on mike's side.

"I still don't get how dis happened. OK, so we hired a few veteran Chicago radio guys at competitive salaries, an' made commercials, an' bought signage at da Cell, an' sent guys to cover da Hawks on da road, an' made Be COO, an' a few udder tings. So what? We had a sponsor like Bob Rohrman payin' us da big dough based on SEVEN TOUSAND hits a day! You'd tink dat alone would have put us in da black, wouldn't ya? Isn't seven tousand a big number--like more den a million or sometin'?"

i thought of this as well...

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@audioidkid