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Mike North's new direction
By: Ed Sherman Jan. 12, 2009 Before he was a Chicago radio personality, Mike North ran a hot-dog stand. To pay for airtime during his first radio gig, he sold the advertising himself. "Nobody can sell me like me," he says.
To make a success of his latest show, "Monsters in the Morning," Mr. North will need all the salesmanship and business acumen he can muster. Debuting this week on Comcast SportsNet, the show promises not only a potentially groundbreaking new format but a new business model, one in which Mr. North serves as not just highly paid on-air talent but also as a partner in the show — and as chief sales rep.
"Monsters," which airs live from 6 to 9 a.m. weekdays, is billed as a local sports-oriented version of the "Today Show." It will feature interviews, highlights, viewer e-mail and plenty of banter between Mr. North and co-host Dan Jiggetts, a dynamic that helped solidify Mr. North's sports radio show at WSCR-AM (670) when the two were on-air partners. Mr. North also has brought along his former WSCR producer, Jen Patterson.
"There's going to be nonsense, tomfoolery, criticism," says Mr. North, 56, who left WSCR last summer after 16 years. "It's going to be fun."
The formula sounds like talk radio, a format that hasn't been tried on a local cable sports channel, according to Comcast SportsNet President Jim Corno. Previously, CSN's morning fare consisted of repeats of the prior evening's wrap-up show.
"This is an opportunity to redefine what a regional sports network is going to be in the morning," Mr. Corno says.
The deal struck between Mr. Corno and Mr. North also is unique. CSN isn't paying Mr. North a salary. Instead, it's paying a fee to his production company, Licorice Ltd., which will pay Mr. Jiggetts, Ms. Patterson and other talent. CSN provides the production crew. Both Mr. North and CSN's sales staff will sell ads, and once production costs are covered, Licorice and CSN will split the profits. Neither Mr. North nor Mr. Corno would disclose the exact split.
Asked how the parties reached this deal, Mr. Corno jokes: "Mike wanted $10 million and I wanted to pay him nothing. We met somewhere in the middle."
Mr. Corno says he isn't aware of a similar partnership.
For Mr. North, the deal presents far more risk than a media personality typically would take on. But the ever-confident, if not cocky, Mr. North believes he'll make more money this way — especially given his professed sales prowess. He thinks advertisers will respond even better to him when they learn he has a financial stake in the show.
"It's easier to sell something when I walk through the door than if a salesperson walks through the door," he says.
So far, it seems to be working. Mr. North says his company has rung up $800,000 in ad revenue for "Monsters," including the title sponsorship, sold to NextStep Medical Staffing for a reported $300,000.
David Hernandez, Chicago-based NextStep's CEO, says he signed on for one reason. "I believe in Mike," he says. "Nothing gets in his way."
Mr. Corno has been impressed with Mr. North's sales ability and says the deal could signal a trend.
"This could set the table for future deals, especially in this economy," Mr. Corno says. "There are going to be more unique ways of doing business, because the old way isn't going to cut it in a lot of cases."
But even if Mr. North pulls it off, it doesn't mean others can, says Bob Williams, CEO of Evanston-based Burns Entertainment & Sports Marketing Inc.
"I don't see anyone in the Chicago media horizon who would be in position to do what Mike is doing," he says. "It takes a special type of person to make this work. Mike has unusual traits. He's a roll-up-the-sleeves kind of guy."
Mr. North is eager to get on with the next phase of his career after a public breakup with WSCR last summer. The station wanted to cut his salary in half, from $1.6 million per year to $800,000. Mr. North walked and soon began talking to Mr. Corno about a live TV show on CSN, where Mr. North hopes his brash and loud style will catch on with Chicago viewers.
Mr. Corno hopes the show eventually will reach around 30,000 homes per day. That would be far more than CSN's current morning offering, "SportsRise," and even more than ESPN's "SportsCenter."
Mr. North knows how much is riding on the show's success.
"There's a lot of weight on my shoulders," he says. "This is what I wanted. I wanted to determine our own destiny."
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