Quote:
this remote is much more of an a**-kissing act
It is, but not quite the way you suggest. Its a way for North to go out and pretend he still gets out for his listeners, but in a safe environment. He gets 'out' to them by getting away from them. If they meet up with him in Detroit, they will obviously be fans (or people from Michigan who've never heard of him). This way, he gets either no reaction or great reaction at the remote. However, its not negative (and doesn't hurt Mike's obviously fragile ego, or let on to his unpopularity to the few still listening). If he had set this up at the Cell, or in Union Station, or a local bar, he would be
expected to draw people. If he does his remote in Vegas, boofoo Illinois (Steger, anyone?), or a distant suburb of Michigan, any fans he gets are bonuses. Mitch doesn't expect him to draw way away from the city.
Its like his billboard excuse - if there aren't enough billboards, how can you expect me to have listeners? In this case, the distant cities are the billboards; if I'm in a city 400 miles away from my fan base, how many listeners could you expect me to have?
Even loyal Score-heads have remarked on the fact that North's only local remotes are from Pappyland, never somewhere in the city. Maybe this is why?