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He's baaaaaack.
The wild ride that Mike North has been on takes him to Channel 2 on Monday for the debut of "Monsters and Money." Airing from 5-7 a.m. Monday through Friday, the program features his old sidekick, Dan Jiggetts, Sun-Times finance columnist Terry Savage and CNBC reporter Mike Hedegus.
As the title suggests, the show will feature a mix of sports and money talk. And that pretty much encompasses everything, according to Mr. North.
"If you're talking about DVDs, top 10 movies, the Super Bowl commercials, it's all about money," Mr. North said.
This is the latest stop for what has been an interesting couple of years for Mr. North since he left WSCR-AM 670 in 2008. His "Monsters in the Morning" program lasted only a year on Comcast SportsNet. His bid to launch an Internet radio station came to an abrupt end when it was discovered partner David Hernandez was financing it through a Ponzi scheme.
Mr. North, though, is a survivor. When people are about ready to write him off, he finds another opportunity.
Always a polarizing figure, the idea that Mr. North has another new show will make his fans happy and his detractors irate. So be it, he said. He's starting at Channel 2 with a clean slate.
Here is my Q&A with Mr. North. Turn the volume down on your computer. Even in print, his words make a lot of noise.
How did this opportunity come about?
Mr. North: After Comcast and I decided to move on, there was interest from CBS. (Channel 2 chief) Bruno Cohen called, and one thing led to another. This gives Dan and I a chance to step up to another level. When you get a chance to play Broadway, you can't say no.
How do you envision the show?
Things are going to be interesting, different, which is the only way I like to do things. There's going to be a round-table setup. There's going to be topics like (ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption"). There will be nice graphics showing the scores, the Dow Jones. I think we'll have four personalities who will liven things up in the morning.
I had never met or even heard of Mike, but he can roll. Terry's great. Dan will be our McLaughlin. We're going to cover a lot of major sports topics and a lot of major money topics. We're going to have opinions about the news instead of just reporting on the news.
Are you going to talk sports first or business?
It depends on what's the story. If it's Tiger Woods, then it'll be sports. If the markets go down, then we'll go the other way. We'll cover everything.
Have you found yourself boning up on the financial news?
Absolutely. But I've been getting Crain's Chicago Business for seven, eight years. I'm watching CNBC and Fox. We've had multiple stocks. We actually pulled out before the market crashed. I've always felt you have to be well-versed especially when there is money involved.
I want to be the blue-collar guy when it comes to this kind of stuff. A lot of these kind of shows are geared to the affluent, upper-class people. They don't tell the lower-income people how to turn your $50,000 into $60,000. I'm going to be like that guy who lives in a bungalow on the South Side who wants questions asked that don't get asked on these type of shows.
You had a revenue-sharing arrangement for "Monsters" at CSN. Do you have something comparable with Channel 2?
I'm not going to get into it. It's a beautiful opportunity. I'd rather not discuss the wonderful deal that's been given to us because there are other people involved in the show. I'm part of an ensemble. For the first time in my life, I won't discuss it out of respect to everyone else.
Talk about the ride you've been on since you left WSCR in 2008.
It's been unbelievable. It's been a wild and crazy ride all around, but I have no baggage. I've cleansed my mind. When I see somebody, if I didn't like them before, I like them now. I made up a saying: I have no baggage, and that's why I'm always first to the train. So many people in the broadcast business carry two or three bags. They've been ahead of me, but I passed them up.
It's funny. The same guys who used to criticize me for talking loud and screaming, who used to look down on me, guys like Skip Bayless and Jay Mariotti, are now doing what I did. They figured out where the money was. You probably won't write that, but it's true.
You've moved quite a bit in recent years. How confident are you that you'll have a good run at Channel 2?
I thought I would be at Comcast for 10 years, so you never know. I understood where Comcast was coming from. It was an expensive show to do 15 hours per week. I appreciate what they did for me. They gave me an audition tape.
Now I'm starting something new. We don't have a set plan. Watch us Monday, and you'll see four people trying to find their way. We might not have the show set for a year. Even Bruno Cohen said that. We're coming in without a lot of fanfare. We're under the radar, which I like.
This is a brand new innovation. It's time to start all over again and have a great show.
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