Franky T wrote:
I love how Danny kept saying "you have to connect with the audience...if you want to make it in this business you have to connect with the listeners". Then he and Mitch promptly dismissed the two of the four who received the most on-line votes from the audience/listeners and ultimately picked the one who (presumably) received the least amount of support from the audience/listeners.
In their defense, the online, audience stuff is to make the audience "think" they have a voice. It really doesn't mean anything at all. Case in point was last year when Michael Oshita won the online voting over myself and the other contestants. The online voting was designed to bring traffic to the station's website. The actual voting meant nothing. They know friends and family are going to vote for who they know so it really isn't a good measure of what the "audience" thinks. Michael, by the way, was one of the two let go after the initial cut.
Which brings me to another point. Mitch Rosen questioned one of the contestants during the broadcast because he was from out of town and wondered how he could relate to a Chicago audience. Mitch didn't think he could relate to the audience and told him so to his face. This made me scratch my head for two reasons. First, if he didn't think an out-of-towner could fit the bill for the position, then what was he doing as one of the final contestants? Secondly, Connor McKnight, winner of last year's reporter search contest, was questioned about his Chicago knowledge since he was not from Chicago. Members of the panel (that night it was Bernsey, Rosen, Drew Hayes and Ron Gleason) voiced concerns that he might not have enough Chicago backround for the job. In the end, it didn't seem to matter as he won the job.
I wouldn't be shocked if the suits from corporate had a hand in telling Mitch who the winner would be. I remember last year on the Wednesday before the contest, a post on the chicagoland radio and media website said that he had it on good authority that the suits had picked the winner and it would be Connor. The contest is a great way to get those of us who want, or wanted, to work in the field a chance at stardom. That is the hook. From there, I think things are determined by powers far greater than those on the panel.