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History Of The Score: Chapter V - The Present And Future

By Daniel I. Dorfman-

In the summer of 2008 following Mike North's departure, Score management was left with a void in radio's most important time: morning drive.

Executives asked midmorning hosts Mike Mulligan and Brian Hanley to fill in temporarily as they tried to figure out what to do.

The pair agreed, but they did not want to relinquish their current slot as well. So for one week they did both shifts. Because of a commitment to do a remote, that forced them to do part of a show from a car one day.

"We decided we would suck it up and do it that week because we didn't want someone else doing our show because we weren't sure how long the transition was going to be and we felt it was going to be a disservice to our listeners to leave them for a week," Hanley said.

Soon thereafter, the two sportswriters lobbied to be installed permanently in the mornings. It took a little while to build an audience, but station management led by then-General Manager Paul Agase realized the potential of the show.

"Paul showed a lot of courage to give us that morning slot and he also stuck with us through some tough times and we will always be indebted to him for that," Mulligan said.

"Mully & Hanley" are now the top ranked show in the targeted demographic of men 25-54 proves listeners responded.

"One of the best stories in Chicago radio history is the success of Mully and Hanley on the Score," said Program Director Mitch Rosen. "To cultivate a large listening audience in middays and then to enter the ultra competitive world of morning drive radio in the nation's third largest market and shoot to the top as quick as they did is phenomenal.  Like all on-air people here they work hard, but the difference is getting up at 3AM and coming to play at 5AM when the microphone goes on."

While North had his style, the two newspaper scribes knew they had to put their personal imprint on the show.

"When Michael Jordan retired, Scottie Pippen and I had breakfast and I was talking to him about how he was going to replace Jordan," Mulligan said. "He said I am going to play my game. I can't replace Michael; I am just going to play my game. I think we had that approach in replacing North. We were going to do our show."

What Mulligan and Hanley do each morning is mix in lots of guests providing analysis coupled with a very friendly approach toward callers.

"I worked at a grocery store throughout high school," Hanley said. "It was run by a family friend and I just watched how he treated his customers. He did whatever he could to make them feel welcome and valued. That is the approach we take. There are times when you roll your eyes at what a caller might say and you wonder what they are talking about, but you can gently move them along without insulting them and making them feel bad about the experience."

When Dan McNeil acrimoniously left the Score in 2000, few probably thought he would return one day. But radio is a peculiar business and sometimes ideas that were once unthinkable come true.
After departing ESPN in 2009, McNeil received an offer to come back to the Score even though his career has had some public conflicts.

"Mac and I have been friends for over 20 years," Rosen said. "If you know who Mac is and the great person he is, you know how to manage him and vice versa. One of his great attributes is if he is your friend there is nobody better to be your friend.

As opposed to when McNeil was paired with Terry Boers at the Score in the 90s or when he worked at ESPN in the last decade, this time McNeil is working with a decidedly younger partner in Matt Spiegel, a former Score producer who left the station at one point to pursue opportunities in radio and music. They were paired together when McNeil came back.

"I have realized I am approaching the back end of our desirable demo so it is good to keep in touch with a lot of audience members who speak a different language than a 50-year-old guy from a technology and pop culture standpoint and just the way you look at the world," McNeil said. "The difference in age is a real asset."

McNeil concedes he has mellowed over the years. Now his reputation for breathing fire is a myth according to his producer Jay Zawaski. The host himself believes that might be because of his 18-year-old son Patrick, who suffers from autism.

"I think watching his development has done and enjoying the small victories he gains throughout his process and treatment has given me reason to not care so much about little things that used to drive me crazy," McNeil said. "I had a terrible temper. Now it is rare when I raise my voice either off the air or on it. I think that has made me better. Maybe I have learned a little bit from Patrick."

In the afternoons, the duo of Terry Boers and Dan Bernstein will be 13-years-old next year and has no signs of slowing down.

Many radio marriages have not lasted as long as Boers and Bernstein but theirs has continued to do well with the public.

"We are certainly different," Boers said. "But his thoughts on stuff aren't that far from my thoughts on stuff and he is a smart guy and he goes off in different directions on stuff that sometimes is goofy. But his goofiness has helped. Over a period of time it became more of what he did but being goofy is part of what we do. We have serious conversation but being goofy is a huge part of this and I think he has done this very well."

As for a charge the duo could be perceived as arrogant, Boers said that is ridiculous. Bernstein adds that he would not describe their style as tough.  "We just try to set the bar high for sufficient input from callers and responses from guests," he said.

"Boers is a Score original and Bernstein is one of the smartest people on the air in Chicago," Rosen said. "The duo has the longest running sports talk show in Chicago. It's an honor to have them on the air."

When the White Sox aren't playing, Laurence Holmes is behind the mike as he also provides analysis on broadcasts of DePaul basketball.

"Laurence is a great story," Rosen said. "He started out here as a producer and he did sales for a while and he has been a reporter. He has now been a talk show host for a number of years and it is a great example of someone being brought up through the system at the Score and has seen great success. I'm tremendously proud of a guy like him."

Since 2009 the Score has had completely local programming with the return of Les Grobstein, a 40-year veteran of Chicago broadcasting, who stays up with the overnight crowd amazing listeners with his incredible memory of Chicago sports. Grobstein had left the Score in 2001.

Grobstein couldn't be happier with the somewhat loose format of his overnight show. "It is to let the fans out there have their say and I am there just to moderate it," he notes. "I have a blast, it is like driving a cab, and you never know where you are going next."

Rosen credits Agase for his contributions to programming. "Paul Agase was instrumental in the growth of the Score," he said.

Moreover, the program director adds the Score's current success can be traced to the work of all employees.

"The life blood of the station," Rosen notes.  "Whether full or part-time, producers drive the talent, drive the audience, and help drive the topics. I grew up as a producer (Rosen was the producer of Chicago radio legends Eddie Schwartz and Kevin Matthews) in the business and continue to produce every day. One thing I've learned along the way is a station that has thrived the way the Score has over 20 years only happens with everybody pulling in the same direction. That includes producers, talent, sales, programming, engineering and commercial traffic." (Commercial traffic personnel make sure the advertisements and promotions are scheduled to be broadcast at the proper time.)

As the station closes out 2011 and its 20th year, the formula in place seems to be working. After a period of ratings doldrums, the Score is doing very well right now in the targeted demographic of men 25-54. Overall, the station ranks fourth. The "Mully & Hanley" success is complemented by McNeil & Spiegel ranking third and Boers & Bernstein coming fourth.

Clearly one of the reasons for the success is the emphasis on local programming. But there are a lot of stations who have local content, but have not seen the success the Score has in recent years.

"I think what differentiates us from our competition is we pride ourselves on being local and we are personalities," Rosen said. "Our on air talent says what is on their mind. They don't break laws or FCC rules but at times it is edgy and I think our listeners love that. We bring our audience behind the radio curtain and people eat that up."

Suffice to say, one person's edgy could cross the line to others.

"When Dad passed away, I thought there were some personal comments that I didn't think were very tasteful," noted Rocky Wirtz. "They weren't about the team, they were about him as an individual but I had discussions with the guys and we aired it out and apologies were done and we didn't dwell on it."

That leads to other questions about what goes out on the air from the Score. There are people who don't care for the hosts or the content.

"I don't think they did much reporting," said Dan McGrath, the former sports editor for the Chicago Tribune and now a writer for the Chicago News Cooperative. "It used to annoy me that they would pick apart the newspaper and they would ridicule this person for having that opinion or ridicule that person for his take on a particular issue yet if it weren't for the newspaper where would they be getting their information? In my time in Chicago and in all the time I have been going to the games there are some talk show hosts I have never seen at the ballpark or never seen at a Bears game. You can get your information off TV or wherever you wanted, but in terms of credibility there is nothing that beats good old fashioned reporting and being out there, talking to people and learning it for yourself. I thought there was a lot more heat than light shed on issues."

McGrath went on to describe how he believes sports radio has altered athletics in general.

"It has changed sports fans more than it has changed sports journalism," he said. "It has made it a little more hostile. It has created this expectation that you pay $80 for this ticket and you better win. These are the best athletes in the world and when I was younger I considered it a privilege to go out and watch them regardless of who won but it is just a little nastier."

Inside the Score today, does everybody see everything the same way? Of course not. But that likely has been the case since the first radio commercial stations went on the air in the United States 90 years ago.

"It shouldn't be that difficult of a proposition for grown men who get paid handsomely to go to work and get along with each other but it is not as always as easy as you might think," McNeil said. "It could always be better, but it is not horrible."

With the station on apparent solid ground, the question becomes what does the future hold for the Score.

Don't look for the Score to be placed on an FM simulcast anytime soon. In other markets such as Philadelphia, CBS is putting the sports radio station on FM as well as AM. Such an opportunity was available here in Chicago recently but management elected to simulcast WBBM and its all news product.

"We are always looking to improve our products and have considered every model and format option we can think of or available to us," Senior Vice President/Market Manager for CBS Radio Chicago Rod Zimmerman noted. "However, we like our current lineup of stations and formats and have no plans to change."

But where changes are going to occur for the Score and the entire industry is keeping up with technology. The station has benefitted already with the personal people meter technology that now keeps more accurate ratings and sports talk stations across the country have benefitted from that.

In what would have been unthinkable in January 1992, the Score now has a steady audience of streaming listeners on 670thescore.com. Then there are the texters where a screen is set up for the hosts to see what they have to say.

"A good part of the show during the break is to text back and if they shared was constructive and added something to the show, you share it with the listeners and text back and say thanks for that," Hanley said. "If they have a criticism you text back as much as you can while you are broadcasting and see what it really bothering them."

In addition, the Score is one of approximately 2,300 stations now broadcasting in HD. Nearly six million have HD ready units have been sold in the U.S. and it is available in 23 different types of cars. All of those numbers are expected to increase.
What could make for an interesting trend is five teams already broadcast on their own HD channels and the White Sox andMiami Dolphins have stations lined up, but have yet to launch.

For listeners who only want to hear about one particular team and don't care for other teams, that could potentially be an issue for sports radio.

"If you create a 24/7 HD channel, you are superserving your fan base and you have created a new channel of distribution for your marketing partners," said Stephen Baldacci, senior vice president for marketing for Ibiquity, the developer of the HD Radio technology system. (CBS Inc. is an investor in Ibiquity.)

Thus 20 years into a wild journey that has seen guests being both welcomed and challenged, hosts laughing and occasionally bickering and callers using the phrase "first time caller, long time listener" that is iconic in sports radio lingo, the Score has come a long way. The station has come a lot farther than many thought it could including Mitch Rosen, who was a skeptic in 1992.

Another person who wasn't sure the format would work was Bruce DuMont, the Founder and President of the Museum of Broadcast Communications. But DuMont concedes the Score has put a successful formula in place and sums up these last two decades.

"If you put the right broadcast team together people will be drawn to you whether you are 1,000 watts, 500 watts or 50,000 watts. It isn't the power you have; it is the product you produce. The Score from the beginning, the brand was right, the timing was right and they put together a chemistry on the air that worked. Chicago fell in love in it."

Chapter VI: Where Are They Now? »

About This Series

Daniel I. Dorfman is a Chicago-based writer who has maintained a freelance relationship with WSCR since October 2010.

Dorfman was permitted to pursue any line of questions he believed to be appropriate for this series.

Many current and former WSCR employees were approached to give their reflections on their time at WSCR. Some chose to participate, some did not.

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