Category: Chicago Media

While wishing his Twitter and Facebook followers a happy New Year, Dan McNeil teased that a radio comeback may happen sooner rather than later.

Wishing all a happy, healthy 2015. Thanks to all who reached out to say you’ve missed me on-air. Likely back in February. #StayTuned

— Dan McNeil (@DanMcNeil670) December 31, 2014

McNeil elaborated a bit further via Facebook saying “for those of you who’ve said you’ve missed me on the air…thanks for the “love” and there will be news within a month or so.”

With no further details, McNeil’s fans are left to guess where he may resurface and in what capacity. While contract negotiations between McNeil and his former employer WSCR-AM/670 The Score broke off in August, there’s been no reports or other hints of any ill will preventing the two sides from working together again.

If McNeil were to return to The Score, would it be back to full-time or more of a part-time capacity? If full-time, the obvious question is where and at the expense of which current daytime Score show? McNeil’s former Score midday show partner Matt Spiegel is now paired with ex Bear Patrick Mannelly. While ratings have declined since McNeil’s departure, any change to the Score’s morning show (Mike Mulligan and Brian Hanley) or afternoon show (Terry Boers and Dan Bernstein) would be quite the surprise (unless of course Boers does decide to retire or some of the other hosts are re-shuffled).

A part-time capacity for McNeil seemingly shouldn’t be out of the question, as McNeil himself has admitted that he discussed such possibilities with Score’s Operations Manager Mitch Rosen. McNeil who appeared to be burnt out near the end of his last Score run might benefit from a lighter workload on weekends or filling in for sick or vacationing Monday-Friday hosts. A part-time role might be enough to satisfy his radio itch without the five day a week grind.

I also wouldn’t rule out the possibility of McNeil doing something completely different, perhaps with something involving his love of music. With plenty of FM rock stations in town, perhaps some sort of role might exist for him somewhere? One possible place might even be Score sister station WXRT-FM 93.1, which is also managed by Rosen.

The idea of McNeil returning to WMVP-AM/ESPN 1000 would be a huge surprise, and in my opinion, unlikely. While I had early hopes that he would surface in afternoons on WGWG-LP/88.7 The Game, that is no longer an option now that the Tribune Media sports/talk format has ceased operations. Another possibility, though seemingly slim, might be for McNeil to surface on WGN-AM 720, which is rumored to be re-tooling its own sports presence (while the weekend “Sports Central” show is believed to be on its way out, some sports programming is still expected to exist, though it would make sense to involve former talent from 88.7 The Game).

Perhaps wishful thinking, I still wish an opportunity would allow McNeil to partner with his former producer Ben Finfer, who is now available following his stint at 88.7 The Game. Finfer is a young and energetic host with strong opinions, which would contrast well with McNeil. I always thought that Finfer, who frequently worked on air along-side McNeil while filling in for Spiegel, made for a better on air partner.

I have previously suggested shortening the shifts of the midday and afternoon shows and scheduling McNeil for an early afternoon slot (in which he would be paired with Finfer). With how budget tight The Score is though, I would guess that such a scenario of an added show, which would include salaries and benefits, would be unlikely.

All we can do now is wait and see if anything materializes in the next month or so. Echoing the words McNeil used to finish his Facebook post, stay tuned.

UPDATE – SPRING, 2016: While Garry Meier is no longer broadcasting on WGN Radio, he is now podcasting several times a week (usually two free shows a week, with two or three bonus shows a week for paid subscribers). To learn more, visit GarryMeier.com.

The popular question right now is either “where is Garry Meier?” or “why was he fired?”

To answer the first question, he’s now “on the beach.” The answer to the second question… only a few people for sure know.  Either way, the recently demoted WGN-AM 720 afternoon drive host was sent home from the Tribune Tower for good and will no longer be doing his online WGN.FM show.

For whatever reason, Meier had a falling out with his boss, Jimmy de Castro, the president and general manager of WGN, which led to him being taken off AM 720 to begin with this past May. Some have speculated the rift could have begun when Meier refused to return Steve Dahl’s phone call, even after de Castro himself having possibly urged Meier to– about possibly doing something together at their Radio Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

The more likely scenario, in my opinion, involves Meier’s likely unwillingness to work with a partner. During a March, 2010 interview on Margaret Lakin’s Radiogirl Podcast, Meier specifically stated he had no desire to share billing with a partner, going as far to clarify that even his WGN sidekick, “Elton Jim” Turano was no more than just that, a sidekick.

In August, 2013, a lengthy Chicago Tribune piece profiling an upcoming reboot of the iconic station mentioned Castro’s desire to pair Meier with a co-host. Chicago media reporter Robert Feder echoed similar sentiments about a possible co-host for Meier in his own piece profiling the then upcoming changes at WGN.

The new co-host for Meier never happened for whatever reason. One month later, in September, Feder wrote a piece announcing that WGN afternoon traffic reporter Leslie Keiling would take a more “prominent role as a contributor to Meier’s afternoon show.” It never happened. Keiling had already been a regular voice on the show, officially or unofficially, and the amount of time she talked never changed.

The above examples are just some of the potential scenarios that may have led to a rift between Meier and de Castro. While I have been hard on de Castro in my two previous posts, the honest truth is, only a few people truly understand the circumstances which ultimately led to Meier’s departure from WGN. Based on collective soundbites over the years from Meier, his former co-host Roe Conn, as well as a few friends and acquaintances of my own, I definitely do believe Meier isn’t exactly the easiest person to work with or to necessarily please.

Whatever Meier might be like off air, his on air persona was very popular and highly successful for Tribune Media. As the highest paid talent at the station, WGN seemingly left a lot of money on the table by demoting him from terrestrial to online only. Now, with Meier’s show gone entirely (while continuing to collect that hefty paycheck until autumn of 2015) and station management refusing further explanation or a simple on-air acknowledgement of the issue, de Castro appears to simply be standing his ground…

Or perhaps, stomping his feet while holding his breath.

While Steve Dahl was debuting his new WLS-AM 890 afternoon show yesterday, Roe Conn, the former occupant of that spot, wrote a heartfelt note to his followers on Facebook.

Thanks again to everyone for your incredibly kind words. It has been the honor of my life to a part of your lives for the past two and a hallf decades. Like all transitions, this one has its challenges, but please know, I’ve been able to read all of your comments and will answer as many as a I can.

I’m not able to answer the most dominant question, “what’s next,” quite yet. But I promise, you will be the first to know when that decision is finally made. I plan on being back in your ears soon, but in the meantime you can catch me mornings on Windy City Live on ABC7 and tomorrrow night I’ll be on Fox32’s election night coverage. Fasten your seatbelts, I have a lot to say!

Conn has been mostly quiet on the social media front since his final show at WLS, October 7. Asides from a thank you note to his fans the following day, much of his social media activity has taken place at 5 p.m. on Fridays, with references to the canarble wagon segment, an iconic mainstay of his show each Friday afternoon. While off the radio airwaves, Conn’s kept busy with his regular appearances on WLS-TV/ABC 7’s “Windy City Live.” Conn will also appear tonight on WFLD-TV/Fox 32’s special election coverage.

It should also be worth noting that since Conn’s departure from WLS, all content has been removed from his website (which hadn’t been updated since 2012). There is now a note staying that a new website is coming soon.

As for what is next for Conn, the most logical, if not obvious, spot for him to re-surface is down the dial on WGN-AM 720. However, as we all have become accustomed to, what appears to be the most logical or obvious doesn’t usually happen in radio these days.

Robert Feder wrote yesterday on his blog that his sources at WGN have said there’s been no job offer made so far. One of the many reasons Conn’s arrival at WGN would seem to be imminent is because he and WGN’s President and General Manager, Jimmy de Castro, are in fact friends. I’ll also point out that in a Aug. 20, 2013 Robert Feder post hyping de Castro’s re-launch of WGN, Conn was specifically mentioned as being on the general manager’s wish list. And for the record, also on that list was John Williams and Steve Dahl.

Having listened to enough of Conn through the years, I get the sense that he would absolutely love the more relaxed talk format at WGN, where he would presumably not be forced to keep the conversation as news and politics heavy as he was at WLS. Ironically, it was Conn’s WLS replacement, Dahl, who once complained on his own podcast how former WLS program director Drew Hayes was annoyingly adamant about keeping the non-heavyweight news and political talk to a minimum (back when Dahl regularly filled in for Conn’s co-host, Richard Roeper).

Personally, I do hope Conn lands at WGN. In my opinion, Conn is a genuine talk radio heavyweight that would be a valuable asset there. One of Feder’s readers commented on yesterday’s blog post saying “if it is happening in Chicago, Roe is the person you want to listen to and find out what is really going on.” That, I agree with 100%.

If Conn does land at WGN, the obvious question is where and at the expense of who? Below is the lineup I would schedule if it were up to me. This is NOT a prediction of what I think would happen.

• Steve Cochran, 5 a.m. – 9 a.m.
  Cochran in studio and ready to work by 5.
• Bill Leff & Wendy Snyder, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
  I agree with the sentiment that their style of show sounds better at this time of day as opposed to late afternoons.
• John Williams, 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
  Williams’ ratings have never been outstanding, but he has a tremendous amount of goodwill will with listeners and advertisers. I have wondered if his being in Minnesota has posed any hindrance on that though. To make room in the lineup, I’d schedule Williams for just the one hour, having him anchor the “Business Lunch” format. A more business themed format would also be a good opportunity to have him correspond more with Orion Samuelson, which always makes for great radio.
• Garry Meier, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
  Meier sounded good while holding down the 1-4 p.m. slot when first hired at WGN. Move him off WGN.FM and put him back on the mainstream blowtorch. An absolute no-brainer.
• Roe Conn, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
  His WLS audience shrunk in afternoons, but I believe that was due to excessive commercial and traffic interruptions; not helping was severely weak programming in the morning. While commercials and the length of news is still a problem at WGN, I think Conn would benefit with their looser clock,  having more freedom to talk about non-news heavy topics while being surrounded by new people (i.e. Steve Bertrand and Leslie Keiling).
• Pete McMurray, 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
  While I’m not a huge fan of McMurray, he brings a  younger and fresher voice, providing a much needed contrast to WGN’s other long-standing and iconic talent. He lands big name guests and seemingly fits in well when filling in during other dayparts. In all reality, McMurray is being underutilized in the evening. I’m sure even his bosses would agree. There simply hasn’t been enough hours in the day to yet allow him to move up. Then again, having a talented voice in the evening slot should in theory make the overall station stronger.

The removal of Bob Sirott and Marianne Murciano from WGN’s lineup, in my opinion, should have been made yesterday. While I don’t necessarily dislike their program, I think it is the least exciting and stimulating show in their daytime lineup.

One should-be obvious show idea missing from my above lineup is a reunited Conn and Meier. I would love nothing more than for a second run of “Roe and Garry,” but I just don’t think there is any chance of that happening. Meier has specifically stated on multiple occasions that he has zero interest in working with a partner. Also, it’s not like Meier is the type of person who easily forgives and forgets. Even if the money and opportunity for success was right, I’m not sure Meier would cave on this.

Though never declared publically, it would not shock me at all if de Castro – who likely knew Conn would be a free agent by the start of 2015 – had already broached the idea to Meier, and didn’t get the answer he wanted. Meier’s likely unwillingness to work with Conn, or any other partner, might very well be why he was banished to the garbage dump that is WGN.FM.

That said, I think both Meier and Conn are professional enough to be willing to work separate shows back-to-back of each other. If not, they could at least work their individual shows and if necessary, borrow Jonathon Brandmeier’s black curtain to make sure neither makes eye contact with the other.

While Conn going to WGN is not yet a slam dunk, it is seemingly the most likely place for him to re-surface at in 2015. That is until the radio gods once again remind us to never bet on anything that half-way resembles logic.

It’s showtime for Steve Dahl, who returns to terrestrial radio today as the new WLS-AM 890 afternoon host. It will be interesting to see if Dahl can give WLS the steady boost that it badly needs, and how his ratings compare to his predecessors, Roe Conn and Richard Roeper.

I expect Dahl will boost afternoons for the station, at least in the beginning. Eliminating traffic and weather updates every 10 minutes to minimize interruptions is a nice start. Another problem that plagued the “Roe & Roeper” show was excessive commercials. If that isn’t addressed, Dahl’s numbers will eventually drop.

The sure thing is that Dahl can’t save WLS by himself. The morning situation there really ought to be addressed, though there is no guarantee with the notoriously cheap station owner, Cumulus Media. If they do decide to make a change, for example, to their morning drive program, there are a few routes they can go down.

They can attempt to stick with the conservative format, but instead go with more lively, interesting and less partisan personalities. Other options could be going with a more general news/talk type of show, with someone like a Rob Hart, who is already employed at sister station, The Loop/WLUP-FM 97.9. Pair him with a female co-host and you might have something a bit different from the morning programs on either WBBM-AM 780 or WGN-AM 720. A third option might be leaning more towards a lighter entertainment based talk format.  J.C. Corcoran, who grew up in the Chicago area and spent most of his professional radio career in St. Louis, is one possible name who could fill that role. Corcoran isn’t at all timid to muse on current news and and politics when he sees fit. I’m not saying Corcoran should get the job. He is the example I went with because I am a fan of his and because he has been one of the fill-in hosts for various WLS shows of late.

As for Dahl’s afternoon spot, not everyone is happy that he’s coming back. The obvious unhappy bunch would be many of the displaced “Roe & Roeper” fans. Another group of people unhappy are the Dahl haters. A third group, consisting of his fans and his haters are those who understand that hiring him is just one more example of how poorly talk radio has developed fresh and younger voices. That, I can agree with, which brings me to the image at the top of this post, which I think appropriately reflects what WLS hiring Steve Dahl signifies.

“Been here. Done that.”

By the way, that graphic wasn’t made by either myself or anyone from the Dahl hater’s club. It was an actual image slider that rotated on the old WCKG-FM 105.9 website dating back to 2008, where Dahl last worked afternoon drive. Though I didn’t know why then, I knew use of that graphic seemed out of place.

Saving it for 2014 would have been much more appropriate.

Concerning radio formatting, there’s supposed to be a distinct difference between all-news and talk. I wish talk radio programmers understood that.

I have no problem with how smaller market talk stations program all-news during morning and/or afternoon drive. My problem is with talk stations that attempt to program excessive news and traffic updates around their regular talk programming. While attempting to offer the best of both worlds to listeners, such efforts often become a detriment to the overall talk format, at the expense of both the listening audience and the talk show hosts.

Listeners of Chicago’s two prominent talk stations, WGN-AM 720 and WLS-AM 890, should know full well how such detriment has affected their favorite talk shows. Both stations have made repeated attempts through the years to beef up their own news and traffic coverage in hopes of luring listeners away from the ratings and revenue all-news powerhouse WBBM-AM 780 (which simulcasts on WCFS FM 105.9 — which will soon have some real relevance for seemingly the first time ever). WGN’s traffic and weather on the seven’s severely impacted the overall quality of Spike O’Dell’s morning show and Steve Cochran’s afternoon show, while WLS’s traffic and weather on the fives was enough to hinder one of Chicago’s best talk personalities, Roe Conn.

While WLS is expected to lessen the amount of afternoon traffic updates once Steve Dahl makes his debut in November, WGN is aiming to make another lunge at WBBM. According to a Chicago Tribune piece last month, WGN is in the midst of tinkering with its overall news coverage in response to losing the Chicago Cubs to WBBM.  The hiring of longtime television anchor Anna Davlantes to report on trending stories along with the addition of “Business Lunch” to the 12 p.m. hour of Bob Sirott and Marianne Murciano’s afternoon show are two prime examples of how they are attempting to bolster it’s news presence. WGN is also aiming to expand their ability towards more original reporting. The ultimate end-game is to establish a more extensive news team that can potentially attract displaced news seekers once Cubs games pre-empt WBBM’s all-news format starting next spring.

At least such attempts are seemingly genuine, unlike the empty maneuver of re-branding the station as “News 720 WGN” back in 2010 under the volatile leadership of the late Kevin Metheny.

While I am not fully pleased with many of the past year’s programming changes made by WGN President and General Manager Jimmy de Castro, I have to give him credit for continuing to maintain a prominently all-live and all-local talk station. Even though I believe many of his programming choices (or choices that he ultimately approved of) have been absolutely mind-numbing, WGN is one of only a few unique talk stations in the country that have avoided much of the cutbacks, layoffs, syndication and brokered programming. The enhancing of its news department is one more example of WGN’s willingness to spend more money while every other station seemingly finds new ways to cut back.

However, I have to think that such attempts to win over WBBM’s audience may potentially turn into a wasted effort. While the Cubs will pre-empt WBBM’s all-news format on AM 780, its FM 105.9 simulcast will continue airing all-news uninterrupted. I reckon the vast majority of WBBM’s listeners in the Chicago metro area will have no trouble switching to 105.9 on the FM band — especially since the simulcast has been inexistence since August, 2011. Any regular WBBM listener should at the very least be vaguely aware that a FM simulcast exists. WBBM has gone out of its way to include 105.9 in its overall branding.

Asides from those outside the FM 105.9 listening range or those unable to or unwilling to listen via online, how many displaced AM 780 listeners can WGN realistically expect to gain?

According to the same Tribune report, WGN President and General Manager Jimmy de Castro said that they’re “going to put more emphasis and energy into news, particular while [WBBM is] doing baseball.” To me, that sure sounds like longer news updates at the top and bottom of the hour, which in all honesty, is just what the station does not need.

WGN’s top of the hour newscast, especially during morning and afternoon drive, are already long enough. Even with an older skewing audience, I think WGN in 2015 can still function healthily without trying to be the all-service station. Between the amount of time dedicated to news and commercials, it can make listening to their programming difficult, which is painfully obvious in the morning during Steve Cochran’s show (the saving grace for WGN’s overload of commercials is that WLS is seemingly far worse).

Interruptions in the talk format, regardless of their merit, are mere distractions. WGN can’t have it both ways.

As it is, WGN is barely juggling their talk programming around news and commercials. Any further tinkering, especially if that actually does mean more news in hopes of attracting displaced WBBM listeners, will potentially displace WGN’s existing listeners — an audience that wants to listen to long-form talk.

WGN’s talk format is what makes it so unique. WGN should be utilizing its greatest strength, which is their full cast of friendly, live and local personalities (whether you like or dislike their current assemble of personalities is a separate conversation). Diluting them with more news and traffic interruptions would be counterintuitive.

Email: blowtorchpress [at] gmail.com | Twitter: @MartinHawr

Since posting this entry earlier this morning, the WLS-AM website has removed Roe & Roeper from their program schedule. Earlier this morning, Conn appeared on ABC 7/WLS-TV’s “Windy City Live,” confirming that yesterday was their final show. It appears that Conn’s career at WLS radio has come to an end.

In response to the news that Steve Dahl is returning to terrestrial radio at WLS-AM 890, veteran Chicago radio executive Michael Damsky wrote on Facebook, “this is the radio story of the year. Only Robert Feder gets this scoop.”

The news broken last night by Feder was so big and surprising, that my mother-in-law texted and called me to discuss it.

Steve Dahl, the soon to be WLS afternoon host.

It’s been known that the contracts for Roe Conn and Richard Roeper, the current afternoon hosts at WLS, were expiring towards the end of this year. There wasn’t much optimism that either would be back.

While the station has not officially announced Dahl’s hiring or any surrounding details, Feder did not specify whether Conn or Roeper will continue hosting until the change takes place. The WLS website is still promoting their Friday, Oct. 31 “Roe & Roeper’s Nightmare on Clark Street” event. [Update: All references to Conn and Roeper, including the “Nightmare on Clark Street” event, have been removed from the WLS website.]

The contracts for Bruce Wolf and Dan Proft, the current morning hosts at WLS, are also believed to be expiring near the end of this year. Does the Cumulus-owned station plan to reinvent the rest of the daypart or are they content at sticking with the status-quo? It’s not like mornings at WLS are setting the world on fire. Does a scenario exist in which Conn, with or without Roeper, moves to morning drive? At the moment, my initial guess would be no.

Roe Conn, the iconic. and now seemingly former, WLS afternoon host.

Even though I don’t think it will happen, I think it’s worth mentioning when considering that WLS is still reeling from the loss of their iconic morning duo, Don Wade and Roma. While Conn’s afternoon ratings haven’t been good, he too is an iconic personality there, having just celebrated his 25th anniversary. Reasonable executives might understand that outside of the afternoon show, the station is an utter mess.

Despite Conn’s swelled ego in recent years, along with his rampant stammering and stuttering, he provides a highly intelligent and reasonable perspective that is also entertaining while discussing the news of the day. Unfortunately, the excessive commercial time and the horrendous traffic and weather on the fives format have made his show practically unlistenable.

Since we’re speaking of Cumulus, I suspect they have little care about station heritage or that their fingerprint smudges are largely responsible for Conn’s poor ratings performance. The notoriously cheap company will likely part ways with Conn, allowing him to resurface elsewhere, with WGN-AM 720 as the seemingly most obvious choice — which I would be more excited about if that were to happen without Roeper.

Putting the excessive commercial time and traffic and weather format aside, I haven’t been a huge fan of Roe Conn’s afternoon show since the arrival of Roeper as co-host. I don’t think he adds much as far as content to the overall show. Obviously, the loss of Garry Meier as co-host was significant, but I eventually became comfortable with the combination of Conn, Bill Leff, Jim Johnson, and to a lesser extent, Christina Filiaggi.

As for Steve Dahl, I’m not a fan. I don’t appreciate how unnecessarily vile he is when insulting someone — while the circumstances in which Dahl criticizes someone may be warranted, there is a fine line between constructive criticism and being excessively mean. His recent lashing at WGN and his choice words towards Leff and Wendy Snyder, the station’s afternoon hosts, are just recent examples.

I also don’t think that listening to Dalh talk to wife on the air or his personal musings to be of interest. As a previous paid subscriber of his podcast (which allowed me to better sample his product in hopes of finding an alternative to bad terrestrial radio), I was turned off at the excessive amount of such musings that dominate his show, drowning out some otherwise interesting content, such as discussion of a Blackhawks playoff game from the night before.

While I’m not a fan of Dahl, I of course will be listening to him on day one at WLS. And that is whole idea. Hiring Dahl will, at least at the beginning, re-energize the older radio audience, bringing in new listeners, whether they are a fan of his or not.

On the flip-side, such a hiring only reinforces just how damaged the radio industry is. Instead of grooming young radio personalities into superstars, radio companies every now and then resort to shelling out decent to big money towards such re-treads like Dahl.

A few added thoughts…

– For those criticizing Robert Feder for releasing this scoop on the first day that his blog is jettisoned behind a Chicago Tribune paywall, do you not have any idea how journalism works? The timing of specific news pieces happens all the time, whether you like it or not. I suspect that those criticizing Feder for releasing the WLS/Dahl news today are people who already have a beef against him.

– Feder is not perfect. I have previously criticized him for often making it too obvious who he’s friends or foe with in Chicago media — and how that has  shaped how he narrates certain stories (i.e. WGN’s mishandling of Garry Meier last spring) — also a common function in journalism. That said, such scoops such as Steve Dahl joining WLS is what makes him a must read if you have any care in the world for Chicago media. You just never know when Feder has an ace up his sleeve.

Is WGN-AM 720 unfairly quieting angry Garry Meier fans from its Facebook page or were they left with no choice? That is the question in response to Susan Vethacke, who claims to have been blocked from WGN’s Facebook in posts on the Chicagoland Radio & Media message board.

Vethacke identifies herself as the creator of the Facebook group, Bring Back Garry Meier — a group that has 1,400 likes. I composed a mini write-up of that group here on June 13. The removal of Meier from the terrestrial AM 720 to the online-stream WGN.FM has been a controversial subject for the 90 year old news/talk station.

While I previously wrote that I admired the efforts of the Bring Back Garry Meier Facebook group, my opinion have changed. It seems that no matter what WGN posts to their Facebook, the comments area are hijacked by Vetacke and other angry Meier fans. I thought it was mildly inappropriate, for example, when fans hijacked a post that was designated to congratulate the newly engaged Karen Conti, a frequent WGN guest and legal expert. When any fringe group crosses a certain line, they start to hurt their cause rather than help it. Whether hijacking a thread about one’s marital engagement is considered crossing the line is left to individual opinion.

Another point worth making is that WGN blocking Meier fans from commenting on their Facebook is not a freedom of speech issue. Freedom of speech applies to the protection of speech from the government via the First Amendment. You can’t call your boss a “jack ass” and expect not to get fired because of freedom of speech. WGN has the right to dictate comments on its Facebook, just as I have the right to dictate reader comments on this blog.

If the moving of Meier was all political, even at the potential expense of ratings and advertising revenue, then it seems even more unlikely that WGN management would reverse course, even if the move does pan out to be a mistake.

As a long-time fan of Dan McNeil, I hope he resurfaces somewhere on the Chicago sports radio circuit sooner rather than later. There’s been zero news concerning McNeil since his final June 13 broadcast on WSCR-AM/670 The Score. As alluded by Larz at Chicagoland Radio and Media, and by McNeil himself previously on the Chicago Sports Fan message board earlier this year, the long-time sports talk host seems content with enjoying summer and recharging his batteries before making any decisions on a comeback.

While there isn’t any new news, persay, Robert Feder sums up nicely the current scenario and potential options ahead for McNeil. The easy guess, in my opinion, is that McNeil resurfaces on his Score midday show sometime before Bears season.

In all honesty, I wouldn’t be heart broken if McNeil were to change co-hosts or even stations. While I’m not anti Matt Spiegel, McNeil’s co-host on The Score since 2009, I think McNeil would benefit from the rejuvenation that he would likely get with a new co-host, especially if he were to turn up in the afternoon on the still relatively new WGWG-Lp/87.7 The Game.

I would prefer McNeil be paired with a co-host that is younger and perhaps edgier. I don’t have anyone in mind, necessary, but I haven’t been a huge fan of the McNeil and Spiegal pairing since day one. I still believe Spiegal is at his best with his former “Hit and Run” co-host and frequent Score fill-in host Barry Rozner.

While I would be very surprised if McNeil moved to The Game, I would welcome it, ensuring that there is some long-term security for him, considering we don’t know what the future of the station might be (87.7 LP goes away towards the later end of 2015). McNeil’s not moving to a jumpstart venture, such as The Game, unless it is for an afternoon drive spot, which he is on the record of badly wanting. As a long-time McNeil fan, there’s nothing like some good ol’ Danny Mac sports talk in the afternoon after a long day at the office.

UPDATED 6/30/14: Earlier today, Dan McNeil tweeted the following:

Not in a contract holdout, as @RobertFeder wrote. @MitchRosen670 approved time off before negotiations. Nonetheless…I remain mercurial!

— Dan McNeil (@DanMcNeil670) June 30, 2014