Posted on 07/11/2006 9:13:51 PM PDT by paltz
(CBS) CHICAGO There’s a big shake-up in Chicago radio. He’s one of the most popular and polarizing personalities in town. Erich “Mancow” Muller has been let go from Q101.
CBS 2’s Jon Duncanson reports the man known for his mouth has been silenced…at least for now.
“When your contract's up sometimes you step up, you know?” Muller said. “You move on to better things.”
Whether on purpose or a Freudian slip, “Mancow’s Morning Madhouse” brought up the “C” word on-air Tuesday morning.
“It is not my last day,” Muller told CBS Tuesday morning. “I have a contract through August and I plan on fulfilling my contract. What they plan on is up to them.”
“I think it was just the best thing to do to say ‘Today was your last day,’” Q101 General Manager Marv Nyren later told CBS 2 News.
By Tuesday afternoon, the station had posted a statement on their Web site that Mancow has no future at the station starting now.
Muller has thrived on all sorts of controversy over the years, the last eight at Q101 (WKQX-FM). It has translated into high ratings.
But the station says advertisers weren’t flocking to what they considered a “shock jock,” and Mancow’s show wasn’t fitting into the station’s alternative rock format.
“So we said ‘It's time to make a change.’ Either we do something with the morning show or the rest of the radio station, and I guess the other 20 hours of the day won,” Nyren said.
“I'm like a white, ugly, skinny, masculine Oprah,” Muller has said in the past.
He has exploited that fact in nationally syndicating his show.
It is clear Mancow was going to leave the station when his contract ended in late August.
“I got bigger plans,” he said. “We're taking the show national. And I don't know what they're gonna do but...I wish ‘em luck.”
For his bosses, “national” was part of the problem.
“He was doing a radio show that was just as good for a station in Tucson, Ariz., as it was for Chicago,” Nyren said. "The problem from our point of view is that we wanted a show for Chicago.
Q101 says they’ll have an all-new morning show up and running Sept. 18. As for Mancow, he’s confident he’ll be on the air again in Chicago. If he knows, he’s not saying when.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Mancow is a South Park conservative. I listen to his show from time to time. Funny stuff.
Good, now he can run for Congress on the Moron Party ticket.
Actually, most Generation X conservatives identify with many of the points brought up on South Park. For instance, there is the fact Canadians are malformed, socialist robots. (sarcasm)
Seriously, South Park has its points, regardless of how long you can tolerate Cartman and Timmer. If you think about it a bit, it's sort of like the GOP with McCain and Guiliani.
I doubt that. Cow is more conservative than either of the two. McCain NEVER would have made Team America.
Didn't Howard used to be a South Park conservative before reading Franken's book?
Clinton?
I agree, but you might have missed my point. South Park is really about Kyle. Cartman (Rudy) and Timmer (McCain)are attention-hogs, at the expense of (guns, babies, marriage and socialism with Rudy, the entire Constitution with old Johnny) everyone and everything else.
McCain reminds me of Butters.
is this the guy that shows up on Fox's "Fox and Friends" morning show? If so... this dude is a goof.
>> Good, now he can run for Congress on the Moron Party ticket. <<
You think the Democrats would nominate him???
>>>“He was doing a radio show that was just as good for a station in Tucson, Ariz., as it was for Chicago,” Nyren said. "The problem from our point of view is that we wanted a show for Chicago.
That's hard to argue against. There is just too much prepackaged and syndicated radio shows. Local focus and sensibilities are being squeezed out in favor of homogenized babble. Local flavor and personality in broadcasting should be encouraged.
Moron Party ticket - DemoRat?
Chicago?
From what I have read elsewhere, Mancow has indicated that he holds a very low opinion of satellite radio, likening it to a pyramid scheme, designed to enrich those at the top, and leave everyone else holding the bag..
He compared it to Enron..
Considering, I doubt very much whether he will go with satellite radio..
Look for another venue..
Possibly internet, or wireless, cell-phone service downloads, etc..
Maybe he will try opinion pieces done on podcast, I don't know..
He's been around for quite a while and survived in a dog-eat-dog business..
I would guess he will survive, one way or another..
Stern disappeared from the face of the earth after he went to Sirius. He lost 80% of his audience since they were too cheap to pay for Sirius.
When my book, "America's Victories: Why the U.S. Wins Wars and Will Win the War on Terror," first came out in May, Mancow was the VERY first one to schedule an interview. On the morning I was supposed to be on, I held on the line for almost half an hour while he went on a rant . . . then the producer said, "He's running a little long. Can we reschedule?" They never did. Listening to him was funny, but it took up quite a bit of my time for nothing.
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