I’ve never worked in radio, but as a long time listener have suspected it is a common practice for employees at the station (especially the producer) to pretend to be a real caller.
Busted big time
Feder’s account
(Robert Feder is the self appointed mother hen of Chicago Radio – he has friends and spies everywhere – if he doesn’t like you, your career in Chicago radio is dead)
My sarcastic description of Mike McConnell’s planned move to Chicago was right on. While he’s a nice guy, he’s trying to break into a market that doesn’t like outsiders, the audience are smart well-educated bright people, and the city has been under the thumb of Democrats as long as radio has been around.
It might have worked if McConnell was young or witty, but he is neither. His observations about the day’s events are mostly just pointing out the obvious. He speaks quite slowly and to a Chicago person would sound like a rural hick. WGN is not a very politically oriented station and to the extent it is, it remembers the good old FDR days and what a wondeful guy Old Mayor Daley was. WGN is the #2 station in the #3 market (#1 is WBBM, the 24 hour news station). This is not the minor leagues.
When Chicago collectively went “WTF?” and the phones were dead, word went out in the Tribune Tower for employees to call the show. Tribune’s main business (having sold the cubs) is printing a newspaper and running a TV network and Cable TV channel. Tribune is currently in bankruptcy with no exit in sight.
I didn’t listen, but I would guess really smart executive types discussing current events with Mike just further pointed out to listeners how out of their league McConnell is, and make senior management more aware of their problem. Maybe that was the point of the memo.
I’ve read a report that McConnell is back in Cincinatti doing the show remotely, which means he’ll never understand Chicago. Cunningham was smart enough to stay in his league at WLW. Had he gone to Chicago, the reception by the audience would be the same.
