O'Donnell: With sports talk withering in Chicago, what is 'The Score' celebrating?
THERE IS A VAST BONEYARD of faded American corporations that shouldn't schedule "anniversary celebrations."
Blockbuster ... Pan Am ... Minnie Pearl's Fried Chicken.
Which makes it all the more laughable Chicago's very down WSCR-AM (670) is in the midst of some kind of yearlong "30th Anniversary Celebration."
What are they celebrating?
Deflated ratings?
A whiz-poor swarm of low-budget on-air drones?
Flatulent, Hindenburg disaster-like management?
Distant echoes of the Bush administrations?
THE MOST RECENT NIELSEN AUDIO book listed "The Score" as No. 22 in the market.
The signal remains "Chicago's sports leader" since DOA mom-and-plopper WMVP-AM (1000) crawled in at No. 25.
Turtle beats snail.
But those same radio Nielsens also heralded a number of major American cities where sports talk radio is robust and thriving.
Among them, rabid Boston, where WBZ-FM is No. 2 and WEEI-FM is No. 11.
Plus San Francisco (KNBR-AM, No. 4), Dallas/Fort Worth (KTCK-AM, No. 4) and Detroit (WXYT-FM, No. 4).
How about New York (WFAN, No. 10), Philadelphia (WIP-FM, No. 8) and Washington, D.C. (WJFK-FM, No. 10)?
ALL COMPETITIVE, ALL ENGAGING, all so far from the must-flee sonic slop Chicago is chloroformed with on a daily basis.
"The Score" has had operational highlights. But almost all came more than 20 years ago.
The station signed on in 1992. Prior to that, Dan Jiggetts - the single most important hire in the history of WSCR - was signed to bring instant credibility and likability.
In 1995, Westinghouse bought the operation from Diamond Broadcasting. In 2000, WSCR finally arrived as a full-service, 24-hour signal at powerful AM-670 (tipped more than 18 months before in the sports & media space of The Sun-Times.)
And then its primary loft was over.
SINCE THEN?
In 2014, wily Jimmy de Castro helped hijack Cubs radio play-by-play rights from sinking WGN-AM (720). After one season on corporate sister WBBM-AM (780), "The Score" greeted Joe Maddon, Anthony Rizzo and other myth busters in time to air a World Series-winning year.
More recently, the station has slashed staff and budget. Cubs games now equal dead air. Internally, the lone saving register ring of AM-670 has been the significant influx of advertising revenue from legalized gaming concerns.
And that's it.
IF THE STATION HAD TO depend upon its relevancy as an infotaining crossroads, it would have about as much standing as the gubernatorial hopes of Downstate who-he? Darren Bailey.
So they are "celebrating" a 30th anniversary at "The Score."
Maybe Minnie Pearl can have Pan Am fly in the bones from Blockbuster.
STREET-BEATIN': The open-ended odyssey of Jimmy Garoppolo could be steaming toward the Dolphins. New head coach Mike McDaniel saw the best of Jimmy G while an offensive assistant with the 49ers. Cleveland and Seattle are also in the hunt, which could last until Aug. 30 when SF must trade or release Garoppolo or commit to his $24.6M base for the upcoming season. (And No. 3 is not going to happen.) ...
Jason Benetti's jump from ESPN to Fox simply underscores that in tandem with Adam Amin, Chicago hasn't had two such keenly talented, upward-bound young sportscasters since the winter of 1979-80 when Bob Costas (TV) and Jim Durham (radio) were working Bulls games. Benetti is expected to continue as ace White Sox play-by-play man. ...
Speaking of the Sox, even Tony La Russa should be capable of milking a 12-7 mark out of the team's current run vs. bottom feeders. Still waiting on the Netflix announcement of a production start date for the movie "The Sleepy Senor's Way," starring Al Pacino as the fictional Tony La Montana. ...
Charles Barkley has wisely confirmed he's staying with TNT and passing on the Saudi/LIV millions. (Now the sheikhs can chase Hubie Brown, who once reportedly coached against Lawrence of Arabia.) ...
With the first dispersal auction of Arlington Park items regrettably underway, hopefully negotiations to keep the "Against All Odds" statue in the village are well along the path to completion. Certainly such home-turf sharpies as AH mayor Tom Hayes and village manager Randy Recklaus aren't going to let the icon get away. (It's that or a dunk tank featuring Bunker Bill Carstanjen.) ...
WGN-AM (720) has lost half of its audience since January. Station GM Mary Sandberg Boyle may want to take a long look at Ed O'Bradovich and a howling crew for seasonal afternoon drive (without the noxious infomercials). ...
Allan Monat - the only former jockey to serve on the Illinois Racing Board - has been named to the Aiken (S.C.) Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame. Monat has a 30-acre hobby farm near the pastoral burg; one neighbor is Jack Wetzel, the longtime partner of the late Bruce Duchossois. ...
And Joe Brierton, on Commissioner Kevin Warren and the ambitious expansion of The Big Ten: "If he gets the University of Chicago to come back, I'll be impressed."
• Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.