O’Donnell: Sports talk radio in Chicago slipping into darkness
THE GREAT LARRY LUJACK ONCE SAID, “Target demos are the last ratholes where failing radio stations go to die.”
Palatine's very own Lujack — once a giant in Chicago broadcasting — flourished in an era when big talents teamed with sharp programmers to consistently generate juicy, advertiser-friendly numbers.
From beyond The Bridge, the late “Uncle Lar'” is also proving to be remarkably prescient about the downward drift of Chicago's two drooping sports talk stations.
IN THE LATEST NIELSEN AUDIOS, covering the month ending April 2, WSCR-AM (670) dropped all the way down to No. 23 in the nation's third-largest market.
Best news at “The Score” is that it's still certifiably “Chicago's sports leader.” That's because penny-pinching ESPN-AM (1000) doesn't pay the fee to Nielsen for objective industry measurement.
Somehow Craig Karmazin's Audio Dollar Store continues to subsist on the blind faith of pliable advertisers and its cheapskate ways as the flagship radio station of the pounds-foolish Bears.
REGARDING AM-670, SINCE JANUARY — a sports-intense period that included the NFL playoffs ending with Super Bowl 57, MLB spring training and the NCAA's two major basketball tournaments — “The Score,” according to Nielsen, has lost 37% of its audience.
The signal limped in with a 1.7 all-sources, down from 2.7 in January. That number places it just behind “K-Love” — Christian music WCKL-FM (97.9), tied for 21st with a 1.8 — and barely above classical WFMT-FM (98.7), a staid No. 24 with a 1.6.
(Also suggesting that “Score” programming past master Mitch Rosen might try sprinkling in some classical and Christian alongside fawning worship of Pete Crow-Armstrong and hope for a base hit.)
THE FRESH NIELSEN OF AM-670 is a body blow to life-boating parent company Audacy, which emerged from bankruptcy last autumn as a private corporation.
Of Audacy's six Chicago broadcast entities — including the simulcast WBBM-AM (780) & FM (105.9), No. 1 for the month with a 6.1 — WSCR-AM is the corporate pits.
SO WHAT HAS ROSEN attempted to do?
Hello Larry — sell “target demos” for public dissemination by more acquiescing town criers.
It's like Jerry Reinsdorf proclaiming the White Sox are “the top American League team in Chicago.”
Rosen's big picture is awful.
BOTH CHICAGO SPORTS TALK STATIONS are generally bereft of compelling on-air talent. For those microphone munchkins, the studio pass code remains “budget friendly.” Mention any of their names at a typical suburban cookout and the most likely responses are crickets and blank faces.
The three tools of the best radio talkers of any genre remain: entertain while reeling off the hottest niched “hits” (topics) or other related material, bond with listeners and satisfy advertisers.
That's currently nowhere near happening on an effective major-league level in Chicago sports talk.
“THE SCORE” IS swirling. Management at AM-1000 apparently remains too cute to risk trying to run with the radio bulls of the region.
So the ratholes beckon.
There is darkness on the edge of those feeble, flatlining sounds.
* * *
AS EXPECTED, NBC'S LENGTHY TELECAST of the Kentucky Derby checked in with a viewership of 17.7 million. That was the race's highest network number since 1989, when Pat Valenzuela and Sunday Silence drew off on a cold and damp Saturday to beat Pat Day aboard Easy Goer.
The 2025 Derby peaked with 21.8M during the quarter hour when Sovereignty ($17.96) bested the favored Journalism (3-1).
Jerry Bailey once again starred as on-air centerpiece for the Peacock Network. Multi-sportin' Eddie Olczyk presented more credibility as a sound big-game handicapper.
(Olczyk next to Bailey and Jimmy Fallon next year would be a winning trifecta.)
OVERALL, NBC'S PRODUCTION lacked flow and cohesiveness.
Every May, the network's sports division struggles to find a proper balance for the serious horseplayer, the weekender and the primary mass that tunes in to watch the race, pretty women and buff biscuit-and-gravy types in colorful Kentuckiana fashion.
Mike Tirico exited the telecast early because of an allergic reaction to cashews. Young Ahmed Fareed returned from anchoring the undercard and did a respectable job alongside Bailey and Randy Moss.
OTHER RANDOM WHIPS AND RATTLES:
--- If jockey Flavien Prat had ridden Journalism, the colt wins. Prat is the best jockey in the game right now and his third-place ride aboard Baeza (13-1) — No. 21 out of Post 19 — was brilliant. Jittery Umberto Rispoli didn't do Journalism any favors.
--- No question the game threw a garland to fabulously wealthy Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum and his Godolphin Racing with the victory of Sovereignty. The Sheikh and his Dubai-based associates have literally invested billions in the worldwide game since 1994.
--- Winning jock Junior Alvarado is no stranger to old Arlington Park regulars. He won the riding title at the local oval in 2009 at age 23 before setting out for more lucrative winner's circles.
--- TV line of the day came early on USA Network when country singer Riley Green was asked how it felt to be at his first Derby. Apparently borrowing from The Gasoline Alley Book of Jethro Bodine, Green replied: “Well, I normally don't wear church clothes, so it's not quite my vibe. It's a fancier kind of Talladega, I guess.”
Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Wednesday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.