WLS-AM ditches Mancow

All-talk WLS 890-AM cut loose midday host Mancow Muller today, saying it was going to a more "consistent vision" in its program lineup.

President and General Manager Michael Damsky announced today's show was the last for Mancow and Pat Cassidy at WLS-AM. They'll be replaced from 9 to 11 a.m. by Cisco Cotto, who just did five weeks as a co-host with Roe Conn in afternoon drive.

"While Mancow and Pat consistently put on a highly entertaining and often attention-grabbing two hours, the content and delivery simply did not fit the expectations of the WLS listener," Damsky wrote in a release. He said the move "creates a bridge between two of our most important programs, 'Don Wade & Roma' and 'The Rush Limbaugh Show.'

"At the same time we have begun the process of allowing Roe Conn to retrace the path toward what was his most successful program environment," Damsky added. Longtime fans, however, might point out that Conn was most successful, and atop the afternoon-drive ratings, before he sold out partner Garry Meier in a contract dispute.

Failed Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dan Proft also announced he was returning as the featured political commentator on "Don Wade & Roma."

Mancow enjoyed a long successful run as morning host on hard-rock stations WKQX 101.1-FM and WRCX 103.5-FM, and has also done conservative political commentary on WTTW Channel 11 and the Fox News Channel, but, after teaming with the more straight-laced news reporter Cassidy in October 2008, he proved to be perhaps a little too audacious for WLS-AM's older audience. The syndicated "Mancow's Morning Madhouse" continues on without a Chicago outlet.