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Jim O'Donnell: Wavelengths say Giangreco's next first stop could be ESPN Radio

FOR CLOSE TO FOUR DECADES, when writing about Mark Giangreco, normally the hardest thing is to find a synonym for "puckish."

(Devilish? Sardonic? Buffalo-bred?)

This week, tone and texture took on a very different dimension for the imaginative sports anchor.

As first reported Wednesday in The Daily Herald, Giangreco is likely departing WLS-Channel 7 after more than 25 years because of an on-air disconnect with news presenter Cheryl Burton.

Giangreco has been off the air since late January at the horizontaling ABC o-and-o.

The flare-up came when Giangreco suggested the former Honey Bear could "play" a "ditzy" interior decorator on a mythical sitcom during an irreverent handoff following a nightly sports segment.

According to credible reports, the 57-year-old Burton took pointed umbrage to the stock Giangreco device. Station management has elected to err on the side of abject overkill.

With close to 18 months left on Giangreco's ABC deal, all indications are that both divorcing sides are approaching agreement on "departure with utility."

That means Giangreco should get his dough and Disney owned-or-influenced channeling has an option to find a spot to benefit from his significant quiver of wit, intellect and relevancy.

The most convenient landing would be struggling ESPN AM (1000), which would also be like optioning Anthony Rizzo to the Schaumburg Boomers.

The Disney/ESPN station has been operated under a long-term local market agreement by Wisconsin-based Good Karma Brands since January 2020.

That Good Karma operation has been brutalized by the pandemic. In the most recent Nielsen Audios, its 0.7 audience number was tied for 31st and last.

Since Disney will presumptively remain on the hook for much of the contracted money due Giangreco, ESPN Radio national would also be an option, albeit a remote one.

There is more than causal irony in the Giangreco break from Channel 7.

That's because it was another tiff between a news anchor and a popular sportscaster that set the table for his jump from WMAQ-Channel 5 in 1994.

The earlier one was between Tim Weigel and Diann Burns.

The two actually had become very good pals shortly after the exceedingly telegenic Burns arrived at Channel 7 in 1985 - master's degree from Columbia University in hand.

Their friendship was so strong that Burns became a most-welcome auxiliary of Weigel's after-hours group, a flock that included such night owls as Mike Royko, Mike Adamle, Rick Kogan, Doug Banks, Joan Esposito, Mark Vancil and ahem.

Then, later in Mike Ditka's tenure as Bears head coach, Burns played good soldier on a short-staffed day and went to the old Halas Hall.

She missed a Ditka statement about who the next starting QB would be and when she asked, The Iron One snapped, "Sid Luckman."

A few days later, Weigel - most impolitically - included elements of the exchange as part of one of his satirical packages.

Talk about "The Big Chill."

Unwittingly, Weigel had also given then-Channel 7 boss Joe Ahern enough loosened footing to show that he was almost as bright as predecessor Dennis Swanson, the legitimate industry dynamo who had flipped Channel 7 News from last to first locally in 1983-85.

It took a while, but in December 1994, with Burns' star in an extremely well-earned ascent, Weigel was out and Giangreco was in alongside Burns, John Drury and Jerry Taft.

Within days, Weigel had offers from news operations at Channel 5 and WBBM-Channel 2 plus a column in the then-happening Sun-Times Sports of Rick Jaffe and Bill Adee.

He took the gig at Channel 2 and held it until his passing in June 2001.

As for Giangreco, he is steadfastly not talking.

But there can be little doubt he remains one of the few A-list sports media presences left in Chicago and can be as generally devilish as he wants.

Just not ditzy.

STREET-BEATIN': As a public service, there will be no listing of the time of Turner's coverage of the 2021 NBA All-Star Game Sunday. (As either LeBron James or the great Elliott Harris might say of the unnecessary exhibition, "Utterly gratuitous.") ...

Reports of a new "four-year, $32M" contract for Skip Bayless at Fox Sports has left 'em rolling, swan-diving in the aisles. (Again, when either the network or the career drone produces verifiable copies of the contract, all will be confidently reported.) ...

Tough times at betrivers.com: The Churchill Downs Inc./Neil Bluhm website was down for a critical hour of college basketball gaming Thursday. (To every season, churn, churn, churn.) ...

Amazon is set to stream a docuseries re-examining circumstances surrounding the 1993 murder of Mr. James Jordan, Michael's dad, on its IMDb TV service beginning April 2. (Still one of the most heartbreaking stories in the history of Chicago sports.) ...

NPR contributor Cheryl Raye-Stout will be the marquee attraction of a Schaumburg Library Zoom presentation Tuesday at 7 p.m. Register at "Events," schaumburg.libnet.info. ...

And "Mockingbird" Mike Miller - on possible funding for that new George S. Halas Stadium at Arlington Park: "Can they redeem old losing mutuel tickets to get things going?"

• Jim O'Donnell's Sports & Media column appears Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.

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