O'Donnell: Rainy week spells nothing but downpour at 'The Score'
A FEW FLANNEL SHIRTS AGO, robust country ace Luke Combs released one of the more clever music videos of the new millennium with his hit "When It Rains It Pours."
That could be the new anthem at splintering WSCR-AM (670), "Chicago's sports talk leader."
Especially since neither Combs or any others of his tumbleweedin' persuasion have yet to release, "Why Do We Reign So Poorly?"
Some rough tidings hammered "The Score" in recent days.
AMONG THEM:
• Trading of parent company Audacy was suspended on the New York Stock Exchange when shares dipped to 9 cents. The NYSE is now prepared to delist the struggling corporation due to "abnormally low levels."
Audacy stock has not had a consistent value of $1 or more since last July.
In a statement to media, CEO David Fields said Audacy would appeal the decision. He also forecast more positive days ahead when the corporation executes "action plans" including a reverse stock split and refinancing of its significant debt.
A STRATEGIC AUDACY HOLDING is its seven-signal Chicago cluster. That group includes three stations rated in Nielsen's most recent local Top 10: WXRT-FM (93.1), WBBM-AM (780), simulcast on FM-105.9, and WUSN-FM (99.5).
"The Score" is in Audacy Chicago's "also-ran" dropbox, along with WBMX-FM (104.3) and WBBM-FM (96.3).
The increasing irrelevancy of the AM-670 signal could mean a "Hail Mary" flip to an FM base.
Worst-case scenarios for the station's lagging listener base would be a switch to more - and cheaper - national talk programming or an outright sell-off by Audacy.
That could leave Good Karma's slip-sliding WMVP-AM (1000) as the only sports talk wobbler in The Captive Sports City.
And that would be a fate worse than Guantanamo-like flashback looping of "The Best of Yammering Terry Boers."
• ALSO, A SQUEAK-IN-THE-CROWD WSCR producer named Shane Riordan got into a bizarre Z-list crossfire with media medfly Dan Proft over nothing.
But that nothing devolved into sub-adolescent audio imprudence by Riordan - and some of the goo-goo 'ga-joob was broadcast live over AM-670.
Riordan sounded stupid. "Score" management came across as disconnected. Proft got almost as much attention as when he finished sixth in the 2010 Illinois Republican gubernatorial primary behind the unforgettable Bill Brady.
THE LOBOTOMY LINE - thank you Bruce Wolf - is that things like that don't happen at a well-run major-market radio station.
But in Chicago's meager wasteland of sports talk, is there such a thing?
STREET-BEATIN':
Pat McAfee's move to Disney/ESPN is like finding out that one of the Kardashians has seduced Mickey Mouse. The reported money figures (4 years, at least $80M) will be believed when a verifiable copy of the contract is released to credible media everywhere. Biggest Q: How will "Potty Mouth Pat" survive on-air without "The Big F?" ...
Joe Girardi is among the contributors to an engaging new documentary on Yogi Berra that opens in theatrical release around Chicago this weekend. Co-producer of "It Ain't Over" is Lindsay Berra, granddaughter of the all-time Yankees great. Girardi caught David Cone's perfect game at Yankee Stadium on "Yogi Berra Day" way back in 1999. (Don Larsen threw out the ceremonial first pitch that afternoon.) ...
With the 2023 WNBA season set to open Friday, the lamebrained idea that Brittney Griner is some sort of new-age American hero strains even tofu credulity. As a seasoned international traveler, did Griner take all due precautions before attempting to transport a medicine prescribed in America past customs agents of a hostile sovereign power? Aaron Burr has more patriotic cred. ...
Barrington-basted Dave Kerner will call it a career Friday after 43 years in sportscasting, including the last 17 at WBBM-AM (780), Epitaph: "Dependable pro who stayed way under the radar." His exit continues the budget constriction at the flagging "Newsradio 78." ...
CBS has signed QB Matt Ryan as an NFL analyst and studio contributor. "Matty Ice" is best remembered as one of the floundering Falcons responsible for the blown 28-3 lead to New England in Super Bowl 51. The Fisheye Network move could prove to be as big as the hiring of Jay Feely. ...
And inveterate race tracker Scott Hipple, on why he didn't bet the 2023 Run for the Roses: "When you're focused online every day on places like Parx and Will Rogers Downs, the Kentucky Derby is just another post time."
• Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears Sunday and Thursday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.