Mac returning soon

Why the hell would they give him a bump in pay? Dude's a mess. Wonder if he has enough to retire, 'cause he should really consider it.

Oh, I'll remember.

You love a Unit.

Shocking.

Maybe that's so, Hawger.

Maybe that's so...

Veary interesting Hawg.

Veary, veary interesting...

Mac, Jurk, and Hood would be a great alternative to any show on the Score. Obviously they couldn't supplant the greatness that is Silvy, but it'd be nice to hear Mac's real opinions about Speigs and Laurence.

You know it's true.

Damn!

Spiegs says he doesn't trust Mac and doesn't welcome him back with the same joy as before.

Nice to hear someone be honest.

A humbled Danny Mac: ‘I’m a suspect’
posted on December 22, 2013 at 9:00 pm by Robert Feder



Moments after Dan McNeil returned to WSCR AM 670 with an extraordinary apology to listeners Friday, the great Cubs broadcaster Len Kasper tweeted that it was “the most honest and self-aware segment you’ll ever hear on the radio.”

Kasper was right. With the possible exception of Steve Dahl, no Chicago radio personality had ever bared his soul as fully as McNeil in confessing his addictions and seeking forgiveness from his audience, telling them: “I know I’ve let a lot of you down.”

Just out of rehab and back after eight weeks away from his midday show on the CBS Radio sports/talk station, McNeil, 52, spoke bluntly about his addiction to prescription narcotics, his dependence on marijuana and his crippling battles with depression. (Read the transcript of his comments below.)

“Every day when I wake up, I look in the mirror, I do my gratitudes and I say: ‘Hey, dipstick, you are an addict. That’s what you are,’ ” McNeil told listeners. “ ‘You may be a devoted father, sometimes a very attentive, loving husband, and a good friend to many, and occasionally a good sports talk show host. But you are an addict.’ ”

By his own admission, this wasn’t the first, second or third time McNeil had to explain how personal issues had nearly cost him one of the best jobs in local broadcasting. “You’d think you’d get used to doing this, as often as I have come back from extended absences, whether it’s treating my addiction or having issues with suspensions up the dial for a number of years,” he said. “But it doesn’t get any easier.”

That may be especially true this time, considering how closely McNeil came to wearing out his welcome. Unlike the “real joy” that characterized his last return from rehab in April 2012, Friday’s comeback was greeted with outright skepticism.

Matt Spiegel
Matt Spiegel
“We are glad that you are back,” co-host Matt Spiegel told his partner. “But I will not pretend that it is with full-on trust and full-on joy that it was perhaps the first time [you returned]. In the spirit of honesty with you, and I’m sure that some listeners feel that way as well, you and I have always been real with each other. We’ll continue to be real. That we felt betrayed. That we felt betrayed. . . . We’re here with you. We want to be here with you. But I think you know you have to regain some trust.”

McNeil acknowledged that he had a long way to go: “There’s not a doubt in my mind — 100 percent — I’m a suspect. I got a sign around my neck. I realize that. Nobody did it but me. I’m the one who’s responsible.”

It couldn’t have gone unnoticed that while McNeil was away, the station dropped his name from the show, retitling it for Spiegel and Laurence Holmes (who now goes back to evenings). Right up through last week, Rod Zimmerman, senior vice president and market manager of CBS Radio Chicago, and Mitch Rosen, program director of the Score, were known to be exploring other options for middays. In other words, McNeil’s return was hardly a foregone conclusion.

“We support Mac in his recovery, and welcome him back to the Score,” Rosen said in a statement Friday. “I want to thank Laurence Holmes for adjusting his schedule along with Matt Spiegel and the producers all for their patience and professionalism. Most importantly I want to thank our listeners who have listened on the air and online throughout this process.”

In the latest Nielsen Audio survey, middays on the Score ranked 16th overall with a 2.6 percent share and cumulative weekly audience of 295,800. Among men between 18 and 49, “Mac and Spiegs” tied for third place with a 4.4 share and a weekly cume of 129,100.



Here’s what McNeil said on the air Friday:

I’m a little nervous about this. You’d think you’d get used to doing this, as often as I have come back from extended absences, whether it’s treating my addiction or having issues with suspensions up the dial for a number of years. But it doesn’t get any easier. So I have no notes in front of me. I have nothing prepared other than what’s going to come from my heart in a little bit. . . .

Hello, listeners. This is for you. This is not for Spiegs or Ben or Shep or Mitch Rosen or my wife Sheri or five of my newest, bestest friends up in Lake County, who probably are listening, sitting in the clown car after another fine morning of horse therapy. This is for you listeners, with whom I have enjoyed a relationship for many of you for 25 years. It’s a unique relationship in this regard: I think it’s probably accurate to suggest, and I’m suggesting it, that I’ve let you in to my world as much as anybody who has done this. And if I could rewind to 1988, I wouldn’t do it any differently. There’s a lot more to me than box scores and injury reports. I like life condition stories. The human condition is something that always has been my favorite thing to do when a microphone is open in front of me. Whether it’s talking about marriage, divorce, remarriage, my son Patrick’s travails and triumphs with autism, whatever the case may be, that’s when I am at my best. And that’s when I’m happiest.

I hadn’t been happy prior to the eight weeks that I have been away. And there’s a simple reason for that.

I tried to post the whole article, but maybe it's too many characters or something. Or I'm not seeing it. Anyways, here's the Feder article:

www.robertfeder.com/2013/12/22/a-humbled-mcneil-returns-im-a-suspect/

The show was awful without McNeil. Whether Spiegal likes working with Lawrence or not, really doesn't matter if the audience doesn't like the show they produce. I stopped listening to the show completely and I'm sure I am not the only one. Mac may have strained some relations, but Mitch Rosen did what was best for the station. I wish Dan all the best in his recovery. As far as Spiegal is concerned, he needs to remember that without McNeil, he probably never is at the point in his career that he is now and that if Mac left permanently, his stint as a 9am-1pm host might end before long. He's simply not that good.

Dan McNeil on the Score: ‘Game in fourth quarter’
posted on August 1, 2014 at 12:00 am by Robert Feder






Time and patience may be running out for Dan McNeil.

As his latest absence from CBS Radio sports/talk WSCR AM 670 stretches into its eighth week, the mercurial midday star seems to be preparing for his exit from the Score. So are his bosses.

“We are still talking,” is all Rod Zimmerman, senior vice president and market manager of CBS Radio Chicago, will say for now. Although Zimmerman won’t confirm whether he’s made McNeil a final offer, he expects to have the matter resolved in the next week or so.

In the meantime, conversations already are under way with potential replacements for McNeil as midday co-host alongside Matt Spiegel, according to insiders.

McNeil at first denied he was in a contract holdout after I reported in June that he was demanding a raise from a reported $300,000 to $500,000 a year and a move to afternoon drive. Since then he apparently hasn’t budged despite his bosses’ refusal to concede on either issue. Now he’s telling friends he’s prepared to sit out a year or more.

“I’m sorry I don’t have any real news on my future at the Score,” McNeil told fans on Facebook Thursday. “We’re still talking, but the game is in the fourth quarter. Sincerest thanks to all who’ve expressed they miss me. Hang tight. I’m not done world shakin’ just yet.”