Chicago Herald-American

I feel like the guy who sailed on the Titanic and the Lusitania. I was having lunch with WMVP's Dan McNeil at Ditka's on Chestnut in November when the stunning news broke that Denis Savard was fired by the Blackhawks. It was pretty impressive how Mac immediately got Savvy on the horn and later on the air. Today I was returning to the office from a media event at the Cubs Convention when the Sun-Times' Roman Modrowski broke the equally stunning news that Mac had been fired by WMVP.

Unfortunately, the economy is making people do things they wouldn't normally do. The Sun-Times readily accepted Jay Mariotti's resignation because they needed the money. The Score lost Mike North because he wouldn't take the pay cut. Now ESPN 1000 is letting McNeil go, with the clear implication that they can't afford him.

Of the three, 'MVP is likely to pay the biggest price. McNeil drove the popular "Mac, Jurko & Harry Show" on several levels. He does two things that ESPN Radio will miss more than they think: Mac provokes topical debate and he makes his teammates better. I've always said doing radio is a piece of cake compared to writing for newspapers -- but only if you can do it. Mac has a knack for good radio and Jurko and Harry benefit by that. It's an imperfect analogy, but without Mac, the show goes from the Ravens' linebacker corps to the Bears'.

Is There Room For Another Chicago Sports Radio Station?

With Mac out at WMVP, there might be more talent NOT at Chicago's two sports-talk radio stations than there is AT Chicago's two sports-talk radio stations. Now that Mark Cuban isn't buying the Cubs, maybe he can buy WIND or something and start a renegade sports talk station. He could get a pretty good lineup for an expansion team:

6 a.m. to 10 a.m.: Mike North and Dan Jiggetts

10 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Jay Mariotti and Dick Gonski

2 p.m. to 6 p.m.: Mac, Jurko & Harry

6 p.m. to 10 p.m.: Coppock on Sports

10 p.m. to 5 a.m.: Les Grobstein and his orchestra

5 a.m. to 6 a.m.: Meditation

I'm assuming John Jurkovic and Harry Teinowicz would take the leap of faith with Mac. Then you throw in a Tom Shaer, a Fred Huebner and a Julie Swieca and you've got yourself the best damn sports radio station in Chicago.