Latest / The Ben Maller Show / The Fifth Hour: Radio Legend, Mike North

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The Fifth Hour: Radio Legend, Mike North · The Ben Maller Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Cutbooms.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: of the old Republic, a sol fashion of fairness. He
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: treats crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: rich pill poppers in the penthouse. Wow to Clearinghouse of
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: hot takes, break free for something special. The Fifth Hour
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  Speaker 2: with Ben Maller starts right now.
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  Speaker 3: In the air everywhere. The Fifth Hour with Me, Ben
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Mahler and Danny g Radio, who will be producing this podcast,
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: will join me at some point over the weekend, but
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: we have made it into the first podcast of the
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: month of May here and as we talked about on
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: the Overnight Show last night promoting this, I am very
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  Speaker 3: excited because today is not your normal Friday Run of
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: the Mill podcast where I start out talking about some
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: dopey holidays and go through the week that was not
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: a no no no by popular demand. A chance to
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: catch up with a sports talk radio leg And I'm
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  Speaker 3: not blowing smoke when I say that, especially if you're
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  Speaker 3: from Chicago. But this guy worked at our place. He's
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  Speaker 3: part of the Fox Sports Radio Alumni Association. The Great
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  Speaker 3: Mike North is going to join us now. The reason
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  Speaker 3: we're having Mike on today is a I love him.
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  Speaker 3: He's one of the great characters in radio in my
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: journey in radio that I've come across. And then also
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  Speaker 3: the fact that he has been honored one of the
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  Speaker 3: great accomplishments in his career. He's the godfather of Chicago
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  Speaker 3: sports radio and did our morning show at Fox Sports
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  Speaker 3: Radio for a number of years with Andy Furman. So
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  Speaker 3: Mike North has been given the Lifetime Achievement Award from
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  Speaker 3: Barrett Sports Media. And this is a big industry website
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  Speaker 3: that tracks the business and keeps up to date with everything.
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  Speaker 3: So next week, a week from today, on May ninth,
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  Speaker 3: there's a gala ceremony in Chicago and a sports radio
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  Speaker 3: legend from Chicago, Mike North, there will receive the Lifetime
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  Speaker 3: Achievement Award. So I thought, what better way to celebrate
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  Speaker 3: this than have the man on? And it's an excuse
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  Speaker 3: to him on. So I saw it, I said, I
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  Speaker 3: got to get this guy on. So I reached out
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  Speaker 3: to him and he now joins us right now. On
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  Speaker 3: the fifth hour we walk him in. He's still working,
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  Speaker 3: by the way, he's got his own show, on the
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  Speaker 3: ESPN station there in Chicago. So we walkme in the
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  Speaker 3: great Mike North. Mike, congratulations, what has it been like
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  Speaker 3: since you found out that you have been given the
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  Speaker 3: honor of a Lifetime Achievement Award for your radio career.
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  Speaker 1: How do you doing, Ben? That's great by talking to you.
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  Speaker 1: You're a legend. Come on, shocking to be honest with you,
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  Speaker 1: because you know, I won a lot of awards. I
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  Speaker 1: won four Talk Show host Awards in Chicago for local radio.
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  Speaker 1: I won two Emmys, and I won a Cleo Award
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  Speaker 1: even for a Best Commercial. But they were all voted
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  Speaker 1: from out of town. So because what they do is
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  Speaker 1: they don't want the locals voting for the people that
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: are in Chicago. You like the Chicago radio people voting
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  Speaker 1: for Chicago personalities because then they'll be biased, they'll vote
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  Speaker 1: for their own and stuff like that. I don't know
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: how Barrett came up with this, How Jason did it,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: I don't know, but he said by a landslide. And
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I know a lot of great radio sports
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: radio people that came out of there. But I think
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  Speaker 1: the difference is that I started the whole thing basically
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: off a lark, I had read in the sometimes that
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Dan Lee, the owner of w x R tier progressive
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: rock station, was going to start a jazz station. And
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: I saw that in Robert Feed's column in the Sun Times,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: and I said to my wife and we were working
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: the hot dog stand, our hot dog stand at the time,
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  Speaker 1: we owned a hot dog stand in Chicago, Big One,
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  Speaker 1: and I said, you know what, Dan needs sports station
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  Speaker 1: in this town. Well, she says, well, I don't think
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  Speaker 1: you have much of a say in this. But what
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  Speaker 1: happened was some of the XRT people used to come
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  Speaker 1: in my stand, and I only had met Dan Lee twice.
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  Speaker 1: And Dan Lee, there was like a couple of sports
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  Speaker 1: shows on rock and roll stations, like The Loop and others,
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  Speaker 1: but there was no all sports station, not even the Fan.
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  Speaker 1: The fan had Imus in the morning, so they had
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  Speaker 1: it only for middays in the afternoon. So this long
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  Speaker 1: and behold. A day after the article is in the
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  Speaker 1: paper that they've bought the call letters to w jay
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  Speaker 1: z Z and they're going to go country. Dan Lee
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  Speaker 1: comes walking in and at that time you could only
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  Speaker 1: own two stations. He only owned one. Now you can
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  Speaker 1: own eight stations in a way which takes away a
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  Speaker 1: lot of the bargaining power of many radio people. But
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  Speaker 1: at that time, you know, you could only own two,
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  Speaker 1: so you had a lot of suitors. Well, I didn't
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  Speaker 1: have any suitors. Nobody even knew me. I was a
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  Speaker 1: high school dropout. I owned a hot dog stand and
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  Speaker 1: I had a successful thing. And then he comes walking
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  Speaker 1: in and I asked him. I go, I hear you're
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  Speaker 1: going jazz and he says, uh yeah. I said you
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  Speaker 1: should go off sports, sir, And he goes, really, he
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  Speaker 1: goes why. I said, well, I think it's the next
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  Speaker 1: big thing. And there's only twelve of them in this
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  Speaker 1: country right now, the fan there's one in Denver, there's
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  Speaker 1: la and back then San Diego I think had one.
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  Speaker 1: Boston I think was strong, Philadelphia was strong. I said
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  Speaker 1: you should try it. Well, he buys his hot dog himself.
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  Speaker 1: He goes, I'll think about it. He walks out. I
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  Speaker 1: chase him out. I go think about it, because jazz
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  Speaker 1: won't sell sports is a huge sports jump. He goes
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  Speaker 1: home that weekend and if you remember, Ben, they had
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  Speaker 1: the Tribune and Sun Times. Thick papers were one hundred
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: and forty four pages. He bought the He looked at
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  Speaker 1: he bought the Bulldog editions of the Sun Times and
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  Speaker 1: Tribune and he looked at the entertainment section and saw
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  Speaker 1: two or three jazz advertisements, advertisements for jazz. Then he
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: went to the sports section. And back in the day, folks,
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  Speaker 1: thirty forty adds in these sports sections, and I mean
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  Speaker 1: twelve fourteen pages full with the standings and everything and
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  Speaker 1: what the players were hitting. It was so much bigger
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  Speaker 1: back then. He meets on Monday with his music people
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: and they said, were ready to go. He goes, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: we're going to do all sports. They go, are you crazy?
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  Speaker 1: You're going to listen to that hot dog guy? And
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  Speaker 1: he goes, I'm going to listen to him. And that's
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  Speaker 1: how it all started. And he started to score, and
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: he as a music guy, Ben, and you know how
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  Speaker 1: it is to find people. He filled day day as
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: music people. Put together a station that only last would
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  Speaker 1: the last twelve hours for four years until it got
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  Speaker 1: a full time license. And we ruled the airwaves on
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  Speaker 1: a twelve hour station. That's great.
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  Speaker 3: And those were the days right where there were like
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  Speaker 3: radio people that were making the decisions, right. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: it's not it's the business has changed, obviously, a ton.
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  Speaker 3: I'm younger than you, but there's so many people now
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  Speaker 3: that are not really like radio people that are making
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  Speaker 3: those decisions. Would that be the thing that's got to
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  Speaker 3: be the thing you're most proud of?
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  Speaker 1: Right?
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  Speaker 3: You went from running a hot dogs stand, which you
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  Speaker 3: were doing very well at, and then he became the
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  Speaker 3: godfather of Chicago sports radio. When you give your speech,
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  Speaker 3: will that be the lead of the speech? Is that
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  Speaker 3: going to be the.
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  Speaker 1: Well to the lead of the speech? Is I was
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  Speaker 1: basically a high school drop out. My own dad called
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  Speaker 1: me a bomb. I'd never amount to anything. I had
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  Speaker 1: a tense relationship with him, but he always put a
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  Speaker 1: rough over my head. He was a decent guy, but
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  Speaker 1: he if and if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: be here. But he wasn't happy with me. I dropped
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  Speaker 1: out of high school. I ended up going to the Service.
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  Speaker 1: I was going to have to go to Vietnam. I
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: was drafted because I didn't have any schooling. I had
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: to go for my draft card. I went. My orders
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  Speaker 1: were canceled. I was supposed to go to Long being
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  Speaker 1: young wherever that was in Vietnam with a bunch of
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: other goofy nineteen and twenty year old kids, and my
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Nixon canceled our orders because they were going through the
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Paris Peace talks. So that was a bit of luck.
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  Speaker 1: I come back and I meet my wife and from
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  Speaker 1: there on, she tried to change me for a long time,
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  Speaker 1: and I finally changed. And I would say one day
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  Speaker 1: I was picking paper in a park working for the
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  Speaker 1: Chicago Park District and mark and ballfields, and the next
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  Speaker 1: day I was the biggest thing in radio. It was
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  Speaker 1: culture shock and day when I see twenty year olds
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  Speaker 1: go through it. I ended up making a lot of
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  Speaker 1: money in this business. And when I and I was
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  Speaker 1: thirty nine and I wasn't ready for it, but yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to it's a Rag's the richest type of
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  Speaker 1: situation for me. I went from nobody. I met a
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  Speaker 1: beautiful lady. She helped guide me, helped fix me up,
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  Speaker 1: and I went to work every day. I've never missed
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  Speaker 1: a day of work in thirty three years. Never missed
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  Speaker 1: at Fox, never missed at ESPN, which I'm working at
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  Speaker 1: now one thousand, never missed at the Score where I
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  Speaker 1: worked for sixteen years. So I love it. It's in my blood.
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  Speaker 1: But I started talking sports on the street corner. And
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  Speaker 1: my uncle, who's ninety years old, told me the other day,
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  Speaker 1: you're getting this because you were built for it. He says,
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  Speaker 1: I remember you talking circles around the older relatives when
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  Speaker 1: you were nine years old. So you were born. I
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  Speaker 1: was born to do it. You were born to do it.
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  Speaker 3: And I think part of the key is like you're
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  Speaker 3: like a lot of the people in the business. Even
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  Speaker 3: when you were when you were starting out and I
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: was listening, is you know, young guy, they were kind
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  Speaker 3: of program they were buttoned up.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're just like a regular dude.
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  Speaker 3: Which that's at that time especially, I think even now,
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  Speaker 3: but at that time, there weren't a lot of people
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  Speaker 3: that were like you that were doing this.
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  Speaker 1: I give you a big advantage. I did have a
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: huge advantage. It was different than ninety two. It was
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: I mean, there was no social media. There was no Twitter,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: but there was phones in the cars. We didn't even
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  Speaker 1: have computer yet. Our producer, Jesse Rodgers was my producer.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: I had Abby Pulaski. Then I had a guy named
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Jesse Rodgers who's now number one baseball guy at ESPN.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: For seven years, we got the best guests. But when
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: we had phone calls. They had to hold up the
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: sign with the guy's name on it. Joe from Tinley Park,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Bill from Alsip, Illinois, Bob. You know, so there was
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: no computers. You had to know what you were talking
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: about without the use of a computer. What do I
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: see now? I see scripts? I mean I broke it,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: broke my heart. I read on Twitter about a month ago. Hey,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: me and my three buddies are getting together. We're going
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: to go to the bar, and we have a script
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  Speaker 1: that we're going to discuss each sport. That's not what
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  Speaker 1: it was designed to do. Sports radio was designed around
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: the way I wanted it. I was designed about around sports, alcohol, women,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: and entertainment. You want to talk about movies, that's fine.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Even the little politics used to sneak in. But you
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: could talk politics back then. Now you can't. As far
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  Speaker 1: as your other question, you know how great it was
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: to walk in to a corner office and the boss
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: was sitting there in the same building, and you didn't
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: have to call New York. You didn't have to call California.
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  Speaker 1: If you wanted to go to New York and see
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: the Bulls and Knicks, you didn't have to call California,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: New York or some other place to see if you
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: could go with the White Sox to Boston. We would
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: ask him. He'd go, yeah, And you know what, he
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: was a music guy who four years later, Ben sold
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: the station that he put a seven hundred thousand dollars
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: investment with along with XRTI, because he already had the
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: building and stuff for seventy seven million bucks.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: And it was a part time station until he went
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: all time the final year and then Westinghouse came and bought.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: As far as who's running radio now, of course you
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: need a radio guy to run radio. And as far
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: as people that are running radio, most of them. I
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: used to I called my boss back in the day.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: I said, you're not a sports guy. You're not a
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: radio guy. You're a bean counter. That's what you are.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: And I said, don't try to pretend that you know
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: more about sports or anything else. Because the original boss left.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: And once the original boss left, it's an all new
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: ball game. It's like getting a new manager. As you know,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: because you've been through a few in baseball.
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: My favorite Mike Norss story, and there's bunch of them, though,
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: is your confrontations with Ozzie Gian back in the day,
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: and I saw I wanted to get your reaction. I'm
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: sure you've talked about this in your show in Chicago,
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: but I haven't heard your reaction. So the other day
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: Ozzie and I guess I'm one of the local he
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: does a White postgame or something like that. He said
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: that doing sports radio is harder than managing in the
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: major leagues. And I agree with him, by the way,
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: But what was your reaction, because you got you really
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: got into a dust up, one of the famous sports
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: radio dustups with us. So when you saw him say that,
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: what was your reaction?
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Right? First of all, I haven't seen as he since
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: I understand I came down after I had the argument
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: with him. I was doing a remote from Wrigley Field.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: The argument was all about he wasn't going to start
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: a J. Prazinski. Now, if you're playing like the Braves
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: or somebody, that's fine. You're playing the White Socks, which
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: was still a fevered pitch back in two thousand and six.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: The Cubs are coming off a World Series, I mean,
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: the White Socks are coming off a World Series, and
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: he wanted to start. A guy named Toby Hall so
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: I'm ranting and Raven, the guy's just coming off the
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: disabled Listen. He's not a very good catcher and he
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: can't how's he going to hit? And you're playing the
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: White Socks on a Friday, it's the first game. Now
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: I'm across the street in the place at a bar
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: doing a remote filled with people, and all of a sudden,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: he calls up and he goes nuts and he starts swearing,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: and me and him went at it, and he wasn't happy,
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: and I wasn't happy, And to be honest, Ben, I'm
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: tired of the cut. But this is the fun part.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: He's going to be at this thing. He's going to
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: be at the ward and me and him are going
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: to be together for the first time in hell twenty
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: twenty five years, and they're probably going to play that cut.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: And I am so tired of it, and I'm sure
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: he is too, So I might have to retire it,
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: because you don't want to hear how you were twenty
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: five years ago in d Vane. He was a great manager.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Me and him at times are the same people, type
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: A personalities. We've both shot ourselves in the foot a
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: couple of times, so we have a lot in common.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: And that day that he called, it wasn't a manager
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: in a radio host. It was basically two Chicago neighborhood
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: guys going at it. And it was admire him for calling,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: and I admire him for taking it down. But as
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: it turned out, Toby Hall had two pants balls that
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: day and he had just an awful outing and he
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: was cut down the line. There you go.
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: But that's and it's nice that you know, when you
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: run into him, he did say, you know, this is
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: what we do. What you've done your whole you know,
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: life is harder than managing in the major leagues, which
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: I agree with that people you're talking about doing the
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: job every day. And I often will say, Mike, like
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: anybody could probably do what will you do? And what
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: I do during football season when there's stuff going on.
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: But the problem is day in day out, like people
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: don't realize, Like I'm sure there's some days, Mike, you
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: go in there even though you have the gift for gatt,
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: you're not really feeling it, but you still have to
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: do the show. You have to present the show, and
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: those are the days where I feel like you make
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: their money. Anybody can go in there when there's a
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: ton of stuff to talk about yes days when there's
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: not much and you can create something out of nothing.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: That to me, that's what separates.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: And you've been doing it forever.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: So yeah, thirty three years. But I'll tell you, Ben,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: I know what you have to go through working overnights,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: and it's not easy. Some of the great overnight guys Chicago,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: Whity Schwartz, a lot of overnight guys I listened to
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: in Chicago. It wasn't easy. Not less. Robstein a great
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: a great voice and a good friend of mine back
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: in the day, one of the great overnight guys. So
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: what you do is not easy. But I'll be the
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: first to tell you. In ninety two we were the
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: first of our kind, an all sports station. We never
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: had a meeting, me and Dan Jiggets or our producers.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: We would write down who we want for the next day,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: whether it be Tom Glavin because the Braves are in town,
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: bring on an Assie gee in, or bring on this
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: guy or that guy. We never had a meeting. Jiggs
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: Dan would get there about a quarter two. I'd get
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: there a little bit more earlier. I was already prepared
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: the night before, so if Dan came on and he said,
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: welcome to the scores. You know, sports radio ladies and gentlemen.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: I'm Dan Jiggets. We're the monsters of the mid midday.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: Mike is along with me. Mike, how you doing? Good Dan?
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: But that cub game last night? Or good Dan? That
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Bear game? Boy? I'll tell you, I'll tell you what
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: I mean. Irlacker just didn't get it done yesterday, and
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: he was ready and I was ready. He led the show.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: I loved being a second banana because that's where you're
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: you don't have to worry. And I did read commercials.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: You do it all your solo a lot. That's tough.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: I did solo at Fox two on weekends, brutal, but
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: going off of somebody, okay, is the best because we
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: turned into and he was a He was a Harvard
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: educated black man and I was a high school dropout
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: white man. And do you want to know how many
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: people thought it was reversed just because of the color
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: of our skin until people found out. So it was
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: a great thing. And Andy Furman was the same way.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Andy is one of the greats, as you know how
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: I feel about him. And I think that Andy and
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: I and Jonas Knox had one of the best shows ever.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Unfortunately we weren't on Next Time like you guys are
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: at the time. But I thought that was a great show.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: I just feel like I was like Hyman Roth then
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: you know, all my partners are going to make money,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: you know, and.
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: And and Jonas has followed in your footsteps.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, morning guy, now the great. I am very
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: proud of him. I do know this. If he asked me,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: I'd tell him our show was better. And that's nothing
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: against Brady or or or or anybody else a lovar,
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: nothing against them, nothing against Jonas.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: I love you and a couple of great radio characters
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: because you're the Chicago guy, Andy Fight. It was fun
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: and you just you really played well off each other.
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: You mentioned though Less Cropsy. I know Less passed away
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: a while back. But yeah he did, Yeah he did
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: recorded and this is actually the week the anniversary the
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: other day on this Yeah. I mean, did he ever
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: get into that and tell you some of the behind
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: the scenes.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, I mean, give me some That was.
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: The greatest rant in the history of rants. I've never
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: there's nothing that can match Lee Ilia attacking the cub.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: No and to let people know, you could go to
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: and then listen to the Yauzie in North tape and
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: it's not close to what Lee Elia was with Les Grobstein.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: What happened was somebody asked him a question. I believe
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: it was less. They had the gang of reporters down there.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: He had the tape recorder going and he just lost
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: his mind. Unless was the first guy to put it out,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: and lee Elia went on a tirade, you're ten people
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: are all fifteen percent of your unemployed. That's why you're
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: at the ballpark. You guys are a bunch of losers.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: You know. He was, you know, and so to nobody's
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: surprised he didn't last long after that, but he he
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: was a fiery guy, Lee Elia. He'll always be famous
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: for that, and Les Cropstein will be famous for that.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: If you folks get a chance to listen to the
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Lee Ilia tyrae and you haven't heard it, it's up
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: there with the Bobby Knight tirade? Did I used to play?
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Or the yazzie It's better than yes well? Which which no?
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: Which Bobby Knight one? Because he had the one about
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: Purdue and then he do you do it?
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: I played it every day and then Jesse Rogers, my
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: producer at the time, who's one of the great baseball guys,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: and we're still best friends. Indiana was playing Northwestern. At Northwestern,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: I said, and I used to make I used to
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: give Jesse a bounty and I was making a lot
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: of money, so I shared it because I was. Some
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: of them didn't. So I used to put a bounty
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: on Jesse. If you can get Bobby Knight. Now this
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: is like early nineties, if you get Bobby Knight on
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: the radio with me tomorrow, I'll give you five hundred dollars.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: Five hundred dollars to a producer that was like twenty
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: five years old back in the nineties. Okay. He goes
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: to the game, Bobby Knight's coming out. They won. He goes,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: mister Knight, I worked for a host, Mike North and
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: he goes, I know who he is. I heard the tape.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: Now Jesse's walking with him, and he goes, I'm not
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: doing it. I won't do it. That's it. I mean,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: but the guy loves you, Mike loves you. But it's
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: an entertaining thing. He goes, yeah, well snuck in on me,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: you know. And I didn't appreciate it, and he keeps walking.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Jesse follows him onto the bus. You gotta help me.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: I can make five. Anyone do it for him. But
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Jesse got thrown off the Indiana bus. He followed him
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: in after night, told him fifty paces back. That's what's following.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that is outstanding.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: Well, hey, you gotta make the money man, that's even
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: he was. I mean he it was like he found
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: a gold mine and he wanted to mind it. But
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: the gold mine was Bob was Bobby Knight. My favorite story,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Ben and I don't even know if you know this.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: Dave Steep nineteen ninety three. Yeah, he got picked up
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: by the White Sox.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: No, the White Sox got you.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: Okay, I'm on the radio and he hears me say
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: he's washed up. I love the guy. He's a competitor,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: but he's not going to help this White Sox team. Period,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: end of story. Okay. I'm at Gibson Steakhouse that night.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: It was a hangout of mind. Who comes walking in
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: just got in the day before, was told by the
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: White Sox where I hung out, walks in to the bar,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: somebody says, somebody wants to see you. I walk into
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: the vestibule of the place. He goes, I'm Dave Steep.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: You have a little problem with me. I go, I
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: have no problem with you, Dave. First of all, it's
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: good to meet you. He goes, well, I heard about
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: what you said on me on the radio. I said, Dave,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: nobody loves you as a competitor, one of my favorite
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: role players. But you're you've got to know that what
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: I was saying has to be half true. He goes,
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: you know what he says to me. Then he says, well,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: why don't you try to help me? I go, what
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: are you talking about? Well, the team's on the road.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: I go, yeah, and I need to throw tomorrow. I go,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: where are you're going to throw? He goes, We'll find
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: the park somewhere. He goes, I'm staying where the White
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: Socks keep all the new players on the on Lake
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: Shore Drive at this building. Can you come by tomorrow?
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: I go, sure? What time? He goes seven o'clock? I
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: go in the morning. Now it's already nine at night.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: He goes, yeah, and I've already had a few belts.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: I go, okay. He gives me the address. I get up.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: The rain's going sideways or I call them up. Dave,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: too bad? Huh. He goes, where are you coming or not?
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: I go, what are you talking about? He goes, I
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: need to throw because they're coming back, and I got
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: to be ready. I need to throw sixty five sony pictures.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: I go, there's nothing open. It's born like that. He goes, well,
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: find a viaduct. You know viaducts around here. I go in,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: know the whole city. So I go get him and
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: I take him to Grand Avenue where there's a viaduct
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: by the Chicago River. He stands on one side. I
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: stand on the other side. I got a catcher smid.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: He had a chest protector and a mask, okay, And
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: he threw sixty five pitches between cars going by from
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: one end, from one side to the other. And I
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: caught all of them but three period. And the story, true,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: true story. It would never happen. I couldn't make that up.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: And it actually happened because the white Socks said no
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: love for me, and they thought they could start something
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: and it n ended up being a good thing. And
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Dave's one of the great guys.
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: That's awesome, a great story.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: I always think about that yeah, that is.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: That is wonderful.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: I love the guys.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, a lot of them will say they
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: don't listen. I had a guy years ago that was
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: with the Dodgers who I was ripping, and then I
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: was in the law. I was in the clubhouse the
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: next like the next day, and the guy came up
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: to me. He was ranting Mike. He's like, I don't
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: listen to sports radio and I said, well, how do.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: You how do I know? How do you know that
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: I said anything? He said, well, my wife does you know?
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: And then he was giving me the whole, you know,
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: the whole thing.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: About well, you know, Brian Harlan was the pr man
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: for the White Sox for the Bears, and he's now
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: an agent. And when we were rolling, uh, we ran
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: into each other and he says to me, I heard
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: the station didn't have that good of ratings. And I said,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: I heard your three and seven and we kept walking.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's how it used to be in Chicago.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: You know, a lot of ball busting going on. But
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: it was the teams hated us because at the time
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: we had no teams discourage of any local radio station.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: If you want your people to be absolutely free is
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: to have no teams, and we ended up getting the
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: team and the station changed a little, but it's now.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: I was told we were going to last six months,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: and Dan Lee took my vision made it into something
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: big and now the Chicago Cubs. When I'm I'd been
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: in my car around that station. Yeah, I gotta ask you.
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: I've been to Wrigley Field a number of times over
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: the year there, but it seems last time I was there,
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: it just felt like I was at Disney or something.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, you should have been with me in the seventies.
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: Well, I did get I didn't go in the seventies obviously,
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: but I did go back in like the nineties. It
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: was sure, sure the way it was, I guess then
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: it wasn't as crazy, But.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: Are you kidding me? We could have bought the buildings
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: across the street with the change we have in our pockets.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Back in nineteen seventy, it was a heavily it was Hispanic,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: it was a mix white Hispanic. They had gang problems
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: down farther down the street. But then it just changed.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Harry Carey came, okay from the White Sox, and as
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: soon as Harry Carey came, and then they got some
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: people who were Dallas Green came, and then Wrigley Field
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Old became cool like Fenway, and they lived off that,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: and then they lived off Harry And now when you
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: go down there, I swear to god, I hadn't been
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: down there for like ten years after, you know, because
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: I live way out now. I went down there. You're right,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: I couldn't even recognize it. I didn't have a clue.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: They used to have Murphy's Bleachers. Used to be a
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: bar with twenty five stools at a pool table in
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: the middle. So now it's this massive bar all there.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: You know what, I knew a guy that lived across
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: the street. We took lawn chairs in the eighties and
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: sat on top and watched the games. Now they got bleachers,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: you know, and they got clubs inside and everything. So
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: it's just a gigantic difference.
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: I think the Cubs, I think the ownership, like bought
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: a lot of the land around there, and they just
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: own like that that whole area. But it does feel
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: very corporate, and that's to me, that's not the essence. Obviously,
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: we're getting times right, Mike. But that's as you said
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: when you were going there. Back in the day, it
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: was just sodom and gomorra.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: Right, well, I was a vendor. I was a vendor
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: in sixty nine and seventy. I told my father there's
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: no way I'm going to school. I'm not tober. He goes,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: what are you talking about. We're having enough trouble getting
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: you to school as it is. I go to, Cubs
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: are going My dad wasn't really sports oint. I go to,
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: Cubs are going to go to the World Series. I'm
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: going to be making nothing but money. And I was
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: when I was sixteen, making its where doubleheaders, forty Bucks,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: selling cokes, twenty five cent cokes. Hey, coke, get your
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: coke here, get coke care? I remember like it was yesterday.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: And then I remember to collapse, which I could not believe.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: The sixty nine Cubs, not that they played badly, but
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: the Mets were just so good. So, you know, it's
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: the greatest sports to me. I mean from the time
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: I'm nine and I you know, Howard Stern said it best.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Anybody can go to Amazon and be a podcaster. And
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: this is nothing against podcasting, because I have a couple
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: of great podcasts, and he says, but it takes unbelievable skill,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: and I don't always agreeing with Howard Stern unbelievable skill
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: to do what any radio guy does, any radio guy does,
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: And he's absolutely right, because I've had guys come into
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: the studios you have that thought they could knock it
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: down and get it down, and it didn't happen. Then
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: you know that as well as I do. And then
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: there's others that it just flows, like yourself and like
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: other people that we know and love. So yeah, it's true.
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: And the other dudes. You'll see guys professional athletes or something.
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: They'll come off the field and think they can just
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: get on a microphone because they played and they can
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: start yep, And it's not that easy. You gotta as
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: you said, there's an art to it. There's you've got
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: to know what you're doing.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: And if why doing two o'clock in the morning, if
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: you're Ben mallor in July, in July, why do it?
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Why do it? Mike North while the Indianapolis Cults are
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: playing the Packers at eight o'clock on Sunday, Okay on
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: Sunday night. I had no problem when when I was
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: with the team, you know, with Dan jiggots, and you
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: had somebody to bounce off of. Okay, but doing what
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: anybody does, I've had so many people think they can
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: do it and they can't. It's it's an art. It's
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: it's how much work are you going to put into it?
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: You have to come up with stuff. My buddy and
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: you brought up a Dan Lee, the owner. He passed away,
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: and before he passed away, I had a three hour
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: contrave with you talking about the days, and he said
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: the thing about you that set everybody apart, Mike, and
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: it's the highest compliment that I could have been paid.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: You never had an offseason. If there was hockey, you
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: knew every black clock. If it was football, baseball, basketball,
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: we didn't worry about you. We worried about the others.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: There was a couple of football players like you just said,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: a baseball player that worked with us, a couple of journalists.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: So that was probably one of the great things he
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: ever said, amongst many things. He gave me changed my
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: whole life. He was going to give me weekends and
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: I said, I can do every day, and the other
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: guy they were not going to give it to me.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: And the one guy turned it down. They gave me
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: a six month trial, and here I am thirty three
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: years later, and you know, it's the roller coaster ride.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: Ben ups downs in all rounds. I mean, talk show
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: hosts for the most part, folks, and even Ben, at
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: some point we're wackos. We are. We're wackos, no doubt
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: about it. But we put our heart and soul into entertainment, entertainment,
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: and you get it for free.
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: Well, and there are very few that I've met along
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: my journey that have passion and energy, and you're one
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: of a kind. My congratulations, you got that lifetime achievement
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: of word, which will be next Friday. There's a big
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: galo there in Chicago. Thanks for doing this, dude, I
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: appreciate it.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: Thank you. You know what, Ben, I hope to see
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: you soon the next time in Chicago. We got to
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: hook up. I know you were in Chicago not too
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: long ago. I believe if I'm not right, you want
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: to that is true.
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: But my brother lives in Wisconsin. My younger I do go.
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: You know, I usually try to go through Chicago.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: You know what's funny. I live right by Wisconsin. I
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: live right by Lake Geneva now, but I live in Illinois.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: But I'll tell you what. Yeah, when I see a
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: picture of somebody and the first thing I said is boy,
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: I'd like to see him and go to the ball
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: game with him. Because if you've never been to Wrigley, folks,
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: and you drive down the street, you go, where the
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: hell is this park? And then all of a sudden, boom,
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: Oh it's wonderful.
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but I mean to go to That'd be awesome
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: to go to a Cub game with Mike North.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: Now that's the most we will have to do it
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: and say hi to everybody over there, and I will.
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: I enjoyed being on and thanks so much.
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: Now let me tell you I see jonas your old protege.
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: I love them every day and we will occasionally randomly
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: there'll be a Mike Norse story that we will tell
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: and it's it's just a cluss. But but thanks to
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: Thanks Mike, appreciate it.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: You're the best. Ben, thank you, and thank all the listeners.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: Thanks guys,