Rick Quits. "Quits What?" Says Chicago

Rick Telander announced at the end of his 2PM to 6PM shift on WSCR that he was quitting, effective immediately. Why? To focus on his column (which has been unfocused for years), work on his book (isn't everyone working on their book?), and the dreaded "to spend more time with his family" excuse.

There are a lot of rumors going around about what happened behind this scenes. What is clear is this: The show sucked. He was getting trounced by MacNeil, Jurko and Harry over at WMVP. His show had generated no staple segments. He was being out "energied" by Mike Mulligan, a recent addition to the show.

All bad mojo for a guy who only succeeded in radio when he was the fourth banana on a pre-recorded round table show, WGN's "The Sportswriters."

That show existed even before Chet Coppock had the first nightly all sports show on the old WLUP AM-1000.

Radio changed. You need to be funny and high energy. You need to berate the stupid callers. And you need an angle.

Rick had none of that.

Replacements? The usual suspects will be trotted out. Steve Rosenbloom. Jay Hood. Mike Mulligan may take over.

Retreads, all.

How about a Score Blog show? Have the Sloth host. Sports bloggers sit in with him for a one week rotation?

Something makes me think the FCC won't approve.

:::UPDATE:::
I traded some e-mail with Robert Feder of the SunTimes. He claims that the SunTimes article on what happened is, "all true."

I'm not sure I agree. In the article, WSCR program director Mitch Rosen said that the new hosts have already been determined. Mike Mulligan and Doug Buffone will host the show and it will be called "The Afternoon Show with Mike Mulligan and Doug Buffone."

This seems fishy to me. Despite the spur of the moment change, Rosen already has decided the hosts and even the name of the show? Hell, it took Coke 6 weeks to come up with Coke Classic.