I don't know if you saw this over the weekend, but Robert Feder had a few very interesting columns.
The first one was a recap of Steve Dahl's most recent podcast. He apparently went on a ten minute rant against WGN calling it the "worst station ever", and unloaded on Jimmy de Castro, Bill Leff, Wendy Snyder, Steve Cochran, their decision to let the Cubs go, their terrible commercials, and more. Read the article at the link for the exact quotes.
The second article was Steve Cochran's response--an open letter to Dahl. The title of the piece is "Why so bitter Steve?" Cochran rips Dahl right back, saying that Steve was funnier when Bill and Wendy appeared on his show, and he should get over being bypassed by WGN by listening to his old tapes of when he used to be funny.
Whoa. Reminds me of the old days.
For the record, I agree with a few of Dahl's criticisms of WGN (especially the part about losing the Cubs and the ridiculous number of live commercials on the station), but I don't agree about Bill & Wendy, and I'm willing to cut de Castro some slack for the photograph that set Steve off. It's a photo from Pat Hughes getting inducted into the WGN walk of fame. Steve was upset that de Castro was front and center, seemingly trying to "hog the glory." I suspect there's a more innocent explanation of that, like somebody noticed Jimmy wasn't in the picture before it was taken, and asked him to hop in. Maybe I'm wrong.
As for Cochran's letter to Dahl, he is correct that people at WGN seem to be happy working for Jimmy. I've interviewed several of them now, and they all ethusiastically praise him. On the other hand, I think Cochran is incorrect when he says that Jimmy didn't need Steve back in the day--Steve needed Jimmy. That's really not the way it went down.
Steve & Garry helped create that AM 1000 station with de Castro. Jimmy may have found Brandmeier, but he didn't find Steve & Garry. They were already huge stars in Chicago. They were more than just air-fillers. They gave the Loop AM instant credibility. They helped recruit the rest of the lineup (including Kevin Matthews) and helped guide the station in the direction of their vision. Jimmy was there too, obviously, and provided a great atmosphere for success, but I think even he would agree that he couldn't have done it without Steve and Garry.
I suspect Cochran only said that to ding Dahl, who had already dinged Cochran.
I'm only commenting on this whole episode because I received several e-mails asking my opinion. Take my analysis for what it's worth. Yes, I did work for both Dahl and de Castro, but that was more than twenty years ago. Yes, I know Steve Cochran and have interviewed him multiple times, but I haven't spoken to him about this.
I have zero insider information.
Just educated hunches.
