It’s been almost a decade since Dan McNeil called WSCR-AM The Score his home. He’s spent most of the last nine years as part of Mac, Jurko, and Harry’s “Afternoon Saloon” on cross-town rival ESPN’s WMVP-AM 1000, until January of this year when he was yanked off the station. Since then, he’s been sitting out the remainder of his contract. On June 15, Danny Mac will return to his roots at The Score.

As part of a significant re-shuffling at the CBS Radio sports talker, McNeil will take over the 9a-1p shift. To accommodate this change, the morning duo of Mike Mulligan and Brian Hanley will air from 5a-9a and afternoon team of Dan Bernstein and Terry Boers will run from 1p-6p. McNeil is expected to contribute to the first half-hour of the Boers & Bernstein show.

Lost in this re-shuffle are Score original Mike Murphy, Lawrence Holmes, and Dan Hampton. Murph’s role is yet to be determined, according to Score PD Mitch Rosen:

“Murph’s a Day-Oner. We value his expertise and treat him with the utmost respect. We hope to figure something out, the next role for Murph, some time next week.”

Meanwhile, Holmes will likely end up back in the utility role as fill-in host and contributor during other shows. Hampton will become the Bears and NFL expert for the station, displacing Doug Buffone who is jumping over to Mike North’s ChicagoSportsWebio.com along with Ed O’Bradovich.

Joining McNeil as part of his return to The Score will be Matt Spiegel, who also served a tour on the station a decade or so ago. Spiegel has also worked for Sporting News Radio and WXRT-FM 93.9.

The most obvious conclusion that can be drawn from these changes at The Score is that the station is more aggressively targeting ESPN 1000. While The Score has recently out-performed its rival overall in the Arbitron ratings, ESPN’s Mike & Mike morning drive show and the Afternoon Saloon show in afternoon drive have rountinely beaten the competition. The new line-up on The Score pits Mully & Hanley head-to-head with Mike & Mike, while McNeil will match-up the the duo of Waddle & Silvy on ESPN.

These moves also signal a pretty significant realignment of on-air power at The Score. Managment is putting a lot of faith in McNeil to recapture some of the orignial magic that kept the station afloat during its early years. The line-up now looks a little more like a murderers’ row with almost no weak links from 5a to 6p.

At the same time, Mike North’s ChicagoSportsWebio.com continues to stockpile talent, with Buffone and O’Bradovich jumping ship and speculation that Murphy may do the same once his deal is up.

Here’s McNeil talking with Boers & Bernstein:

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