In the re-shuffling, Cassidy exited the station and will likely return to his previous radio home of all-news WBBM-AM, which, not coincidentally, is where Drew Hayes most recently roamed the halls. Hayes was, no doubt, aware of the long-rumored standing invitation for Cassidy to return to WBBM. By releasing Cassidy from his WLS contract, Hayes knew that the veteran newsman would be able to make smooth transition back to his old stomping grounds.

Meanwhile, Mancow has been fired from yet another Chicago radio station. He joined WLS in late 2008 in a very unusual deal that essentially cost the station nothing. Mancow’s national syndicator TRN brokered a deal with WLS to share revenue sold during the 9-11am time slot, where Mancow was heard. This allowed TRN to sell this inventory to many of the national clients who were buying spots in Mancow’s national show. It seemed to be a smart move for all parties involved, and for a while, the ratings for the show seemed to be holding steady. But a recent decline and the change in regime at WLS once again puts Mancow off the air in his home market.

Here are Damsky’s comments on Mancow and Cassidy, via Feder:

“Mancow has been an outstanding talent and an ideal employee in every respect. Unfortunately, he does not fit the needs of the radio station as we try to fulfill a very clear vision of what listeners expect, and try to restore credibility to conservative talk. We thank him and Pat Cassidy for their contributions, and wish them both well.”

Cisco Cotto will slide into the 9-11am slot, which is familiar territory for him. For many years, up until 2006, Cotto worked as a reporter and new anchor at WLS and frequently contributed to the various shows that occupied that slot. This move ends the arranged marriage between Cotto and Roe Conn that scarcely had a honeymoon period. Cotto was foisted upon Conn later last year when the previous general manager Mike Fowler eyed Conn’s falling ratings and forced him to choose a new sidekick. Little did Conn know that he was actually picking a co-equal partner and not another sidekick, which has included a recent string of names like Amy Jacobson and Bill Leff. Conn wasn’t even aware of the egalitarian relationship he would be having with Cotto until days before they began working together on the air.

There’s little doubt that Conn’s longtime relationship with Hayes factored greatly into this re-shuffling. Conn and Hayes worked together at WMAQ-AM nearly 25 years ago. Hayes was the operations manager at WLS 20 years ago when a young Conn was first hired. It’s become clear that Conn encouraged — if not fully orchestrated — the moves implemented on Wednesday. He did not want to be partnered with Cotto, and he wanted Ron Magers back on the program. There’s now word that Christina Filiaggi may return to the show. Whatever pull Conn had lost under the tenure of Fowler and PD Bob Shomper has returned tenfold with the return of Hayes.

So where does this leave everyone involved? First, the winners.

Roe Conn. If anyone had any doubts, the events of this week prove that Roe gets what Roe wants. He’s survived at WLS through numerous management shake-ups, and he’s managed to stay on top. Just weeks ago, he was described by friends and colleagues as distraught and depressed about his falling ratings and his lack of influence at the station. Now, he has nearly single-handedly changed the character of the radio station while remaining the top dog in afternoon drive. There’s been no confirmation of a new deal being signed, but you can bet that Conn will make out better now than he would have if he’d re-signed six weeks ago.

Pat Cassidy. His foray into talk radio didn’t go as planned, for sure. In the summer of 2008, Cassidy was lured to WLS by then-GM Mike Fowler with the promise that he’d be working in morning drive alongside Don Wade. Unfortunately, no one asked Wade first. Once that idea was vehemently vetoed, Cassidy became a man without a show on WLS. He bounced around between several different shows, being paired with Conn and Jerry Agar for temporary assignments until finally landing in the chair next to Mancow. The pairing never worked and now Cassidy can return to WBBM where he can do what he does best — read the news.

Now, the losers.

Mancow. He’s burned just about every bridge in this town. He has nowhere left to go. His syndicated show will continue on the handful of mid-size markets that haven’t grown tired of his shtick, but he will likely not work in Chicago in any prominent position for a long time. He never seemed comfortable fully shedding his shock jock persona in pursuit of becoming a serious political talker. Perhaps that metamorphosis is still in the making, but it’s more likely that Mancow will now be viewed as damaged goods.

Cisco Cotto. He jumped from WIND-AM where he co-hosted mornings back to WLS where he had hoped to save afternoon drive, after watching Conn slowly decline for the last 18 months. In many ways, it was doomed from the start, as both Cotto and Conn are known for having strong personalities and very narrow views of how to perform their craft. Conn wasn’t going to cede any control of his show to Cotto, no matter how bad the ratings might have been. As a result, Cotto has been exiled to the 9-11am shift, which has been a career dead-end for names like Jay Marvin, Eileen Byrne, and Jerry Agar. Two years from how now, it’s not likely that Cotto will be working in this town either.

And lastly, those whose fates are still to be determined.

Drew Hayes. It was a series of bold movies from a guy know for bold moves. Clearly, Hayes’ boss Michael Damsky has a vision that Hayes has been set about to accomplish. WLS has spent the last few years spinning its wheels, making some gains but quickly giving them right back. The brand that was once golden when it came to news talk now seems a little tarnished. It will be interesting to see if Hayes can reignite some of the old sparks that jumpstarted WLS twenty years ago when it first launched.

Amy Jacobson. In the last year, she went from being heralded as the new co-host of the Roe Conn show to being marginalized to reading weather and traffic to being forced off the show completely to make way for Cisco Cotto. Ironically, she’s now reading news during Cotto’s new solo show. Jacobson’s days at WLS may be numbered, as she’s surely looking for more substantive opportunities in the market.

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Lazare has continually promoted this idea of “The Score” being heard on one of CBS’ FM sticks, if not 105.9 then 104.3, the current home of JACK-FM. The problem with this idea is that it simply doesn’t make any sense. What advantage would CBS gain by putting a station already transmitting on a 50kw AM license that can be heard throughout the Midwest on an FM stick with a considerably smaller coverage pattern? The quick answer always seems to be demographics. Most of the popular wisdom suggests that the AM band skews much older than the FM band. Advertisers like younger listeners with disposable income, so the FM stations are more desirable. However, both Lazare and Sherman point out that “The Score” and ESPN 1000 WMVP-AM both do very well in the highly coveted 25-54 year-old demographic.

Lazare:

In the key 25- to 54-year-old adult demo Monday through Sunday, WSCR was in a tie for ninth place in the most recent December Arbitron ratings.

Sherman:

In the fall ratings book, both stations were tied for first in men ages 25-54, the demographic that means the most to advertisers on sports talk radio.

Would “The Score” really pick up that many younger listeners if they were heard on the FM band? It seems like they are doing fairly well with the old AM stick.

CBS also likes offering demographic cells to advertisers. While Fresh FM hasn’t done phenomenal numbers yet, it offers advertisers a nice supplemental audience to the already strong US99. Sacrificing that marketing opportunity to “The Score” seems like a strange move. In 2008, “The Score” billed $15.7 million in a down economy, putting it ahead of “The Loop”, Q101, and JACK-FM, and just behind “The Drive” and KISS-FM. The sports talker is hardly struggling.

Additionally, CBS just brought int veteran programmer Bill Gamble to run Fresh FM. Gamble’s track record has generally been pretty good, so it would be unlikely that CBS would pull the plug on the format without giving Gamble time to do his magic.

There does not appear to be a compelling argument for CBS to do anything with “The Score” other than leave it alone on the AM band.

What about the idea of a third sports talker in Chicago?

This idea seems a little more possible, but it’s unlikely that it would resemble either “The Score” or ESPN 1000. Sherman points out that there are some major markets that can sustain more than two sports talk stations, but in the case of Dallas’ KTCK-FM “The Ticket”, the station is a hybrid sports talk / hot talk station, that is less about the X’s and O’s the big game and more about DD’s, if you get the drift. It’s possible that a creative programmer in Chicago could make it work, but so-called “hot talk” in Chicago has a mixed recent history.

There’s also the issue of play-by-play sports availability. Much of the revenue lifeblood of sports talk stations comes from this type of programming. WGN-AM has already locked down the Cubs and Blackhawks for the foreseeable future. The Bears aren’t leaving WBBM-AM anytime soon. The White Sox seem content on “The Score”. The Bulls already had a brief stint on WCKG-FM a few season ago, before the station flipped. There may be some college teams looking for new homes, but those are hardly compelling selling points for a new station.

To play armchair programmer, what about a station that features some combination of  Dan Patrick, Steve Dahl, Dennis Miller, Bruce Wolf, Matt Abbatacola, and Bill Leff? There would be plenty of sports, but there would also be a lot of talk about a lot of other topics that appeal to men —pop culture, politics, women, etc. The talent seems to be out there. Is there a broadcast company willing to take the risk?

My top priority is make sure WLS is being programmed to best showcase the talent that we have. We have great individual shows, but now we need to maximize their value and restore the luster of the WLS brand

Shomper has been with the station for just over a year. He came to WLS in one of the more bizarre personnel realignments in recent memory. Shomper had come from WBAP-AM in Dallas to program WGN in 2006. In late 2008, frustrated with the slow pace of change at WGN, he essentially negotiated with his current employer, WGN, and WLS to make the jump. He landed at WLS, ousting previous PD Kipper McGee. Meanwhile, WGN brought in Kevin Metheny.

During his tenure at WLS, Shomper inherited a recently re-signed morning duo of Don Wade & Roma, the oddball pairing of Mancow of Pat Cassidy, and a quickly sinking afternoon show in Roe Conn. Shomper also brought in Illinois’ disgraced ex-governor Rod Blagojevich to host a weekend shift. The Mancow & Cassidy experiment seems destined to fail, as rumors swirl that Cassidy is working on an exit from WLS that would let him return to WBBM-AM. Roe Conn recently brought in a new partner Cisco Cotto, who effectively replaces Amy Jacobson, who replaced Bill Leff & Christina Filiaggi earlier this year.

There does not appear to be a timetable for Damsky to replace Shomper, but there should be a clear sense of urgency. While Don & Roma continue to over-perform their age and ability at this point in their career, the popular wisdom is that they are working out the last three years of what will be their final contract. There is no apparent successor in place. The unusual revenue sharing deal that has put Mancow into mid-days may be helping the station’s bottom line, but it’s not doing much to, “restore the luster of the WLS brand,” as Damsky hopes to do. The strategy to add Cotto to Conn’s show seems to be a last gasp attempt to salvage the once untouchable afternoon drive shift on WLS when Conn and Garry Meier were paired together. It’s too early to tell whether listeners will take to the new team.

To top off the challenges already laid out before the incoming PD are the health concerns that plague Rush Limbaugh, who has been a fixture on WLS since its inception. At some point, Limbaugh will close the book on his remarkable career and his replacement — either a new syndicated show or a local show — will need to be chosen.

The elimination of Sirott’s show coincides with another of cost-cutting moves, including the release of Dave Stewart, the station’s City Hall reporter and a 28-year veteran.  Others released this week include “Sports Central” weekend co-host  Glen Koslowski, producer of the Steve Cochran show Rick O’Connor, and producer of the Milt Rosenberg show Zack Christenson.

The company is under increasing pressure to cut costs as realign programming priorities as parent company the Tribune Company attempts to emerge from bankruptcy All of these moves come amid speculation that WGN is negotiating with Jonathan Brandmeier to join the station, either in afternoon or morning drive.

It’s unclear if the elimination of the producer positions for Cochran’s show and Rosenberg’s show indicates that either or both of those show may soon be coming to and end. There seems to be little doubt that Cochran will not be re-signed by the company at the end of his current contract.

Feder claims, without attribution, that Brandmeier was seen recently at WGN, inspecting the studios, in full view of station staff. If true, that doesn’t, in and of itself, mean that Johnny B will be joining WGN. But multiple sources are reporting that the station has essentially cut off talks with Steve Cochrane about renewing his deal.  The rumors of Johnny B afternoon show have become more intense since Brandmeier abruptly left the Loop WLUP-FM 97.9 in November when Emmis Communications chose not to renew his deal.

In the meantime, Brandmeier released a parody video, spoofing his recent membership in the ranks of the unemployed. In the closing scene of the video, Brandmeier is shown standing outside of the Tribune Tower, holding up a sign that says, “Will Work.”

If WGN does decide to bring Brandmeier to afternoons, it will certainly demonstrate that the station is moving in a very different direction than what it’s traditionally been known for. Since the arrival of PD Kevin Metheny, the station moved out-of-towner Greg Jarrett into morning drive, replacing John Williams, who had replaced Spike O’Dell only a few months earlier. Williams then took the late morning slot previously held by Kathy & Judy. In addition, Garry Meier returned from radio exile to helm the early afternoon shift.

Many believe that Metheny is attempting to position WGN to appeal to a younger audience, to better compete for the coveted 25-54 year-0ld demographic. It’s questionable whether hiring Meier (age 60) and Jarrett (age 57) will really achieve that goal. Hiring Brandmeier (age 53) wouldn’t do much to skew the station line-up much younger. But as Johnny B has long said, “We’re all crazy in Chicago.”

Meanwhile, Conn’s patience began to wear thin. As he watched his own contract coming to and end, Conn found himself stuck between his loyalty to his partner and his professional aspirations. In the end, Conn took a seven-figure deal with WLS, leaving Meier on the street for the next several years.

The re-launched “Roe Conn Show” took to the air in the summer of 2004 with newsman Jim Johnson and traffic reporter Christina Filiaggi both locked into long-term deals. The show lacked the creativity and dry wit that it possessed when Meier sat alongside Roe. Johnson couldn’t match Meier’s skill as a foil to Roe, and Filiaggi didn’t seem to add much at all.

It became clear early on that the show lacked both the creative and ratings punch it once had. The new station GM John Gallagher quickly ushered in a series of auditions, including Bruce Wolf and Bill Leff. As the show limped along in 2005, Leff was eventually added as Roe’s new sidekick, but the show remained, “The Roe Conn Show”, with Leff, Johnson, and Filiaggi playing only supporting roles.

The early criticism of the new foursome was that Conn marginalized his cohorts, reducing their roles to minor ones. Leff would occasionally score a punch line, but it often came at awkward moments in the show. Much of the natural chemistry that Conn enjoyed with Meier simply didn’t exist alongside Leff. The partnership was clearly uneasy from the start, as Leff had no desire to rock the boat.

For a brief period of time in 2006, the show enjoyed a resurgence that allowed the team to renegotiate their contracts and extend the show from 6pm to 7pm each evening. The move would prove to be detrimental to the show and would eventually be reversed.

In early 2008, with the show’s wheels spinning, massive cutbacks were ordered by station owners Citadel Broadcasting. Among those out of a job were Filiaggi, who seemed almost expendable at this point. Also released was the show’s longtime technical producer. In the summer, Abritron launched their new audience measurement technique, the Portable People Meters or PPMs. This measurement technique began to shake-up some longtime radio talent in Chicago, as their ratings began to quickly slide. The Roe Conn Show was no exception.

In June, Filiaggi was re-hired, thanks the lobbying efforts of Conn, but Conn’s eyes were already on another addition that he was hoping to make to his team. Veteran TV reporter Amy Jacobson had been fired by WMAQ-TV Ch. 5 on July 10, 2007, because of her involvement in the investigation of the disappearance of Lisa Stebic. Jacobson was videotaped in the backyard of Lisa’s husband Craig. She was wearing a bikini top and a towel, which raised questions of journalistic integrity.

Jacobson soon found herself regularly appearing on Conn’s show on WLS, and by early 2009, Leff and Filiaggi were both let go by WLS to make way for Jacobson. Conn had once again reshuffled his team, hoping to strike ratings gold. Jacobson had been promised a substantive role in the show, perhaps even a true co-host position, depending on who you choose to believe. But once again, Conn had no desire to share the spotlight with anyone, and Jacobson’s role was quickly reduced to traffic and weather reports and the occasional rejoinder.

The ratings slide was already underway. The show slipped badly throughout 2009, especially in the most advertiser-friendly demographics. At the same time, Conn’s massive seven-figure salary loomed large in a market where such paydays were fast becoming things of the past. Citadel Broadcasting faced bankruptcy, and it became clear that something had to be done with Conn and his show.

Some insiders suggested that Conn should have been shown the door, as he lacked the ability to generate the ratings he once did with Meier. Conn had already begun exploring alternative career options and launched his own syndicated daily feature, “The Roe Report,” while reportedly auditioning for a TV gig at CNN.

The easy decision would have been to move the syndicated Sean Hannity Show into the daypart that Conn had occupied for nearly 13 years. The cost reduction would have been huge, and the ratings would likely have remained the same.

But like the proverbial cat with nine lives, Conn has found yet another way to survive. According to reports, Conn will now be partnered with Cisco Cotto, a one-time reporter with WLS who has spent the past three years as the voice of the right wing agenda on WIND-AM’s morning show. Conn will be taking a huge reduction in salary under this new arrangement. He’ll also be giving up something that he’s enjoyed for the last six years – top billing on his own show. The new show will contractually include both Conn’s name and Cotto’s name.

Just days before the new show was set to take to the air, it suffered another blow. ABC 7 anchor Ron Magers, who had been a daily contributor to the show since the Garry Meier days, was informed that Citadel Broadcasting would not be extending his deal into 2010. Mager’s daily interaction with Conn at 3pm had been one of the show’s strongest segments for years. The station blamed budget cutbacks for the move.

As 2010 begins, Conn will attempt to resurrect his career once again, with his fourth co-host in six years. Cotto is perhaps the least entertaining of Conn’s prior co-hosts. His reputation has been as a political firebrand, quick to defend the Republican agenda and to speak in conservative talking points. Those who have worked with Cotto have described him as difficult to work with and perpetually lazy in his show prep. Both counts could also be made against Conn, as well. It’s unclear how these two egos will co-exist on a show that has belonged solely to Conn since Meier’s departure in 2004.

Publicly, both Conn and Cotto are talking nicely about each other and about the future of the show, but behind the scenes, the tension is high. Conn will be slow to give up control of his show to the younger and less skilled Cotto. There’s no doubt that Cotto will move quickly to seize his piece of the pie. Meanwhile, questions remain about Jacobson’s future role in the show. It would seem that Cotto is taking the job that Jacobson was promised less than a year ago.

It’s not likely that anyone will confuse the new Conn and Cotto show with the successful Roe and Garry show of a decade ago. As WLS seeks to tilt it’s programming to the right, it’s not clear whether longtime Conn fans will be as loyal to the new pairing as they have in the past. Clearly, the show will be less entertaining than it was when Garry Meier was part of the show. It will also not be as political as much of the rest of the WLS line-up, as Conn has never shown a comfort level wading too deeply into the conservative political waters. At best, he’s a right-leaning moderate. More accurately, he’s a moderate forced to temper his views on a conservative radio station.

The WLS of 2010 bears little resemblance to the Petri dish of talk that it was just ten years ago. With the departure of names like Garry Meier, Jay Marvin, Deborah Rowe, Jerry Agar, Eileen Byrne, Jake Hartford, and others, the station has become a homogenous blend of right wing talking points. With the addition of Cotto to the afternoons, it seems that WLS will continue in that direction. The only real question is how much longer will Roe Conn survive?

Radio personality Rush Limbaugh has joined forces with Dave Checketts, owner of the NHL St. Louis Blues, in a bid to buy the St. Louis Rams, league sources confirmed.

…

Limbaugh, a conservative political commentator, said in a statement: “Dave and I are part of a bid to buy the Rams, and we are continuing the process. But I can say no more because of a confidentiality clause in our agreement with Goldman Sachs. We cannot and will not talk about our partners. But if we prevail, we will be the operators of the team.”

Limbaugh is heard daily in Chicago on WLS-AM 890.

According to the LA Times, Limbaugh made $285 million on his eight-year radio deal from 2001 to 2009. His current deal, which runs through 2016, reportedly pays Limbaugh $400 million.

Smiley’s suit against Columbia alleges that her dismissal based on that unsubstantiated remark constitutes discrimination. The suit was filed on behalf of Smiley by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Trib story here. CBS2 has it here.