Dan McNeil and Danny Parkins host afternoon drive on 670 The Score in Chicago, and on Tuesday McNeil spent a lot of the opening segment having issues with engineering from interviews with Cubs players on the Laurence Holmes Show earlier in the day. Eventually, program director Mitch Rosen called in and told him to knock it off.
McNeil’s issues with engineering begin at about the 3:15-mark, and Rosen calls in, on his drive back to Chicago from Milwaukee where he recently also became program director at 105.7 The Fan, at the 8:45-mark:
Before Rosen called in, a producer for Holmes told McNeil that the specific issue he was complaining about was not an engineering problem, but rather that the Cubs player was struggling to get his headphones on right when they went on-air.
McNeil explained essentially that he’s an audio perfectionist, that some of their own remote shows at Bears camp had hot microphones picking up extraneous noise, and that he was getting on his soapbox on-air because his previous off-air complaints (via email, text, and in-person conversations) had from his perspective been unaddressed. Parkins thought he was punching down given the power dynamics of McNeil as a longtime host at the station compared to producers’ positions.
Then Rosen called in, joked that he was a first-time caller, and said that their remote producer is one of the best in the business.
“You are the only one of late that is complaining about the kitchen,” Rosen said. “Our engineering is doing a great job. Our talent, our on-air staff has beared with this transition as we move into a new studio tomorrow. Everyone’s patience as been great. Not many times in our careers can we move into a rebuilt studio and I really think it’s going to be amazing when we flip the switch tomorrow morning.”
“All I’m saying is take a deep breath, relax, and have a fun radio show today,” Rosen said. “There’s certain things we can’t control. The air siren at a golf outing [the unadjusted volume of which during a Joe Maddon interview was one of McNeil’s specific gripes] is probably one of them,” Rosen said, as his GPS gave directions through the bluetooth. “The deal with these technical issues that I’m sure half of the listeners don’t care about — they just want to hear fun radio today.”
