Chicagoist: Interview: The Cow Is Now

Jason Brennan

Sat, 05 May 2007 20:36:41 -0600

This article was good. Mancow was and is still good. What ever happened to Turd? I hope to see Mancow back on Chicago FM soon, even though it does suck. It's still the most convenient way for most people to listen to him, I think. I'm not sure if Mancow realizes it, but he's a part of Chicago that people aren't going to want to let go of very easily. I've been wondering what happened to him for awhile until just now when I finally decided to do some research. Other people will do the same and eventually I think he will be in enough demand by the public it will be hard to resist coming back. I miss Mancow and can still remember when I first heard him in '94, just got my driver's liscence, used to drive around just to listen w/ out the parents finding out.

Ron

Wed, 02 May 2007 09:58:13 -0600

Mancow was removed from the airwaves bt pressure from key people because he was hurting the ratings of Howard Stern and Sirus radio. They needed to make a profit and he was a big alternative to paying to listen to radio...His show was the tops!

Ghost of Cowboy Ray

Sun, 22 Apr 2007 23:18:57 -0600

Mancow > Stern Mancow > Chicago radio Mancow > Chicagoist Mancow > critics

Trish

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 19:34:21 -0600

I appreciate this article b/c I did wonder whatever happened to him after the radio show was canceled. Although Mancow does have a bit of a better than thou attitude - I do appreciate that he doesn't always take the traditional media stance on everything. His guests ranged the spectrum and he gave a perspective that not everyone necesessarily thought of or agreed upon. Thanks for the update.

Gort

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 21:48:02 -0600

mancow is as stale as this post

ted

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 21:24:14 -0600

i love mancow. i want him back on the radio. preferably a station that has streaming audio. that's all.

rb80085

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 16:14:35 -0600

McClure -10000 That is a quote from the movie Billy Madison.....

Mike M

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:56:36 -0600

Boy, there are a lot of lefties on these Chicagoist threads. I didn't agree with everything he said and with some of it I completely disagreed. However, he did know how to expose hypocrites and he refused to allow excuses for evil behavior. And he wasn't boring. If he was back, I would listen occasionally and enjoy it.

SAY

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:32:14 -0600

and if this isn't at the LEAST an implied Chicagoist endorsement, I don't know what you call it: "Chicagoist has been listening to the Cow off and on for years, going back to the days of chewing out "the suits" for everything and hour-long conversations about black helicopters and government conspiracy. Hell, for some of us, Mancow was what we were listening to when 9/11 happened."

SAY

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:19:32 -0600

HA: As 'Mike' already pointed out, and as any other nuanced individual could note, my opinions on Mancow have nothing to do with being or not being a 'hipster'. I fully enjoy commercial radio (sometimes) and NPR (occasionally)- and i'm actually a yuppie if you want to get technical- but that's of no relevance here. But I must commend you on your simple, and ignorant response- well done kid. Karl: I have listed to Mancow- more than once- which is how I formulated an educated opinion. And to the contrary, it's incredibly easy to avoid him- I decided about 10 years ago that he was a self-important, talentless blowhard and haven't heard from him since. But now Chicagoist, a blog with selective editorial control, has decided to give him a forum, where he's been given yet another opportunity to tell us how relevant and important he is- and by doing that Chicagoist passively endorses him. And as far as Mancow being part of the 'national scene'? Have you been out of the midwest in the last 10 years? I can assure you no one outside of Chicagoland gives a damn.

woodlawnchuck

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 12:35:03 -0600

Mancow Mancow Mancow! It was like the billboard "Gabbo is coming" on the Simpsons. They both sucked, too. How any buffoon with half a mind could ever listen to Mancow is beyond me. "I'm Mancow and I'm talkin truth pal." Whatever. He's the un-sexually repressed version of Bill O'Reilly with a cheesedick goatee. I'm WChuck and now I'm talkin' truth!

Scott

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 12:28:40 -0600

Whoa, a whole decade? Does that really make him an institution? He's not an "unhipster," he's fake. You konw: always talks in the fake announcer voice, lies about his numbers, decides to be a voice of "morality" after a decade of being a shock-jock and working for Playboy: fake. The guy would obviously do anything for a buck and now that he's a glorified podcast he's trying to tell us that "Every week someone makes a run at me. What people don't understand is that I can be on [in Chicago] tomorrow. But it's gotta be right." Did he really say this with a straight face?!?? No one is making a "run" at this guy! I'm not even sure the largest market he's actually in right now, but I don't even think it's in the top ten. Unhipsters should be earnest and truthful.

Tim

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:42:30 -0600

Egoist jackass. Mancow is the greatest person he knows, and the hero of every story he tells. He claims to be the man who invented ice. L-O-S-E-R.

Mike

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:39:18 -0600

As a Chicagoan it's actually really easy to ignore Mancow since HE'S NOT ON THE AIR IN CHICAGO! And now he's launching this self-righteous crusade for better radio? He just wants a job.

Karl

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:35:47 -0600

"And now it all makes sense. When Chicagoist features and admits to LIKING and ACTUALLY LISTENING TO MANCOW and his simple, calculated, boring, middle-American "shock" schtick, I realize that I don't belong here. I'll be over where the nuanced, intelligent people hang out." I don't see anything in there that ever says that Chicagoist as a whole, or me personally, actually like his radio show. But as a Chicagoan (as I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be...) it's damn near impossible to ignore the show totally. The fact that you can characterize his show as "simple, calculated, [and] boring" means you've actually listened to Mancow as well, and formed an opinion. The guy was a major force in Chicago radio for a decade, and used his Chicago show to take him to a more national scene. He's not on the air here any more, yes. But that doesn't mean people aren't curious about what happened to him, what he's doing now, and what (if anything) is his future in Chicago.

Mike

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:09:58 -0600

Seeing through Mancow's schtick and loathing him and taking joy in his failure has nothing to do with being a hipster. If you're really a "hipster" wouldn't you deride all commercial radio? Mancow isn't even on in Chicago any more, why is Chicagoist doing an interview with him? Maybe Rockfordist should have posted this interview, because right now that's the closest city that has Mancow on.

HA

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:18:18 -0600

uhoh, the chicagoist internet snobs are out in full force! how DARE someone like something so un-hipster as mancow??

john

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 09:51:19 -0600

I'm a Chicagoist fan, but have to side with the prevailing sentiment here. Mancow is terrible. Chicagoist should know better.

SAY

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 09:38:18 -0600

And now it all makes sense. When Chicagoist features and admits to LIKING and ACTUALLY LISTENING TO MANCOW and his simple, calculated, boring, middle-American "shock" schtick, I realize that I don't belong here. I'll be over where the nuanced, intelligent people hang out. Next week on Chicagoist: interviews with Ann Coulter, Fergie and an expose on the comic genius of Pauly Shore!

Scott

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 23:55:15 -0600

thundercougarfalconbird

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 23:46:44 -0600

+1000 to McClure. Comment of the week...

Dazzler69

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 19:06:28 -0600

Mancow is exactly what radio needs right now. He represents the common man's p.o.v. and wants to see the good old USA back in it's glory b4 everything went p.c.

prescott

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 18:51:32 -0600

Dan

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 17:59:37 -0600

Funny that Mancow calls out Dahl for being a cult of personality during an interview where he lauds himself and refers to himself as not only the QB, but the whole team. Mancow is a derivative hack. He got "clever" and mixed a little crazy right-wing politics into his tired "shock jock" schtick, but that was a knee jerk reaction to what was going on radio in the '90s. The guy is a copy of anything that has sold. He's not as funny or smart as Dahl. He's not as funny or "Chicago" as someone like Johnny B. I like when Stern boxed his ears. Mancow shit his pants.

McClure

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 17:41:33 -0600

Mr. Mueller, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

gc

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 16:26:15 -0600

What a phoney baloney.

Vinny

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 16:07:04 -0600

Stop paying attention to him!!!! He went away and now you brought him back! Why!??!

geekgrrl

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:34:57 -0600

nice soft lighting in that shot. he could rival barbara walters.

al conif

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:26:11 -0600

'The evil that's coming after America is the same that's in 300. The evil that's out there, free men have always had to beat it back' Oh yeah, now I remember again why I hated his show.

FP

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:19:39 -0600

I miss mancow. It was a great show. Love him or hate him, he had one of the more memorable radio shows in Chicago. And he's completely right...FM radio is in horrible shape, and its not coming back.

quack

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:07:48 -0600

Muller is why I stopped watching Chicago Tonight. I know he's only on like once a week for 2 minutes, and maybe they've pulled him by now, but why take the risk?

Tony

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 14:47:29 -0600

Stern > Everyone else in radio

erin

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 14:34:46 -0600

it's funny when radio personalities get all goosed about their ratings. if their ratings go from a 3 to a 4, they'll feed their egos for the next six months. well, all that means is that 96% of people aren't listening, instead of 97%. congrats. you're so popular that your audience grew within the margin of error of your last book!

JKM

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 14:20:50 -0600

Seriously. The day he gets back on the radio is the day way too many Chicagoans will start to get dumber.

cara

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 13:31:51 -0600

Ugh. Mancow ruined morning radio for me, in the times when I would listen to Bill&Wendy on Q101 in the morning getting ready for school and my ride there there. I tried listening to mancow, but especially after 9/11 I stopped-- he spewed nothing but racist and uneducated bullshit to a large audience of mullet-haired southwest-siders (where I'm from), apparently not aware of the huge influence he had on meat-heads. That, and seeing him throw beer on and try to beat up a heckler at one of Q101's jamborees or whatever really made me aware of what a fat joke this guy was. the only thing I can credit him for is getting me to turn of Q101 and put on Chicago Public Radio instead on my morning drives.