RFDC wrote:
So other than July what people were on the list?
Mark Grote (+275): The heir apparent to the Grobber. Grote hosted the first overnight show after Grobstein’s passing after doing a scheduled fill-in shift on the midday show. Could Grote do the entire show in Les’ voice? Probably. He is currently the Bears sideline reporter, though doing late nights might be less painful than covering that team every day.
David Schuster (+400): One of Grobstein’s oldest professional friends, Schuster was often the Waldorf to Grobstein’s Statler. I don’t think Schuster, who was laid off by The Score in 2020, would really want this job. But he could do it. Schuster is every bit the Chicago sports encyclopedia his friend was. If Les was there, so was Schuster.
Chris Rongey (+550): What about Rongey? He doesn’t have a full-time job right now, aside from filling in on The Score, and he has the most experience with insane Score callers from his days on the White Sox pre- and postgame show. But in his interview with Grote on Tuesday morning, Rongey sounded like the last person who would want this role. But while he wouldn’t want to admit it, he was born to yell at crazy people late at night on the radio.
Mark Carman (+650): Carman has hosted and produced at WGN (among other places) and now he does videos for FanSided and a Chicago podcast. Carman, an ex-Chicago vendor, is funny, opinionated and probably weird enough to do the job.
Kevin Dziepak (+650): Panayotovich’s dark-horse favorite for the job. The former Score producer/host moved to Houston to work for SportsMap Radio, the national syndicated radio network formerly known as — clears throat — Yahoo! Sports Radio, SB Nation Radio, Sporting News Radio, One on One Sports and Sports Entertainment Network. Could Rosen lure him home with a full-time job that includes the overnight show?
Young Producers (+750): Rosen could just fill the role with a rotating cast of producers who are eager to get on-air reps. If it becomes a Grobber-by-committee job, you can expect producers will shuffle in. Sean Anderson, Sean Sears, just a bunch of dudes named Sean could do the job.
Herb Lawrence (+800): Lawrence is the producer of Laurence Holmes’ afternoon show. Would he give that up to be the next Grobber? Probably not. But he’s opinionated, feisty and smart, a perfect late-night host. Plus, he has experience producing Rongey’s old show.
Nick Shepkowski (+800): Nicky the Kid once beat the Grobber in an on-air sports trivia quiz and it wasn’t close. Grobber is known for his “Rain Man” recall, but really his knowledge was limited to the old days and was often focused on minutiae. Shepkowski, who got laid off by The Score in 2020, is a true sports trivia savant and could carry the show.
Kenneth Davis and Demonze Spruiel (+850): This duo has filled in for the Grobber before. I could definitely see them in the mix for the job.
George Ofman (+1000): Ofman, a sports-radio lifer and Friend of Grobber, wouldn’t need to take any callers. That man can spin a yarn.
Harry Teinowitz (+1175): Teinowitz has been looking for another gig in sports media for a while now. He’s had some recent success as a playwright, co-writing a play about his sobriety with his old partner Spike Manton. Would Teinowitz return to the airwaves to do an overnight show? He used to be able to stay up all night, but that wasn’t in a professional manner. He’s certainly quirky enough to pull it off. I can picture Harry talking about jersey numbers at 4 a.m.
Ben Finfer (+1200): Finfer would probably break the Grobber’s no-politics rule in the first segment. From heaven, Les would be yelling, “Dump him! Dump him!”
Julie DiCaro (+1400): Her Score tenure ended with the 2020 layoffs. She’s also got a job editing at Deadspin and a career as an author. DiCaro has a great radio voice and I always enjoyed going on her evening show which led up to Grobber back in the day. She could pull it off, for sure.
George Castle (+1800): Castle is an unfamiliar name unless you used to read the Times of Northwest Indiana or his many, many Cubs books. He’s more than pedantic enough for the job, but the listeners might mutiny when it’s Bears season and he’s still talking about the 1969 Cubs.
The Field (+2000): A slew of local sports personalities could fit in here. My favorite suggestion is letting Chuck Swirsky go right from Bulls games to the overnight show, with a Mr. Pibb recharge in between.
Jordan Bernfield (+2200): Bernfield worked at The Score and WGN radio before leaving that part of the industry to focus on his budding play-by-play career. Bernfield is part of the post-Grobstein generation of Chicago sportscasters who went to Syracuse instead of Sports Phone University.
Tom Shaer (+3000): The first voice you heard on The Score on Jan. 2, 1992, Shaer is an industry lifer on and off the air. This would be a hat tip to the station’s history.
Ben Rosen (+4400): Mitch Rosen’s son? Hey, nepotism is a Chicago media tradition. Young Rosen is a sports-radio nut, just like his dad.
Rick Telander (+5000): Telander, who writes once or twice a week for the Sun-Times these days, doesn’t need to do an overnight show — and he already had an unpopular turn at The Score — but he was a regular Grobber listener and caller, a true appreciator of the show. Rick’s a night owl and could just tell stories from his house in Highwood and maybe play a little guitar. I envision a regular bit where he prank calls Rick Morrissey at 3 a.m.
Jay Mariotti (+7500): Now that would be appointment listening.
Dan McNeil (off the board): Late Night with Danny Mac? A fourth go-round is probably not happening.
Matt Nagy (off the board): We know the guy can ramble, so he could fill the time slot. Maybe we could get Mark Potash as a co-host to ask a dozen questions to fill the five hours.
I think what others said is probably right, it would be much cheaper and easier to fill the spot with CBS Sports Radio content. However, if Mitch is going to keep it local, I could see someone without a sports gig wanting the slot. I looked up Ben Finfer and he's a "Communications Specialist" at some suburban school district. Curiously enough, Shepkowski also seems to have a similar position.
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