Mike McConnell coming back to WLW?

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EZ103.3FM
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Mike McConnell coming back to WLW?

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Fom John Kiewetter's blog at cincinnati.com:
http://cincinnati.com/blogs/tv/2013/11/ ... how-today/

2 p.m. update: With WLW-AM, you can seldom tell fact from fiction… Sometimes the reality is as unreal as reality TV or pro wrestling. So I don’t know what to think of Mike McConnell’s 15-minute telephone chat with Bill Cunningham today.

Cunningham wanted McConnell to move back from Chicago, take over the 9-11 a.m. Saturday show (vacant from the Darryl Parks dismissal last week), and be available to replace Cunningham or Jim Scott, when either retires. (Next month Cunningham turns 66, and Scott turns 70).

McConnell said he thought Cunningham invited him onto WLW-AM today so Cunningham could announce his retirement from radio, so Cunningham could concentrate on his national TV show (renewed through 2015), opening a position for McConnell.

Cunningham greeted McConnell’s statement with silence. Willie eventually said he soon would be talking to Cincinnati Clear Channel market manager Chuck Fredrick and that “in the next six months to a year, that could be a possibility.”

After McConnell hung up, Cunningham told listeners that he’s thought about life after 30 years in radio. “I”m not there yet, but at some point in the future that will be the case. And I can’t think of a better person to replace me than Mike McConnell… I may be here for a few more months, or for a few more years. We’ll see what happens.”

What I do believe is: McConnell was being truthful when Cunningham asked if he was coming back to Cincinnati. McConnell said: “I have a couple of irons in the fire, and it depends on how hot they get. Right now, I plan to be here (in Chicago) the next couple of months.”

Does he have “designs” on coming back? “I don’t have any designs, because there’s nowhere to go.”

Is he coming back to co-host afternoons with old friend Eddie Fingers, replacing Tracy Jones? “I work alone. Alone.” (That’s when he asked Cunningham if he was announcing his retirement today.) “I thought that’s why you had me on.”

Will McConnell be back at WLW in 2014? “I have no idea. That’s not my call to make…. Well, you never know. We’ll see what happens.”

After McConnell hung up, Cunningham again predicted that McConnell would return to the station in 2014. Then sidekick Bill “Seg” Dennison predicted that “Kiesewetter will come up here and run the place.” (That’s a total fabrication I know!)

All I know for sure is that: WLW-AM again has the town talking about…. WLW-AM! They’re masters at it. You don’t know what’s fact or fiction, and they don’t care. The just want everyone to be talking about WLW.
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Original post 9:23 a.m. today: Mike McConnell returns to the WLW-AM airwaves at 1 p.m. today, as a guest on Bill Cunningham’s show.

Is this the first time he’s been on WLW-AM since they pulled him off the air in 2010, with two months left on his contract, because he signed with Chicago’s WGN-AM? UPDATE AT 10:35 A.M.: No, it’s not. I’m told he was on WLW when Dale “Truckin’ Bozo” Sommers died last year.

I’m not expecting any big news, although long-time friend Cunningham probably will badger him about coming back to the station. McConnell did his last show for WGN six weeks ago, and then the Tribune Co. managers were negotiating a settlement with McConnell on the two years remaining on his $500,000-a-year contract. (Can’t image that WLW could pay him that much to come back.)

Here’s what he posted on his Mike McConnell Show Facebook page last night:

I’ll be on with Bill Cunningham tomorrow (wed 11/13) just after 1:00 eastern just chatting about life in general. Tune in or log on to 700wlw.com. I’ll wave. Mike
"It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much." - Yogi Berra
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