16 illinoisentertainer . com june 2018
MULLEY IN THE MORNING
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By Rick Kaempfer
SCR ( The Score ) Morning host Mike Mulligan has the background that Chicago sports fans seem to require . He is one of us . “ I grew up on the South Side , and went to school at Quigley , and college at Loyola .” He also grew up listening to the radio , and he understands our unique market history . “ I used to listen to late night radio like Eddie Schwartz and Dave Baum when I was a kid . I had a buddy who knew someone who worked at the Loop , so we helped out at Loopfest one year . We worked the Lorelei both . Radio seemed like a lot of fun .”
Four decades later Mulligan is one of Chicago radio ’ s elite , co-host of one of the most popular radio programs on the dial , Mully & Hanley on 670 AM . His journey from Lorelei booth-worker to morning host wasn ’ t exactly a straight line .
“ I got a job with the [ Chicago ] Sun-Times as a freshman in college . I was working as a stringer for Taylor Bell covering high school games . When I graduated , I was hired as an editorial assistant , which was a terrible job . I was compiling box scores and the stats in the back of the paper . I took the job in order to be hired [ by the paper ], and then I worked my way up as a writer .“
Mulligan eventually became one of the top columnists in Chicago sports , and as such became a frequent radio and television guest . “ I never felt self-conscious about being on the air . I never felt like ‘ oh my god ; there are people listening ,’ it was just natural conversation . I was on The Sportswriters on TV the final nine months . The premise of that show was there were a bunch of guys sitting around talking sports , and you were just watching them from the next table . I always loved that premise , and that ’ s what I ’ ve always done on the radio too . Even when we call up experts or athletes , these are people we talk to all day long as sportswriters , and it ’ s perfectly normal to do it on the radio .”
After a stint at One on One Sports and Sporting News Radio , Mulligan found a home at the Score . He was eventually partnered with fellow Sun-Times sportswriter Brian Hanley . Even though the ratings didn ’ t instantly click , the relationship between the two sportswriters did .
“ Brian and I have an easy chemistry together , a similar background . We have a lot of things in common . He ’ s a Cubs fan from River Forest and worked at the Sun- Times as a sportswriter , and I ’ m a South Side Irish [ White ] Sox fan that was a sportswriter at the Sun-Times . Although , you know , it ’ s funny , we weren ’ t really close friends when we worked at the Sun- Times together . When you ’ re a sportswriter on a beat , your friends are the guys from the opposition . Those are the guys you travel with , who you see all the time . But when we got to know each other better , we found out that we were the same . We even dressed the same .”
At first , they did middays together , but when the morning show opened up , the two jumped at the opportunity . “ I remember when we were vying for the morning show , they told us that we ’ d never win because ( ESPN AM 1000 morning competitors ) Mike & Mike had a national profile . They were doing Letterman , and national commercials , and things like that . And I would listen to that show on my way in when we did 10 am-noon , and I thought - the people I grew up with didn ’ t care about the Jets , or Boston , or whatever . We just played the sports of the season , and we moved on to the next season , and we didn ’ t care about any of the teams except Chicago ’ s teams . I really thought it was an advantage that we were the " local " show and not a disadvantage , and it turned out to be true .”
The one disadvantage of doing mornings as opposed to middays was the lifestyle change . Many of the sporting events took place at night . That ’ s pretty incompatible with an alarm clock going off
Mike Mulligan
when it ’ s still dark outside .
“ It ’ s a real problem . That ’ s a dilemma . You live for the afternoon games , and you gotta pick your spots . Football is great because it ’ s once a week , but for the big events , you just have to power through . It ’ s not that first day that ’ s the problem . It ’ s two days later or three days later when you ’ re just wrecked . I always tell people that mine is a fragile eco-system . You have to get to bed on Sunday and get a good night ’ s sleep . As long as you are sensible on Sunday night , then Wednesday goes better .”
After nearly a decade in the job , Mully and Hanley run a well-oiled machine . Mully gives a lot of credit for the show ’ s success to the arrival of a key behind-thescenes contributor . " Dustin Rhodes is our producer , and we got a lot better when Dustin got involved . He just knows things about radio - things that we didn ’ t know . I think it ’ s real simple - you gotta play the hits . Dustin has really preached that . He really knows what a good story is .”
Another arrival in recent days is a new station owner , Entercom . They ' ve already made a few changes in the station lineup , and there are rumblings of future moves , but the morning show hasn ’ t changed at all . When I asked Mulligan if he had noticed any difference in the culture since the arrival of the new bosses , he said no . He added an important disclaimer , however . “ When you work on a morning show , you kind of live in a bubble . We are leaving every day when everyone else is arriving .”
If the bosses know what they are doing , Mully and Hanley won ’ t be leaving the morning slot for years to come .