Mancow Muller
Mancow | |
|---|---|
| File:MANCOW-DDW.jpg | |
| Career | |
| Show | Mancow's Morning Madhouse |
| Station | Talk Radio Network |
| Country | United States |
| Website | Mancow.com |
Erich Matthew Muller (born June 21, 1966 in Kansas City, Missouri) is an American radio and television personality known as Mancow or Mancow Muller.
He is best known as the controversial radio personality from Mancow's Morning Madhouse formerly on WKQX-FM (Q101), a Chicago-based radio show that has, in recent years, been nationally syndicated mostly in small markets by Talk Radio Network. Mancow's career with Q101 was cut short in July 2006, when Marv Nyren, Vice President and General Manager of Emmis Radio in Chicago announced "We’ve decided that the time has come for us to develop a morning show that will better serve the needs and sensibilities of this audience.[1]
Before he was on Q101, the show originated on Rock 103.5, another Chicago rock radio station. [2]
Radio career beginnings
Thanks to his radio mentor, Marion Woods, Mancow's radio career began at KOKO-AM (a one-kilowatt AM radio station) in Warrensburg, Missouri, playing commercials during the Larry King satellite feed. His role gradually expanded until he got his own afternoon show.
Among Mancow's fans was the general manager of KLSI-FM in Kansas City, who offered him a full-time job as head of station promotions. Mancow accepted the position, plus a weekend air shift, while completing his final semester at the University of Central Missouri.
Pre-Chicago notoriety
After a stint at KDON (the first radio station to feature UFO Phil) in Monterey, California, Mancow headed north to San Francisco. In 1993, Mancow made national headlines working for radio station 107.7 KYLD-FM in San Francisco, California, when a story was circulating that President Bill Clinton tied up traffic on an LAX runway for over an hour getting a haircut on Air Force One. Mancow staged a parody of the incident on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge during rush hour. He used vans to block the westbound lanes on the bridge while his then sidekick, Jesus "Chuy" Gomez, got a haircut.
As a result of this publicity stunt, Mancow was prosecuted and subsequently convicted of a felony by a San Francisco Municipal Court. His sentence included three years probation, a $500 fine and 100 hours of community service. The radio station eventually paid $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a bridge commuter.
Mancow's Morning Madhouse
After leaving California, Mancow came to Chicago where he was offered a job by Evergreen Media President Jim de Castro at more than double his salary if he would move to Chicago to work at WWBZ-FM, "The Blaze". "The Blaze" had lost its fire and it was renamed to "Rock 103.5" (WRCX-FM), and created his radio show, Mancow's Morning Madhouse which debuted in July 1994.
Within two Arbitron ratings periods he took the station's 19th-ranked morning show to #5 among all teens and adults, and #1 among 18-to-34 year olds.
Originally, he broadcasted from WRCX-FM (Rock 103.5) studios in the John Hancock Center and in 1998, moved to the city's foremost alternative rock station, WKQX-FM (Q-101) 101.1, where the show was broadcast from the Merchandise Mart for eight more years. However, due to falling ratings, on July 11, 2006, WKQX-FM in Chicago announced that they would no longer carry Mancow's Morning Madhouse after July 14, 2006.
Mancow and the FCC
Mancow and Emmis Communications, the company that owns radio stations on which Mancow's Morning Madhouse is broadcast, have had numerous run-ins with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for broadcasting offensive or obscene material. In particular, in 1999 David Edward Smith, then Executive Director of the Illinois-based Citizens for Community Values, began filing complaints with the FCC. While the first several of these complaints were initially dismissed by the FCC for lack of context [2], eventually FCC began levying fines on Emmis—largely as a result of persistent efforts thereto [3] from anti-obscenity commissioners Gloria Tristani and Bush appointee Michael Copps. By June 2002 various media sources reported that Emmis had paid $42,000 in fines for FCC violations on Mancow's program.
Smith continued to file complaints about the content of Mancow's show. In 2004, Mancow filed a suit against Smith, claiming that Smith was violating his First Amendment rights to free speech. A federal judge declared this suit to be "frivolous and insubtantial" and as a result Mancow dropped the suit on August 3, 2004.[4] Shortly thereafter Emmis Communications announced it had reached a "consent decree" with FCC, agreeing to pay $300,000 and to admit that the Mancow program had at times violated FCC regulations.[5] In the meantime, Smith had petitioned FCC to deny the renewal of Emmis station licenses, including one for a station, WIBC-AM in Indianapolis, that did not broadcast Mancow's program[6]—which was unsuccessful.
Smith has maintained at least as recently as 2006 that he continues to monitor Mancow's radio program for objectionable material.
Controversies
For many years, the show hosted a plethora of unusual contests in which listeners would be subject to humiliating ordeals, such as eating cat food and other disgusting items. On other occasions, the show would use contestants to play pranks on Chicago businesses, walking into a Chinese dry cleaner with a bloodstained shirt while feigning anguish over a supposed murder. Other contests were designed to scare passersby, such as "Grand Theft Auto" where contestants would be issued car keys, and instructed to find an expensive automobile which would preferably be parked on a busy Chicago intersection. However, only one of the keys would actually work. Even so, a contestant could win the car without the proper key by pretending to be a car thief to an uninformed observer.
He referred to his show as the "Free Speech Radio Network", although he was well known to hang up on callers who had opinions that differed from his. Mancow has been recorded doing just that on rival radio shows, even into his days of Internet radio.
Comedian Jim Norton appeared on Mancow's Chicago radio show as a violent rapist character to be chastised by Mancow and his crew. This was not a comedy piece. Norton was asked by the show's host to perform in dramatic character.
On December 6, 2005, Mancow drew controversy when he vilified Howard Dean on Fox News Channel's Fox & Friends, antagonizing with such words as "vile", "bloodthirsty", "evil" and retaliated to Dean's opinions on the War in Iraq, calling Dean a traitor that "ought to be kicked out of America" and "tried for treason". [3]
On March 19, 2007, Mancow was removed by radio station, KAZR, located in Des Moines, Iowa for what the station manager cited as "decline in the consistency and quality of Mancow's show". [4]
References
- ^ "Bachman, Kathy. 2006. "Mancow Exits Chicago's WKQX-FM." Mediaweek. July 11 issue. [1]
- ^ http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Tristani/Statements/2001/stgt146a.pdf - Letter from FCC Enforcement Bureau's Charles W. Kelley to David Smith, 7/2/01
- ^ http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Tristani/Statements/2001/stgt146.html - Press Statement of Commissioner Gloria Tristani Re: Enforcement Bureau Letter Ruling Regarding Indecency Complaints Against WKQX (FM), Chicago, Illinois
- ^ http://www.radioink.com/HeadlineEntry.asp?hid=123972&pt=archive - Mancow Drops Lawsuit Against Anti-Indecency Advocate - 8-3-04
- ^ http://www.radiohottalk.com/radiohottalk/news/82004.shtml - Multiple media sources report that Emmis Communications has signed a consent decree with the FCC.
- ^ http://www.radioink.com/HeadlineEntry.asp?hid=124080&pt=archive">Decency Activist David Smith To FCC: Don’t Renew Emmis Licenses - 8-10-04