CBS affiliate WBBM-Ch. 2 is slaying its “Monster.”
The show “Monsters & Money in the Morning,” which debuted Feb. 1 in the 5 to 7 a.m. weekday slot, will be canceled because of poor viewership. The last show will air Aug. 27.
The roundtable show, ostensibly an early morning news program, was a mix of sports and money talk. With headlines and weather, it was hosted by the sports radio duo Mike North and Dan Jiggetts and played off their “Monsters” brand name. The show included former CNBC reporter Mike Hegedus and Chicago Sun-Times finance columnist Terry Savage.
Not only was the program an unusual topical format, station officials classified it as a non-news program to free it from news-department guidelines that might have limited revenue opportunities, such as endorsements and product placement.
However, the experiment failed. The show typically attracted less than a 2 percent share of those Chicago homes watching TV.
WBBM boss Bruno Cohen said recently he would give high marks to the producers and on-air team for execution, but that he needed to see “a higher rating to be optimistic about its future.”
WBBM will debut a new morning news show, starting Aug. 30. It will be anchored by Steve Bartelstein, a WBBM spokeswoman said. Bartelstein was most recently a reporter and anchor in New York.
THANK GOD. This show was awful!
Good. This program SUCKS. I liked Rosanne Tellez and Susan Carlson, and the weather guy, with a spattering of sports and money news – not a bunch of BS talk from fools I don’t care about. I switched to Channel 5 because of this moronic program.
Will Mike North finally go away or will his ego drive him to belittle another station into giving him a show.
Mike North—-when will people finally learn he’s nothing more than a hot dog vendor !!!
MIKE NORTH RULES.
I agree with Newzhound. I only watched Channel 2 in the morning because of Tellez and Carlson and Ed. Good crew. Why import another New York failure? Stick with Chicagoans.
Hey Channel 2 – you really thought that the combination of sports and money issues was going to be a blockbuster… my opinoin – money guys don’t like sports talk and sports talk guys don’t need to be told how bad the economy is – thank you for ending this show and Mike North – please stop being a part of bad idea concepts…
Forget Mike North who seemingly lands new gigs at will. Terry Savage looked like a deer in the headlights during commericials. Sorry, but North, Jiggets and Savage are anything but telegenic.
Mike North is incredible!
How can a guy who is utterly annoying and completely void of any intelligent thought on any subject have lasted so long on the radio and TV? Seriously, the people who heard this guy and thought “Hey, I want him on my station” should be fired. Not just fired, but fired and publicly humiliated and forced to write one hundred times on the outside wall of their station “I am an idiot and a lousy judge of media talent.” And then they should be fired AGAIN just for being so stupid.
I feel bad for Jiggs. He’s bright, articulate, pleasant, and everything that idiot North is not. At least Dan has his Comcast gig. This show was doomed from the start.
I switched from Channel 2 over to 5 also. Liked Ed Curren and Rosanne. Carlson, too much of an ego for a traffic chick.
Miss Randy!! R.I.P
Mike North ticked off many of his fans at the wscr and he sucker PUNCHED the careers of Jessie Rogers, Chet C, George O, Doug B.. CARMA CARMA CARMA
Go away! HE GONE! your career is OVA!!
I am suprised it lasted this long. The show was painful to watch. Mike North is a clown, will he finally go away?
—-well, Mike, your latest endeavor, went opposite your name, SOUTH!!!
I liked the concept of the show. Like I everyone else, I could not stand listening to North. He is so painful to listen to. The other three were fine and hopefully they can find another gig.
Hated the change. I stopped watching on day one and went to Channel 5. If they bring back Ed, Susan, and Roseanne maybe I’ll switch back. I just couldn’t stand Mike North’s annoying voice so early in the morning. Who wants to start their day off listening to banter?
…..Obviously, different strokes for different folks!!…..An extremely early riser, I looked forward each morning to the variety of discussions, differing personalities, interesting visitors, and the not “same as usual” duplicated news that then remains on all other channels for hours.
I will miss the program and wish everyone well!!
Is this finally the nail in the coffin for Mr North, countless failed shows on TV, Radio and the internet (who can forget that webio experiment) Mike North you no talent hack GO AWAY! Honestly whoever thought this show should be created should also be fired too.
I am an early riser and surf from 5AM on. This show was too painful to watch.
Instead of importing even more “talent” from outside the Chicago area, why not bring back Mary Ann Childers, Diane Burns, and/or Linda McClennon, three classic, credible news personalities that used to be on Channel 2 and were unceremoniously dumped. The precedent of returning former newspeople to the air has been set with Bill Curtis, Walter Jacobson and Harry Porterfield. As far as the morning show format, I used to tune in while getting ready for work to find out what was happening in the world, Chicago, traffic and weather. Thank you for the opportunity to rant and rave.
It was a great concept for a morning program. But the fact that it was 99% sports and 1% everything else was its downfall. If it had more discussion on different topics — like “The View” — but maybe with a Chicago spin, it would have been more successful. The roundtable idea was a good idea — but sports, sports and more sports was ridiculous and a turnoff. People want to know what happened overnight and overseas…they need more than sports. It was a lost opportunity!
It was a dreadful show, and a moronic combination of personalities.
Doomed to fail from Day One.
Maybe MIKE could get his old park district job back- someone should talk to mayor parking meters
I will miss this show. It was different from all the other same-ole same-ole shows that are on. Maybe it would work better with different personalities, but the concept of conversational discussion I really liked. It was like listening to the back and forth banter at work, only I was in my boxers sipping the first coffee of the day.
Good riddance. Jabba the Hutt and that moron with the horrible accent – eww…
I actually kind of liked the show… compared to the rest of the stations which offer the same crap every day. TV news sucks no matter who is delivering it. Put on Seinfeld re-runs.
OMG Mike North is UNBEARABLE. How does this guy get these jobs???? He is painful.
I’m going to miss the show. I did enjoy it.
This show was AWFUL. People in charge should be fired. I couldn’t believe how bad it was one morning when I turned it on. It is really starting to annoy me when sport athletes or other “well” known names get opportunities based on just name recognition. I am glad to see the station suffer because of it and maybe the next manager will know to hire talent.
Thank God — Mike North is AWFUL! How many chances is this guy going to get before they finally give up on him??? Next, they should get rid of about 90% of the on-air staff from the Score!
That AM show was so horrible I was uncomfortable watching it. Train wreck done.
I liked this show mainly because of the financial segments. Hopefully they can bring back Hegedus and Savage on another program that is focused on just finance and the economy.
I gave up earlier this year on all the early local programs and switched to MSNBC-much better than the local garbage that is run over and over.
I feel sorry for Jiggs, I had a nice conversation with him a few months back when his show had a meet & greet for people that have had heart issues. I told him I missed listening to him on WSCR but could really care less for the hot dog vendor.
I feel badly for Dan Jiggets. He is a class guy who deserves better. Mike North had a good run for several years at WSCR, but it has been pretty painful since then. The concept is different than other local morning news shows. I’m sorry it didn’t work out. All the best to everyone as they move forward.
What took so long? Is there anyone left watching Channel 2? Why not just turn the station into a 24 hour info commercial outlet? Some of these info commercials at least are informative compared to Monsters & Money which should have been Monsters & Monontonous in the Morning. Faces made more for radio not television. Did any of the executives at Channel 2 wake up early in the morning and watch the crap being broadcast on their station or wake up late and screen tapes of crap broadcast during on their airways? Heads should roll at Channel 2 for allowing this great show in broadcast history to see the light of day. Where is the responsiblilty and accountabiltiy to the viewing public? Pam Z, this would be a great investigative piece for you.
I’m so disappointed that this show is going off the air. It was a great idea and the only show I watch in the am. I’m so tired of the other news channels that give you the same thing over and over again with commercials. A big mistake pulling this show off the air!
North being the tool that he is isn’t even staying for the last 2 weeks of shows, he’s “going on vacation” now. Run out of there with your tail between your legs Mike.
Jiggets will say or do anything for a buck.
Susan Carlson is bright and articulate.Her talents were wasted on that show.
I will miss North and everyone else because it provided alot of info about sports that indeed was different. I guess we’ll go back to being bored in the morning with the usual stoic comments from boring newscasters. I for one will turn off and go to cable news!
I said in February 6 months. I’m glad to see that I was off only by three weeks.
Great concept….had the show had better balance between coverage of news and sports, I think there was something there. North was a bit overpowering and cut off savage to often. She clearly was out of her element. How many days off was she given ? Carlson needs to stick to reading a tele prompter.Hegedus brought a common sense element that the others lacked.I watched and did like format over the same o same o morning news. Same thing, over and over every half hour.I’ll miss the show simply because the morning news on our local stations is horrible.
I thought the show was different, not like the average news. That’s exactly what I liked about it. I did love the round table, Very dissapointed, i will miss the show.
thanks,
joyce
im happy that the show is being cancel. i want to see news in the morning. if i wants to see sports i watch espn or comcast sportsnet. also i agree with all the comments about mike north, he terrible how he continue to get these jobs.
WOW! THESE COMMENTS ABOVE ARE PRETTY BRUTAL!!! FOR ME… I WILL MISS THE SHOW. INFORMATIVE,DIFFERENT VIEWS,MIKE NORTH IS ENTHUSIASTIC… IF YOU DONT LIKE IT-TURN TO ANOTHER CHANNEL! AS FOR ME.. I WILL MISS THE SHOW. IT SURE BEATS THE RUN OF THE MILL EARLYS! GOOD BYE FOR NOW AND GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL. DANNY- STAY HEALTHY. ENJOY LIFE GOD BLESS YOU ALL.