WEBVTT - North Star 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:05.400 Boom. If you thought four hours a day, minutes a 0:00:05.440 --> 0:00:09.080 week was enough, I think again. He's the last remnants 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:12.400 of the old republic, a sole fashion of fairness. He 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:15.440 treats crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:19.560 rich pill poppers in the penthouse the clearing House of 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:23.360 Hot takes, break free for something special. The Fifth Hour 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:27.760 with Ben Maller starts right now. That it does is 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:33.480 we are in the air everywhere, Philip bustering the podcast 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:36.680 on the Fifth Hour with Ben Maller because four hours 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:38.680 or not enough. We're doing this eight days a week, 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:43.479 every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, this being the Friday Podcast 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:49.920 and for better or Worse, joined yet again by David Gascon. Yes, 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:52.600 we will will get things out in the open pen 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:56.319 uh social media handles right away. That's right, that's right. 0:00:56.520 --> 0:01:00.760 And by the way, this uh Father's Day weekend Guesston 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:05.280 And if you want a cameo, I am on cameo. 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:07.440 You can check me out. Just type my name Ben 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:11.160 Mallor and their personalized video message if you want, I'm 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:15.119 the cheapest guy available. Among the guys from Fox Sports 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:18.240 Radio that are on there, Clay Travis and Rob Parker 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:20.319 and some the other guys. But I'm on there, so 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:22.000 it's not free. But if you want to want to 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:25.000 take part in that cameo dot com the c A 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:26.920 M e O and then just type my name in 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:31.160 and obviously on Twitter at Ben Maller, Instagram, Ben Maller 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:35.000 on Fox, the Facebook page Ben Maller Show. We use 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:37.000 the Facebook page to get a lot of questions for 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:40.200 the mail bag that we do on Sunday, and you 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:42.360 can also email us if you don't have Facebook or 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:46.280 Twitter or Instagram. Your old school a real fifth hour 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:49.960 at gmail dot com and guesst on how can the 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:52.000 Masses reach you? You can get me on Twitter at 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:55.160 David J. Gascon. You can get me on Instagram at 0:01:55.240 --> 0:02:00.400 Dave Gascon, and you can also follow me and question 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:06.480 message on cameo. Um No, you're not a big enough 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:09.399 name to be on you can't be on cameo. That's 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:12.840 a big platform. I'm a part of a national platform, 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:16.760 so I get to bleed on over there, and uh, 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:20.680 writing my coat tails to cameo, writing my coat tails 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:23.160 to cameo? How dare you you know? I think everybody 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:25.480 else has done that. That you've worked with your producers 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:27.440 certainly have your board ops that have gone on to 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:30.680 other shows have done that apparently. Um so I'm doing 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:33.120 that too. And the nice thing is my retail price 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:36.680 is now the cheapest of anybody at Fox Sports Radio. 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:38.840 So it's cheaper than yours. It's well, how much is it? 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:41.320 It's a little bit more economical, I'll say that, But 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:43.639 the message is just as good and the face is 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:49.560 much better looking. So I won't do any Father's Day messages. 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:51.840 Actually I will, but I'm more inclined to do a 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:55.000 Mother's Day. You know, it would be funny if somebody 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:58.520 contacted gag On over here and said, hey, can you 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.240 can you say David gag On and have you just 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:04.160 say that rapid fire? And then they paid you so 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:06.640 you'd have to do it. Yeah, to think that choice, 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:08.320 I think I'd rather fly out to New York and 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:11.639 or some shake shack and identify as a cop. It's 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:16.520 like drink some bleach that It's it's funny because, uh, 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:20.519 you know the cameo. My my friend in Baltimore does radio. 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:23.400 Some guy sent him a cameo and told him to 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:26.560 like say fuck you and you're an asshole, and you 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:29.320 know you guys trying to bust his friends balls and 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:32.880 my buddies like debating. Uh, He's like should I do it? 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:35.000 Should I not do it? And he did it. He 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:39.280 absolute he paid me the money. I'm gonna I'm gonna 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:43.080 go down that road. I'm gonna do that. Um So, 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:46.040 so yeah, you can really bust guests guns balls. And 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:48.760 the cool thing about that is if the audio is good, 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:51.280 we can use that as drops. We can use those 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:54.600 soundbutch which you do not want guests gun as drops 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:56.840 on the on the show. So that's that's cool. But 0:03:56.880 --> 0:03:59.160 would that'd be awesome because I would take any kind 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:02.240 of compensation and for my work actually been delivered here 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:10.920 on air. Wow, man, I think that would be important, right, 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:18.920 King narcissist Will and the narcissist. But I think I 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:23.039 appreciate the the invite, the welcoming, the cameo. So I 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:25.919 kind of piggyback off of of your your promo intro 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:29.440 um a couple other people. So we'll see how this 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:31.200 thing turned it out. Yeah, it's fun, it's fun. I 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:32.560 don't do a lot of them, and I don't I 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:34.560 keep saying I'm gonna put it on social media, and 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:36.599 I don't. The only way I really promote this is 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:38.520 on the podcast. The only people that really know about 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:40.240 this are the people listen to podcast, which is the 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:42.360 p Onees, the King of the Kings that are big 0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:45.280 fans of the show. So dnyway, this is an interview 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:48.839 podcast or hanging with friends podcasts. I love talking to 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:52.360 my radio friends. I love radio people. We've had hacks 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:56.360 on he was great. One of my mentors from San Diego, 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:01.960 Jerry Callahan a colleague briefly e I, and he got canceled. 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:06.240 He was on last week. Jerry was wonderful. That's right. 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:08.719 Lee Klein was another one. I gotta go through my 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:10.680 phone here and find some more old radio people. We 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:13.839 found one today and this is a colleague of ours 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:17.320 at Fox Sports Radio. He hosted our morning show prior 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:19.760 to to Clay Travis taking over the morning show was 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:23.240 Mike North and Andy Furman, and I love the hell 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:26.880 out of these guys, a couple of radio legends. Andy 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:30.880 Ferman dominant in the Cincinnati market. Mike North at one 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:36.000 point was the highest paid sports talk radio personality in 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:40.280 the entire industry, not just in Chicago, the entire country. 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:43.640 Mike North was the king of sports talk radio. Back 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:46.719 in the early two thousand's, late nineties, he had a 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:51.040 morning show in Chicago, and he is we have doc Mike. 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:53.720 In fact, I think I I will probably reference Dock 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:58.760 at some point because I hear Mike North. He bleeds Chicago, right, 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:01.479 He's he's through and through. If you don't know his story, 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:03.599 most of us do. But if you're you're new to 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:06.839 Mike North. He started out as a hot dog vendor 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:11.600 in Chicago. He had hot dog stands and then he 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:13.720 ended up he'll he'll, I'm sure we'll get into it 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:15.880 and he'll tell the story here, but he ended up 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:19.880 becoming this megastar and media and how that all transpired 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:22.560 from you know, street smart hot dog vendor to the 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:26.840 king of sports talk radio. It's a wild, wild tale 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:31.240 of success. And Mike's lived through a lot of stuff. 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:34.400 He's older than us, so he's experienced some craziness before 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:36.920 we were around, and so we can get into that 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:40.880 as well. So let's give it up here for Mike North, 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:44.200 a long time sports radio legend who joins us now 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:47.720 on the fifth Hour with Ben Maller and David Gascon 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:50.520 and so, Mike, it's been a while since we've caught 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:53.920 up here and where are you at With the state 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:57.400 of the world right now? We are living through some craziness. Wow. 0:06:57.640 --> 0:06:59.159 You know what. First of all, it's good to talk 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:03.240 to both you guys again. Love you. Uh. I've been 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:08.600 working at ESPN. I worked at ESPN one thousand on Friday, 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:11.960 and we have the Encore show on Saturday. It's uh 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:15.160 called the Odds Couple of Common de Falco. I also 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:18.720 have an interest in website called Bears battle Room that 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:22.320 I helped promote with a great guy, Aldo Gandhi and 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:27.120 who krul people and uh. I was basically making picks 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:29.680 for Vegas scores and odds. But that's been closed down 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:32.200 for now and see, we'll see until we see what 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:35.120 happens with this. Plus, I I moved out of Chicago. 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:37.520 I moved about seventy miles west. I'm living in a 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:40.760 nice little community called Huntley, Illinois, me and my wife 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:44.080 and uh, just enjoying myself. To be honest with you, See, 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:46.600 I'm a little older now. So if this is what 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:48.840 this quarantine would happened to me when I was in 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:51.120 my thirties or forties, that would have been hell to pay. 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:56.840 But being my age. Now. You know, I I belonged 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:58.840 to the golf club out here. I played golf a 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:00.880 couple of times a week, and I say home and 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:04.040 watch television or look at or play with Twitter, look 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:05.880 at what you guys are up to and see what's 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:09.520 going on. Yeah, and and Mike, I mean it is wild. 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:11.120 I mean, you've been through a lot of crazy things 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:13.720 in your career doing radio and stuff. But the last 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:17.280 the last hundred days here with everything shutting down, you know, 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:20.560 on the planet mostly and obviously in our world sports. 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:22.680 I mean, what do you make of what's been going 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:26.160 on here the last couple of months. I feel for 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:28.920 you guys. Number one, See, they took my show off 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:32.440 for about nine weeks at ESPN, and because there was 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:35.760 no gambling, there was no games. And then they said 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:38.720 there's gonna They must have gotten word. They brought us 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:42.600 back May twenty second. Um, But I gotta be honest. 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:44.360 I only do it once or twice a week, and 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:47.679 I remember back and nothing's changed. You know, we used 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:52.200 to call the days of like June July. You know, 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:56.160 the dregs are January and February. There's always a couple 0:08:56.160 --> 0:08:58.960 of slow months in sports radio. You guys have had 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:05.040 uh your basic I mean lifeblood taken from you. And 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:07.000 we've all done a good job. I think all the 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:11.200 stations have adjusted. I know, some stations like Fox. We 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:14.040 of course, I did radio from Chicago for Fox here 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:17.079 for six years. Uh and we set up our own 0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:21.040 little studio. But you know, a lot of stations around 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:23.520 the country still had their people coming in and it 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.440 took some time to uh adjust. But now it seems 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:29.760 like everybody's uh, you know, trying to get a rhythm gone. 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:32.840 But I feel for you guys, because basically every day 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:35.520 is like a grounddog day. Be sure to catch live 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:37.960 editions of The Ben Miller Show week days at two 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:41.920 am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:44.720 the I Heart Radio app. Yeah, and the odd thing, 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:47.320 Mike and you did a great job. I loved you 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:49.640 and in Fermint together. You guys were great. You made 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:51.440 me laugh every ing. Yeah, we had a lot of fund. 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:54.280 It was a great show at Jonas you know, and 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:57.240 it was Robert grierro was a great show. We had 0:09:57.240 --> 0:09:59.440 a lot of fun doing it. But we ran, you know, 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.800 ran it's course, but yeah, it was a lot of fun. Yeah, 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:05.200 but the weird thing about what's going on right now 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:07.080 for us? And you know they give us the the 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:10.560 online streaming numbers and all that stuff. Like Fox Sports 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:13.360 Radio has had the high some of the highest ratings 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:16.120 in the twenty year history of the network when there's 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:18.800 been no sports going on. Like how that makes no 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:21.280 sense to me? Why why would someone listen to a 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:23.560 sports ratios? Very odd? I mean, is there do you 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:26.080 have any theory on why that would be true? If 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:27.920 it is true? It seems like it's true. It seems 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:30.400 odd too. Well, I know that streaming is the big 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:32.640 thing right now. I mean that's what they're going on 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:34.640 because a lot of the cars aren't in use. I mean, 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:36.960 let's say so that the first month guys you're on 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:40.560 the air, well this quarantine or the first two months, 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:43.720 a lot of people weren't in their cars, so you 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:47.920 know they're holding onto streaming. Uh, it seems to me 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:54.199 that people are tuning in. I don't know exactly how 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:57.640 the ratings are. It doesn't hurt. And I remember when 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:00.040 me and Angldy were doing mornings, we were an on 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:02.120 I think you guys are on serious now, right? Are 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:08.240 you on serious? We're serious? Yes? Well, we were there 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:11.240 was no at that time, we were non serious. So 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:14.360 Dad helps two guys, I mean, Benny. It opened up 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:16.760 a whole new thing that people, a whole new audience 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:20.440 for you for your overnight shoe and David and everybody else. 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:23.680 So I think that's helped. But you know, I'm a 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:28.640 radio guy, and you know what, streaming is very, very important. 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:31.920 But I've been hearing radio was gonna die for the 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:36.400 last twenty years. The money still in radio, and uh, 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:38.800 I think that's that's always going to be that way. 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:42.080 It's just more fragmented now. I think that the national 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:46.240 radio stations and Serious next M have done a great job, 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:49.120 and I think they've sort of hedged out the local 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:53.240 radio markets if you will. UM what local radio used 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:56.079 to be the boss. Now you know, it's up for grabs. 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:58.640 It used to be in Chicago, syndicated radio didn't work 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:01.480 at all, and uh now it works a little bit 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:05.679 more than it used to. Uh. I think politically correctness 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:08.120 has hurt a lot of radio. And I think that 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:12.160 basically all the stations Serious and and and x UM 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:15.440 that really hurt the local radio market because there's so 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:19.080 many great shows on those stations. My piggybacking off of that, 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:21.400 and you mentioned the PC world. I told this to 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:23.240 Ben a couple of different times off the air, but 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:26.840 you know, I had never listened to Ben prior to 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:29.480 during the network, just because hours and time slots are 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:31.720 completely different. And then when I got to the network 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:33.680 and I started working the overnights and I started working 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:36.120 in the morning shows. You know Jonas Knox, who was 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:38.200 your producer of the time, he would tell me some 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:40.240 wild stories because I didn't know who the funk you were. 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:42.800 I don't know who Andy was because you guys in Chicago. 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:45.240 But Jonas would tell me some of the best stories 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:47.440 off the air about you guys. And then I started 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:50.200 listening and I'm saying, who the funk are these guys? 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:54.000 And so it grew on me like it grew on him. 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:57.400 But to be candid with how you are on the radio, 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:00.720 and this is the personal question, because we had Callahan 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:03.640 on last week with with Ben because they worked together 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:05.480 W E E I, and he talked about some of 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:09.920 the struggles about I remember Jerry. Yeah, absolutely so with 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:14.640 the way that his show was derailed by by somebody, 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:18.000 do you think personally, like you mentioned your thirties or forties. 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:21.120 If you were on the air religiously like like you 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:25.440 were with Fox, do you think you'd survive in today's climate. Well, 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:27.840 I made a twenty eight years, which is amazing, but 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:31.479 you're you know, in the nineties and two thousand's nobody 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:35.200 and I mean nobody when it came to sports radio. 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:40.680 UM used the street talk like I did, used the branshness, 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:46.120 used certain words that you can't even use now. Um. 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:47.680 And you know when I would find out you can't 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:51.040 use the words, when the media guy would write about 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:54.080 it into sometimes or in the tribune, and then everybody 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:56.640 would get online, you know. But I mean I did 0:13:56.720 --> 0:14:00.520 stuff that you know, Uh how the Black Day, I 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:05.800 remember our station was not doing any remote or anything 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:09.360 in the black areas of town and it bothered me, 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:13.480 and uh, I wanted to show my appreciation. So what 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:16.760 we did was we set up soul food outside of 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:20.920 the station and I had a salute the blacks, our 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:24.040 black listeners, and it was called Hug a Black Day, 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:26.600 And we had a line all the way down the street. 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:29.440 And what would happen is they come up, I give 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:31.240 him a hug, say hey, man, it's good to see you, 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:36.280 and man Jesse Jackson got on me. Operation purch got 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:39.480 on me, said I was patronizing, which I wasn't. And 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:42.680 then they started realizing this we could use that type 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:45.560 of hugging right now. And I realized twenty years ago, 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:49.200 did you want to see that? It bothered them? And 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:52.480 they tried to put out you know, and our station 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:56.440 didn't see anything wrong with it. But even back then, uh, 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:59.760 they you know, you'd face stuff I had. I know, 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:03.440 I fund I raised a hundred thousand packs of cigarettes 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:05.880 for the soldiers in Iraq, right and I did a 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:09.800 remote from a restaurant called Jack's off of the Expressway 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:12.680 on the north side of Chicago, and we had a 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:18.640 dumpster set up and at the time, the the soldiers 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:21.880 in Iraq weren't getting a lot of supplies and they 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:26.680 were running short of cigarettes. So we had people drive by. 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:31.240 We had a big sign drop cigarettes or carton's packs everything. 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:34.920 The dumpster was loaded a hundred thousand packs of cigarettes 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:38.280 sent to Iraq. You want to know, the American Cancer 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:44.520 Society came after me, the American Cancer Society, because they 0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:47.840 said I was encouraging smoking of the soldiers. I go, 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:51.680 these people might be dead tomorrow and it just that's 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:53.600 the way it was, so I faced a lot of 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:56.680 stuff back then. You just had to be willing to 0:15:56.760 --> 0:16:01.080 try things. And I think nowadays people aren't willing to 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:04.440 try things. They really aren't. And I think that now 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:07.160 it's just come to work. Do the best you can. 0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:10.560 Make sure you don't say something that might get you 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:13.160 in trouble, even though it shouldn't get you in trouble. 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:15.920 You've got to try to be your own filter. I 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:18.840 always had a saying, if you're gonna think before you talk, 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:21.200 you're in trouble. And I'm starting to see that with 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:24.960 some people. They're thinking before they talk. And I think 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:27.480 that's the way to be employed for a long period 0:16:27.480 --> 0:16:29.400 of tent but it's not a way to stand out 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:31.320 and make a lot of money. Be sure to catch 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:33.800 live editions of The Ben Miller Show week days at 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:37.120 two a m. Eastern eleven p m. Pacific. Well, yeah, 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:39.280 I mean, and and this is something that I've been 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:42.120 dealing with here. People are right now, Mike, And I'm 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:44.200 sure it was somewhat the same then, but it seems 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:46.240 like it's it's been cranked up here. People are are 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:50.720 triggered by everything like that was the most benign things, 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:55.240 and oh, I'm offended by that. And then like I'm 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:57.120 trying to figure this out. You've been around longer than me, 0:16:57.200 --> 0:16:59.720 But like, why are we supposed to bow down you? 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:03.240 Just because you're offended by something does not make it wrong. 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:05.080 You know what I mean? You know what I'm saying. 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:07.959 It seems like we've gone so far. The pendulum has 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:10.120 swung so far in the other direction. So I'm gonna 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:15.200 ask you, the wise man of sports radio, a forefather, allegend, 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:18.320 Mike North, how can we get back closer to what 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:20.280 it used to be than what it is right now 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:22.960 where we've we've gone too far the other direction. You 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:26.199 gotta have bosses that are willing to fight for you. 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:29.600 When I started it in radio, I had a guy 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:33.199 named Danny Lee and another guy named Seth Mason. And 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:37.240 these guys had our backs. And that's why we were successful. 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:40.640 Through those two things I described to you, they had 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:44.840 my back and and other things they had my back, 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:50.840 they had the other guy's backs, and better hirings um 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:55.760 start developing more talent from within. But the main thing 0:17:55.920 --> 0:18:00.400 is if you think that if you say something, you're 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.960 not going to get backed up by your bosses, then 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:07.520 you're gonna have a problem because it's always easy for 0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:10.240 the boss to say I didn't hear this or what 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:14.280 happened here, and maybe you shouldn't have said this. I 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:17.000 never used to hear that. You know, we were making money, 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:21.280 we were kicking us in the ratings. I was ultly 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:24.719 successful because I had bosses that said, this is working, 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:27.199 people like it, and we're gonna stick with it. And 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:30.600 we were not politically correct. But it's two thousand twenty 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:34.480 now and I'm seeing stuff, believe me, guys, that I 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:38.920 thought i'd never see in my lifetime. I mean, nonsense 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:43.800 and people, you know, just just right now, between the rioting, 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:47.160 the protesting and the COVID everybody seems to have lost 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:49.520 their mind a little bit, and everybody's got to take 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:54.040 a step back. Yeah, you were mentioning some of the 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:56.040 some of the bits you guys did back in the day, 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:59.199 and you mentioned Jesse Jackson. You're friends with Jesse, right, 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:01.720 You became friends with him in over the years and 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:03.960 guys have had a good relationship. What's that been, like, 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:08.280 what's have you talking? I'll tell you what happened. He 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:12.879 comes to the comes to the studio because because my 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:17.399 program director rank Leason says to me, Jesse Jackson's coming. 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:19.919 He wants to meet you. He wants to talk to 0:19:19.920 --> 0:19:24.280 you about this this situation. I said, Hella put him 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:28.080 on the air him sit in with me. So they 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:30.800 called him. He sat in with me for about an 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:35.600 hour and uh afterwards we uh had a little lunch 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:41.679 and uh, all of a sudden, we started talking. He 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:44.240 went to Illinois. He was a quarterback at the University 0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:48.080 of Illinois, third stringer back in the day, and we 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:51.880 started talking about football and he's a sports fan. And 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:54.800 the next thing you know, I'm at meeting him at 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:59.600 restaurant two weeks later for for dinner and we became 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:01.720 sort of friends. And then I met his family and 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:06.639 Stuffy and UH it was really crazy. And what's cool 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:10.480 is about the or any Bank statue that's outside of 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:16.119 Wrigley Field. Jesse Jackson calls me and he says, I 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:19.280 think my that, Uh I want to get a statue 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:23.240 for Banks And I said, yeah, okay, cool, I go. 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:25.520 He goes. But I went to the Tribune board meeting 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:27.760 who loved the team at the time, and they weren't 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:31.960 paying any attention to it. So I need your help. 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:34.760 I go, what do you need? He goes, well, you 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:36.359 need to get me out. We need to promote it 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:40.800 in any banks a statue And I said, okay, but 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:43.840 if you if we get this statue built, you better 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:46.680 give me credit. You better not screw me. I'll never 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:49.240 do anything with you again. I swear to again. I'm 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:51.960 talking to one of the prominent civil rights guys of 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:54.439 our of our time. Like that, right, But that's how 0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:57.199 the kind of thing we had and what happened was 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:00.640 we I got ahold of John McDonough who has done 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:05.520 the cups pr guy and him Jesse myself. Uh, I 0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:07.879 had Jesse on the radio. It gained steam and the 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:10.680 next thing, you know, Ernie got his statue. He gave 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:14.000 me credit, Ernie did Jesse and it all worked out 0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:16.560 and there's a statue on the corner. So that's all. 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:19.200 Good of friends we were. And I still am friends 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:22.639 with the guy now, you know. So it was it 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:25.359 was crazy. He goes, you know, when I first met him, 0:21:25.359 --> 0:21:26.840 I said, I gotta be honest with you. You know, 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:29.159 you're not a family favorite. You know. I grew up 0:21:29.160 --> 0:21:31.719 on the North side of Chicago, a lot of Poles 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:34.400 and Germans, it was mixed, the standings, the whole thing. 0:21:34.880 --> 0:21:37.240 He goes. I understand that, man, he goes, but a 0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:39.960 lot of it's missions blah blah blah blah. So that's it. 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:43.480 That's the kind of friendship we have. Mike. How does 0:21:43.600 --> 0:21:48.080 this how does this year compared to the sixties? What's 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:52.080 what's worse based on your experience? Oh, this is worse 0:21:53.040 --> 0:21:55.840