Mike North

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mike North has been a sports talk radio show host at WSCR "The Score 670" in Chicago since the early 1990's, bringing a distinct Chicago working man's and sometimes, albeit, abrasive flavor to his listeners.

Raised in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood, Mike's first real job was as a hot dog vendor at Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park. Prior to his radio career, North also owned his own hot dog stand, Be-Be's, serving hot food and spicy sports talk. According to North, a manager at WXRT, who was visiting the stand and was impressed with North's sports knowledge, offered him a show on an affiliated station WSBC if he would sell the advertising, and Mike became one of the original personalities when The Score was launched by that company, Diamond Broadcasting.[1] In August of 2002, Mike signed a multiyear contract worth between 1.5-1.7 million dollars, making him one of the highest paid radio personalities in Chicago. North is credited with popularizing the word "jagbag." In Spring 2006 North called his own station while driving drunk.[2] He has offended many people by calling a Chicago Cubs Korean pitcher a "Chinaman," a racist epithet.[3]

North's show was generally broadcast during the mid-day hours, but on September, 2004, he agreed to do the morning show to compete with syndicated ESPN Radio programming on rival WMVP.

Mike has won numerous awards including: four Achievement in Radio Awards, Radio Broadcaster of the Year in 1996, Best Midday Show in Chicago and Best Sports Show in 1997 (Mike and Dan Jiggetts), Best Talent on a News, Talk, Personality, or Sports Station in 2002, and most notably, 2 Emmy Awards. Mike’s other accomplishments include: Receiving the Entertainer of the Year award by the Special Children’s Charities, the Irv Kupcinet award, and the Richard J. Daley award by the Red Cloud Athletic Fund.

Mike lives in Park Ridge, Illinois, a Northwest suburb of Chicago where he has "Pappy Land" — a multi-television sports bar in his basement. He frequently mentions his wife Be-Be. He has appeared on WBBM-TV, WMAQ-TV and WFLD-TV, and is frequently a featured guest on Comcast SportsNet Chicago's "Chicago Tribune Live" show.

His favorite football player is Matt O'Dwyer who retired from the NFL in 2006.^{[citation needed]}