More Top Picks Best Hot And Cold Catering Bags
player ready...Corey McPherrin`s the new kid in town, the heir-apparent to WBBM-Ch. 2 Sports Director Johnny Morris. Morris, who turned 56 Thursday, wants to ease into retirement after 25 years before local cameras.
McPherrin, who starts on Tuesday`s early newscast, is confident he can replace Morris without being brash, self-assured without being cocky. He has spent seven years as a sports reporter/anchor at WABC-TV, the ABC flagship affiliate in New York. He also has dabbled in network assignments.
But now McPherrin, 36, is glad to be coming home.
”I`d become somewhat frustrated with television sports in New York,” he says. ”There isn`t the commitment to sports coverage. Specifically, we didn`t travel with the Giants the way the guys here travel with the Bears, we didn`t have Sunday night post-newscast specials, we didn`t have a sportscast in our earliest hourlong newscast.
”There was an attitude, not only at our station but at all the stations in New York, that sports coverage, although necessary, wasn`t all that significant in terms of garnering ratings. Consequently, as a sportscaster, you felt like you were batting eighth in the lineup. They might pay you well, and you`re in the biggest market in the country, but what are you doing?”
With his contract up for renewal, McPherrin ”wrestled with that,”
though at the same time he heard about a possible opening at Channel 2.
As it turned out, Bill Applegate, who had taken over as WBBM-TV general manager earlier this year, had been a news director at WABC-TV. So while the two never talked during negotiations, they knew each other`s work. Once McPherrin`s agent worked out the details (including the one-month non-compete clause even though McPherrin was leaving the New York market), the former Hillcrest High swimmer was on his way home.
McPherrin, a native of Markham, just became a father for the first time five months ago when wife Sally had a boy. ”I could see myself raising a family a lot more here than in New York,” says McPherrin, who almost joined WBBM-TV 10 years ago, when there was an opening for a weekend sports anchor, but instead went to Atlanta. ”Chicago is just a more livable city. I thought that makes sense, too.”
That left one more question-could he feel comfortable replacing Morris, who had worked hard to become the highest-paid local sportscaster in the country? (Not that McPherrin will be underpaid. His five-year contract reportedly is worth about $2.5 million.)
”It`s kind of a burden because Johnny`s an institution,” says McPherrin. But ”he`s embraced the idea (of cutting back). I get along with him, and that makes a difference.”
Which makes McPherrin feel this was the right move.
”When it finally came down to `Are you going to do it or aren`t you going to do it?` it was tough to pull the trigger,” he says. ”It took some real soul-searching. In the end, it was worth the risk leaving a comfortable position where I could have stayed for a long time for a potentially more rewarding environment. I grew up here. I followed these teams. There`s a tie that didn`t go away.”
Hmmm. There`s a station promo in there somewhere.
– John Feinstein, author of ”Forever`s Team,” and Northwestern`s Bill Foster, coach of that Duke basketball squad, will be guests on this week`s
”SportsCheck,” live from Ditka`s at 7 p.m. Tuesday on WCBR-FM and WKKD-AM. . . . CBS` Andrea Joyce hosts a half-hour HBO special on 15-year-old gymnastics star Kim Zmeskal at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. . . . Michael Cowman examines the psychology of today`s athletes in a three-part series on CNN`s
”Sports Tonight” starting Tuesday.
– Weekend wonderings: Nothing against all you Packer fans who got to see Green Bay play the Rams on WBBM-Ch. 2, but how can it be an official NFL Sunday without Pat Summerall and John Madden? . . . CBS has added team records (good) and time remaining (irrelevant) to its NFL score updates. . . . ABC`s coverage of the Florida State-Michigan game was as top-notch as the contest itself, from Keith Jackson`s colorful descriptions (”It`s raining points on a cloudless day” and Toddrick McIntosh`s interception return ”was like a locomotive going downhill”) to the film clip of Michigan`s TD duo of Elvis Grbac and Desmond Howard connecting in high school. . . . Perhaps the best-kept secret has been CBS` ”Baseball Show,” hosted by Pat O`Brien. Saturday`s show included features on departing Tigers announcer Ernie Harwell (”I`m gonna miss baseball”) and Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston (”When we lost, I could feel it in my back”). . . . The Bears would have been better off if Bills coach Marv Levy had taken ”NFL Today” co-host Terry Bradshaw`s advice on Bruce Smith: ”I wouldn`t play him at all.” . . . Is the Ryder Cup telecast over yet?
– The Blackhawks` season opens Thursday, and broadcasters Pat Foley and Dale Tallon mark their eighth season together on WBBM-AM and SportsChannel. So much for the good news. The National Hockey League still doesn`t have a national TV contract (the only ”major” sport without one), which means only Hawks road games will be seen here this season. And WBBM, which offers a postgame
More Top Picks Power Station
”Hawkline” with Brian Davis and former goalie Darren Pang, begins what could be its last season of association with the Hawks. WLUP reportedly is making a big-money bid to attract the team for next season.