Chicago media veteran Dan Bernstein, seen here with former co-host Leila Rahimi , was fired Friday by management at WSCR 670-AM, 670-AM. Bernstein’s function-delete transgression at “The Score” was to get into a thoroughly pointless social media crossfire with a face in the crowd who questioned a recent photo of the 54-year-old North Shore native hoisting a fish he had caught at Northerly Islan
Courtesy of WSCR, 670-AM
THE NEW-MILL LIFE of a sports talk radio host in Chicago has devolved into a numbing wash-and-rinse cycle of lame prattle, budget friendliness and safe parroting in hollow cages.
Dan Bernstein — a 30-year veteran of that frayed niche — fell away into a dusky abyss Friday when he was fired by management at WSCR 670-AM, 670-AM.
Bernstein’s function-delete transgression at “The Score” was to get into a thoroughly pointless social media crossfire with a face in the crowd who questioned a recent photo of the 54-year-old North Shore native hoisting a fish he had caught at Northerly Island.
Blocking space invaders on North Michigan Avenue or preventing impressionable young people from sampling vapid Chicago sports talk would have been more noble ends.
BERNSTEIN CLAIMED on the social media platform X that the fish was a “catch and release.” The needless online exchange went downstream from there.
The back-and-forth became so personal and wormy that last Sunday, Camp One Step — a charity that supports oncology services benefiting kids — posted: “(We) bring happiness, support, hope and strength to hundreds of children each year. Recently, Dan Bernstein made comments on social media that don’t reflect our mission. As a result, we’ve removed him from our board of directors.”
Bernstein was first suspended and then waxed by the horizontaling Audacy outlet. He had been cohosting a midday show.
A GRADUATE OF DUKE UNIVERSITY (1991) and the son of an attorney, the Deerfield High alum had long been considered a high-intellect, low-infotainment sort. His on-air sports pontifications had a tendency to veer toward the temper and tone of a DNA expert testifying for the prosecution.
He also danced close to the genre’s Play-Doh third rail in the past.
Bernstein once referred to the amputation-ravaged legs of all-time Cubs great Ron Santo as “stumps.” (Santo lived a remarkable life despite being plagued by diabetes since age 18.)
HE ALSO FLASHED a surprising tone-deafness for his era with crude and sexist comments in March 2015 about Chicago sportscaster Aiyana Cristal. He later apologized and said, “I’m an idiot.”
But his resume was further tarnished. (Cristal is currently president of her own communications firm in Atlanta.)
THE POLEAXING OF BERNSTEIN continues a steady erosion of higher-salaried talent that has dotted the last 20 years of WSCR-AM.
Rick Telander abruptly walked away from an afternoon-drive slot in 2005. Three years later, Mike North rejected a contract extension that would have cut his base salary in half. His improbable Huntz Hall/ “Bowery Boys” broadcast career never recovered.
Dan Jiggetts — Harvard graduate (1976), former Bear and the single most important front-end hire in the 33-year history of the station — departed around the same time.
DAN MCNEIL BECAME A HARBINGER of the tempest that waylaid Bernstein when he was fired in Sept. 2020 after an X (then Twitter) post about a wardrobe choice by Maria Taylor, the NBC Sports studio anchor.
Bernstein could not be reached for comment. But late Friday, McNeil — who served three turns at “The Score” since the station signed on in January 1992 — said:
“Perception wins again. I was nailed by ‘cancel culture,’ but I also deserved it. I did not take into account what the potential impact of my tweet could have on ‘Score’ advertisers. Management must be the last (corporate) safety net on matters that impact advertisers.
“’Twitter’ is now our new universal Human Resources Department. I feel for Dan. You can’t do what he did. His ‘X’ business threatened to further weaken what is already an AM radio (sales) market that’s been ripped apart.
“What’s saddest is that he was the last of the ’90s on-air guys still working at the station. His departure signals the end of an era that was absolutely market-altering in scope.”
IN NOVEMBER 1998, a Sun-Times sports media Insouciant constructed thumbnail sketches about four up-and-comers in Chicago broadcasting.
Bernstein — then working as a Bears reporter and weekend host at WSCR 670-AM, 1160-AM — was one. The others included: Chip Caray, who had just completed his first season of Cubs play-by-play; Jill Carlson, then at CLTV en route to Fox-32 Sports; and Ann Werner, who went from Fox Sports Net Chicago to a most recent producer’s post as Ann Kreiter at WMAQ-Channel 5 News.
IN A SUMMARY QUOTE ABOUT HIMSELF, Bernstein may have proved a bit too prophetic in writing his own “Score” epitaph:
“The most important thing I can try to do right now is maintain both my ambition and my patience, which aren’t always the most easily reconciled of career elements.”
Following baited public lure, management patience regarding Dan Bernstein caught and released Friday.
• Jim O’Donnell’s Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Wednesday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
