Erich Mancow Muller

Mancow has left the building. But will he be back?

The cancellation of Erich Mancow Muller’s morning show this week after two years on Fox-owned WPWR-Channel 50 marks the first time in nearly three decades that the former Chicago shock jock is off the air completely. No TV. No radio. Nothing.

Muller, 48, said he was proud the TV show lasted two years and considers the decision to pull the plug a mutual one. “I’ve worked nonstop since 1985,” he said. “I’m taking a break.”

Conceived as a simulcast of his syndicated morning radio show, “Mancow” aired from 6 to 8 a.m. weekdays on the MyNetworkTV affiliate and originated from Fox Chicago studios at 205 North Michigan Avenue. While his radio fortunes faded, ratings for Muller’s television effort never materialized.

Nevertheless, the latest move “may signal a bigger role for the controversial radio host on a larger TV stage,” according to TV Spy, which reported interest by Fox Television Stations in developing other projects with him. Muller declined to comment on what’s next, except to say that he is considering “various TV, radio and Internet offers.”

Once among Chicago’s highest paid and most visible radio personalities, Muller was a magnet for controversy and publicity starting at the former WRCX, then at WKQX FM 101.1 and later at WLS AM 890. More recently he sought to reinvent himself as a political commentator and suburban family man.

Muller also appeared in “God, Guns and Automobiles,” a History Channel reality series with his auto dealer brother, Mark Muller.