No Score: Danny Mac won’t be back

Dan McNeil

Dan McNeil

Dan McNeil won’t be returning to the Score after all.

The mercurial Chicago radio personality turned down a multiyear contract offer to reclaim his old job as midday host at CBS Radio sports/talk WSCR AM 670, sources said Wednesday.

McNeil had been considered the top choice to succeed Patrick Mannelly, who announced Monday he was stepping down as midday co-host alongside Matt Spiegel, effective February 13. The move was first reported here Friday.

McNeil declined to comment Wednesday.

The decision means McNeil remains free to explore other radio opportunities, and the Score has to conduct its second search for a midday co-host in five months. “We’re looking at all options,” said Mitch Rosen, operations director of the Score.

It’s no longer clear whether one of those options is the hiring of David Kaplan and David Haugh since Tribune Media would have to release Kaplan from the remaining 11 months of his contract with news/talk WGN AM 720, where he has been a fixture for 20 years. Haugh is a Chicago Tribune sports columnist.

Kaplan and Haugh hosted middays on Tribune Media’s short-lived FM sports/talk venture on WGWG LP 87.7, known as The Game 87.7 FM. Their program continues streaming on WGNplus.com and simulcast on Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

Midday ratings on the Score declined after McNeil left the station last summer. In the latest Nielsen Audio survey, the Score ranked 15th in middays with a 2.7 percent share and cumulative weekly audience of 333,900.