{"id":6796,"date":"2015-02-17T13:30:20","date_gmt":"2015-02-17T19:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=6796"},"modified":"2015-03-05T19:50:50","modified_gmt":"2015-03-06T01:50:50","slug":"its-official-mcneil-mcmurray-join-the-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2015\/02\/17\/its-official-mcneil-mcmurray-join-the-drive\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s official: McNeil & McMurray join The Drive"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pete<\/a>

<\/a> Pete McMurray and Dan McNeil<\/p><\/div>\n

Last week\u2019s scoop du jour<\/a> is today\u2019s press release: Chicago radio veterans Dan McNeil and Pete McMurray have signed on to co-host mornings on classic hits\u00a0WDRV FM 97.1.<\/a><\/p>\n

Hubbard Radio Chicago bosses formally introduced McNeil and McMurray to the staff Tuesday and officially announced that the duo would succeed Steve Downes, who\u2019s retiring<\/a> after 14 years as morning personality on The Drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all very excited to bring two well-known Chicago personalities together with one iconic rock brand,\u201d John Gallagher, vice president and market manager of Hubbard Chicago, said in a statement. \u201cThe Drive has maintained a dominant classic rock position in the market for many years. The departure of Steve Downes offered us the opportunity to reevaluate our mission and once again bring something unique to mornings.\u201d<\/p>\n

McNeil joins The Drive after a 30-year run in sports\/talk radio, most recently as midday co-host at CBS Radio\u00a0WSCR AM 670,<\/a> where he chose not to renew his contract last year. After 17 years on Chicago radio, McMurray joins The Drive from Tribune Media news\/talk\u00a0WGN AM 720,<\/a> where he hosts evenings. McMurray said his last day on WGN will be Thursday.<\/p>\n

No start date has been announced for what\u2019s unofficially been called \u201cThe McMorning Show.\u201d The station said only that it would debut \"in early March.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Nielsen Audio figures released Tuesday, The Drive tied for 10th place in mornings with a 3.0 percent share and cumulative weekly audience of 379,800.<\/p>\n

Here is the text of the press release from The Drive:<\/strong><\/p>\n

PETE McMURRAY AND DAN McNEIL TO TAKE OVER \u201cMORNING DRIVE\u201d AT 97.1 THE DRIVE WDRV CHICAGO<\/em><\/p>\n

Chicago, IL \u2014 WDRV Chicago \u201cThe Drive\u201d announced today that Chicago broadcast veterans Pete McMurray and Dan McNeil will take over Morning Drive at the classic rocker. The Morning Drive slot became available after 14-year morning man Steve Downes announced his retirement two weeks ago.<\/em><\/p>\n

Dan McNeil has been arguably the biggest sports radio host in Chicago for the past 25 years, hosting at both Chicago sports stations WSCR and ESPN 1000. When McNeil was asked to comment on his move to mornings on one of Chicago\u2019s premiere FM outlets, McNeil said \u201cI\u2019ve coveted a show like this for a long, long time. That it\u2019s coming to a reality on The Drive\u2014the crown jewel of Chicago radio, is incredible. I\u2019m enormously grateful because my real life again is exceeding the dreams I had for it. It\u2019s like an NFL player, late in his career, signing with the Patriots looking for those last few shots at a championship ring.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

When pushed on the fact that he\u2019s only known as a \u201csports guy\u201d McNeil replied \u201cThere\u2019s more to me than point spreads and pucks and my listeners know that. In high school, I loved classic rock and wrote music for the paper. I was William Miller in \u2018Almost Famous,\u2019 front and center at the Amphitheatre or Hammond Civic Center for Rush or Cheap Trick\u2014mini notepad in one pocket and a half pint in the other. I\u2019ve been to more Alice Cooper shows than college basketball games. I think any doubters will come on board after digesting my classic rock resume.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Pete McMurray comes to The Drive after nearly two years at WGN Chicago, where he most recently held the 7pm-11pm show. McMurray came to Chicago in 1998 and has worked at the former WCKG, WLUP and WKQX. Pete is also very visible on T.V. in Chicago, working on Chicago Bears \u201cpregame shows on Fox as well as T.V. 24\/7 on NBC. \u201cI loved every single moment working with Jimmy, Todd, Cochran and the entire WGN family,\u201d McMurray states. \u201cHowever, I couldn\u2019t pass up the opportunity to work for one of the top rock stations in the country-the legendary WDRV and Hubbard Broadcasting, one of the most respected broadcast companies in America. Not to mention alongside Danny Mac, someone I have admired from afar my entire career. It\u2019s going to be a ton of fun and a great, great drive!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

John Gallagher, Hubbard Chicago, VP\/Market Manager comments: \u201cWe are all very excited to bring two well-known Chicago personalities together with one iconic rock brand. The Drive has maintained a dominant classic rock position in the market for many years. The departure of Steve Downes offered us the opportunity to reevaluate our mission and once again bring something unique to mornings.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Greg Solk, Sr. VP\/Programming for Hubbard adds \u201c14 years ago, The Drive launched with a more music presentation that filled a void in the crowded Chicago market. The evolution of The Drive continues today with Pete McMurray and Dan McNeil in the all-important morning drive slot. We built this station and achieved market dominance on a foundation of music. And now we\u2019ll be presenting a unique show that features great rock with two local guys who will combine their love of music with their passion for all things Chicago. Pete and Dan will deliver a relevant show that will resonate with Chicago morning commuters, enhancing FM radio\u2019s connection to listeners who demand great local content in an increasingly crowded media landscape.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The show is set to debut in early March. A morning show producer is expected to be announced shortly. The new show will be under the direction of WDRV Program Director Curtiss Johnson.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week\u2019s scoop du jour is today\u2019s press release: Chicago radio veterans Dan McNeil and Pete McMurray have signed on to co-host mornings on classic hits\u00a0WDRV FM 97.1. Hubbard Radio Chicago bosses formally introduced McNeil and McMurray to the staff Tuesday and officially announced that the duo would succeed Steve Downes, who\u2019s retiring after 14... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6796"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6796"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7083,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6796\/revisions\/7083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}