Mac, Jurko, and Harry
Mac, Jurko, and Harry is the afternoon, drive-time show hosted by Dan McNeil, John Jurkovic and Harry Teinowitz. The show debuted on ESPN’s WMVP AM-1000 in Chicago in May 2001, replacing The Huge Show, featuring Bill Simonson and Lou Cannellis. Mac, Jurko, and Harry has been regarded as the station’s flagship program. The trio is consistently one of the most popular radio shows among male listeners.
Despite their achievements, the show has not been without controversy. In 2002, the station suspended McNeil and Teinowitz over an off-air shoving (see Sumo) incident (they then followed it up weeks later with an on-air spat).
On June 9th, 2006, another on-air incident resulted in station management suspending the duo for two weeks. The fracas started following another episode of McNeil harassing Teinowitz for his silver spoon upbringing. The final hour and twenty minutes of the show was cancelled, with Marc Silverman and Carmen DeFalco taking over.
According to the Chicago Tribune, on June 27, 2007, WMVP suspended McNeil for three days after he called Comcast Sports Net Executive Producer Lissa Druss Christman a "[...]" on-air when she declined to answer questions about CSN's production of the June 25, 2007 Chicago Cubs game.
Over its five-year history Mac, Jurko and Harry have had six producers. Adam Delevitt (2001-2006), Jeff Dickerson (2001-2002), Artie Kennedy (2001-2002), Ben Finfer (2002-present), Scot Bertram (2002-2003, 2006-2007), and Danny Zederman (2007-present).
The show also features Dave Miska as engineer, when it goes on the road to various remote events.
The show competes directly with Boers and Bernstein, their afternoon counterparts on rival WSCR. At one point Mac, Jurko and Harry had dominated the afternoon timeslot for Chicago sports radio, while Boers and Bernstein was still a mid-day show. The Score moved Boers and Bernstein to afternoons in 2005 in order to better compete, and went on to earn higher ratings than Mac, Jurko and Harry in the spring 2007 ratings book. The show will move up an hour from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. and compete directly with Boers and Bernstein as announced on August 30, 2007.
Mac, Jurko, and Harry won the 2006-2007 Golden Icon Award (presented by Travolta Family Entertainment) for Best Radio Personalities.
Show Content
The show includes several weekly segments and recurring guests. From time to time, the show is broadcast at remote locations in Chicago and the neighboring suburbs.
Segments
- Who Do You Love?
- Critics At Extra Large
- That was easy Bears Trivia Challenge (Every Thursday)
- Jurko vs. Harry
- Future Mail
- "B" Stories
- Almanac
- Web Polls Across America
- Last Time
- Only Time
- First Time
- Featured Artist Friday
- Who Are You
- Future Headlines
Frequent Guests and Contributors
- Monday/Sunday Night John (Frank Caliendo)
- John Clayton
- Gary Danielson
- Jeff Dickerson
- Bruce Levine
- Scott Skiles
- Mark Buehrle
- Krazy Ivan
- Jerry Angelo
- Ron Rivera
- Ron Turner
- Kerry Wood