Mancow Muller - Mancow's Morning Madhouse

Mancow's Morning Madhouse

Muller accepted a job offer by Evergreen Media President Jim de Castro at more than double his salary if he would be willing to move to Chicago to work at WWBZ-FM, "The Blaze". "The Blaze" had lost its fire and it was renamed to "Rock 103.5" (WRCX-FM), and created his radio show, Mancow's Morning Madhouse, which debuted in July 1994.

Originally, he broadcasted from WRCX-FM (Rock 103.5) studios in the John Hancock Center and in 1998, moved to the city's alternative rock station, WKQX-FM (Q-101) 101.1, where the show was broadcast from the Merchandise Mart for eight more years.

Within two Arbitron ratings periods he took the station's 19th-ranked morning show to #5 among all teens and adults, and #1 among 18- to 34-year-olds.

Muller's "Mancow's Morning Madhouse" ended its live run on Emmis' Alternative outlet in Spring 2006, and had the highest rated audience in Chicago with Men Ages 25 to 54 (among English speaking stations). According to Arbitron, a radio ratings service, Mancow's show, measured in Average Quarter Hour listening percentages (AQH) had a 5.7 Share. The next closest station was all-news WBBM with a 5.3 Share.

In his target demographic, men between the ages of 18 and 34 years, Mancow AQH was an 11.8 Share of the audience in that age group, the highest Share of any other English-speaking station in Chicago.

His show, however, was not without controversy. In 1999, Janet Dahl, the wife of Chicago talk radio host Steve Dahl, filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Muller over lewd comments Muller made about her on his show. In 2001, the case was settled out of court. Although the terms of the deal were not disclosed, it reportedly reached seven figures.

After Wes Borland left Limp Bizkit, Fred Durst was to be a judge in a Guitar Center competition allegedly to find the next guitarist for the band. Hundreds of people showed up to audition. Durst showed up late for the event, gave everybody in attendance the middle finger, then promptly left. In response, Muller posted a photo on his website of Durst flipping off the guitarist competition audience and began periodic on-the-air anti-Durst rants.

For a full week leading up to Limp Bizkit's Summer Sanitarium 2003 concert in Chicago, Muller continually mocked Durst on his radio show and invited listeners to attend the concert with anti-Durst placards. When Muller's fans complied by showing up with the placards, openly taunting the singer, booing him and pelting him with refuse, Durst erupted into a profanity-laced homophobic tirade and left the stage only 17 minutes into the show. Durst was eventually sued for breach of contract (for not completing the show) by Chicago lawyer Michael Young in a class-action suit.

When it was announced in late 2008 that Mancow, along with Pat Cassidy, would take over the 9–11 a.m. slot at WLS-AM, it was of the general opinion of Chicago print media that the show would quickly falter. The reality was however quite the opposite, as just four months after the debut of Mancow and Cassidy, Arbitron ratings had the show at #1 in the 12+ audience, and nearly doubling Chicago competitors in the male demographic as of February 2009.

Muller was fired from his job on news and conservative talk station WLS-AM after only 16 months.