Mike Mulligan is no longer with 104.3 The Score in Chicago. On Friday, the station cut the 23-year veteran along with midday host Marshall Harris as The Score undergoes another lineup change. It’s the third change in two years, following Danny Parkins leaving for FOX Sports in 2024 and Dan Bernstein’s departure in 2025. Change is the only constant in radio, and The Score is not immune from it.
However, Friday’s news regarding the departures of Mulligan and Harris struck a different tone.
After more than two decades with the station, Mulligan had been the morning voice since taking over the daypart in 2008. Eighteen years in Chicago morning drive doesn’t happen by accident. It’s a legacy of success, impact and connection that few, if any, in that daypart have matched.
That’s why this felt different.
Change Is Constant
I was there on day one for Mulligan and Brian Hanley in 2008 when the show was elevated to morning drive following the dismissal of the Mike North Morning Show. I was the lone holdover from North’s program because I decided to stay with The Score instead of investigating other opportunities outside the walls. It wasn’t an easy decision at the time for a 27-year-old who had his first child on the way.
Go with whom I know and am familiar with or stay and start over again.
From 2008 until my departure in 2011, I worked every weekday morning alongside Mike Mulligan, Brian Hanley and Executive Producer Dustin Rhodes, helping build the early foundation for what the Mully & Hanley show would become. It became one of the more successful sports radio programs in the market’s history. It was built on journalism, access and information, with a legacy formed through its impact on the audience.
Yes, the program experienced change throughout the years after I departed. Several people rotated in and out of my former position. Brian Hanley was let go after his contract wasn’t renewed. David Haugh, who worked alongside Mulligan covering the Chicago Bears, entered the show and became a natural extension of its branding.
Change is the only constant in radio. Even with a couple of years left on his contract, Mulligan still departed.
Following the news, my phone exploded. Social media went crazy. Impressions, shares and comments appeared across every social platform. This wasn’t just a random cut. This was an impactful one. Radio is dead, huh?
The Rebound
The challenge now is how The Score rebounds. Over the last 21 years, Mitch Rosen has overseen all this change. He’s been doubted before. But every time, the station rebounded and elevated its game into a new evolution. That’s not a former employee kissing ass to his former boss. That’s just facts.
I see no reason why The Score won’t rebound from these departures because of the leadership surrounding it and more than three decades of equity supporting the brand. But Mulligan can rebound from this, too, because it’s only in his nature.
Mulligan joked with me via text following his departure that he first plans to attempt to erase the sleep deficit that has accumulated over the years in morning drive. After that accomplishment, there are options, and plenty of them, with the audience currency Mulligan owns.
I’ve watched that evolution firsthand.
The same person who shared with me stories of going from covering the public league to Michael Jordan then transitioned from basketball to becoming one of the market’s top insiders covering the Chicago Bears. He evolved from scribe to radio and television, with each step bigger than the one before it.
I expect no different from Mulligan with his next leap if he so chooses to take it.
We’ve seen it already with many top names in the top markets. Sports radio has handed some of its biggest stars to the digital content frontier, only to play catch-up to their reach and impact once they establish and plant their flag.
Could Mulligan begin a Substack and return to his first love of writing? Might Mulligan be an attractive target for digital platforms like 312 Sports, Barstool Sports or CHGO?
Whatever comes next, one thing is certain: Friday’s news was not the end of the story for either Mike Mulligan or 104.3 The Score.
Credibility Is Currency
For Mulligan, 23 years of building credibility, trust and an audience doesn’t disappear because of a business decision. His next opportunity will come with something every media company wants and few can manufacture: a loyal audience that already knows his voice, trusts his work and will follow him wherever he goes next.
The same is true for The Score.
The departure of a morning voice who spent 18 years defining the station’s sound is significant. It should be. But The Score’s identity wasn’t built by one person, one show or one era. It was built over decades by many people who understood Chicago sports, understood the audience and understood how to evolve when the industry demanded it.
That’s why this moment can be both an ending and a beginning.
Mulligan leaves with a legacy that gives him options. The Score moves forward with equity and institutional knowledge that gives it options. Both have been through change before. Both have reinvented themselves before. And both have something that cannot be taken away by a Friday afternoon phone call: relevance.
The reaction to Mulligan’s departure proved that.
Radio may be changing. Audiences may be consuming content differently. The platforms may look completely different five years from now. But when a broadcaster can create the kind of reaction that Mulligan’s departure generated, and when a brand can withstand decades of change and still command that kind of attention, there is still plenty of life left in both.
Mulligan will find his next chapter. The Score will find its next evolution. If history is any indication, neither will be defined by what happened on Friday.
They’ll be defined by what they do next.
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.