Chicago Radio: Dan McNeil OUT At WDRV

Dan McNeil

Dan McNeil, the veteran Chicago sports radio host whose talent and temperament never quite meshed with a music station’s morning show, is out after 16 months at Hubbard Radio classic rock WDRV 97.1 FM.

Chicago Media writer Robert Feder was first to report the change.

John Gallagher, vice president and market manager of Hubbard Radio Chicago, announced Thursday that McNeil had decided to step away from The Drive and had been released from his reported $250,000-a-year contract, which ran through March 2017. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but Gallagher said McNeil was free to accept employment elsewhere, effective immediately.

McNeil, 54, had been on a collision course with management for weeks. Since returning from a 10-day time-out, he had been cut out as morning co-host and relegated to delivering a three-minute sports report once an hour.

Pete McMurray, who had been teamed with McNeil on The Drive since February 2015, will continue hosting mornings solo, along with producer Scott Miller and news anchor Kathy Voltmer, Gallagher said. Additional changes to the format of the show are in the works.