Chicago Radio: WSCR's Terry Boers Signs-Off

Terry Boers

Minutes before Terry Boers was set to host his final show for WSCR 670 AM on Thursday, Mike North described his old radio teammate as shy and laid-back. "People would think that by (his) on-air persona he's completely different," North said.

Sure enough, The Chicago Tribune reports Boers wasn't so spent from a string of tributes at the "Toast to Terry" that he couldn't tap into his wry wit to tweak an old nemesis.

Former radio executive Harvey Wells set Boers up by hearkening to the "big bang" of his career in 1992, when former Bears coach Mike Ditka asked him, "Who ya crappin'?" The line has become the namesake of one of Boers' signature segments with on-air partner Dan Bernstein.

"God bless Mike Ditka. What a great American he is," Boers said with an eye roll. That line "kind of fell into our laps. You know, he was good for something. I wasn't sure what it was, but he was good for that."

"You rode that bit for 25 years, buddy," Wells said.

Boers did that and more during a quarter-century of a radio career that launched with the birth of WSCR, which marked its 25-year anniversary Monday. It became apparent last year that the station would lose one of its originals when Boers missed extended periods of time battling cancer in his jaw. In November, he announced he would retire.

Boers was in high spirits when discussing his health before the show Thursday, but he shared the toll that two surgeries — one in June and another in November — have taken on his body. Part of a fibula was used to replace bone in his left jaw, which is still swollen.

"I can't eat very well," Boers said. "I was on tube feeding for six weeks after the first surgery and five weeks after this surgery. ... I was down to 177 pounds (after the first surgery) and I started at 225."


The ex-Sun-Times columnist plans to work on a book and occasionally write for The Score's site. Operations director Mitch Rosen said he's looking at replacement talent "inside and outside" and expects to make an announcement within a month.