Meier says Conn sold out to stay at WLS
By Ted Cox Daily Herald TV/Radio Columnist

Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Roe Conn formally bid adieu to his former WLS 890-AM co-host Garry Meier on the air Tuesday, but in spite of the calm, reasonable impression Conn gave listeners, Meier wasn't at all content with the way things played out.

Bill Zars/Daily Herald File Photo

"This is so wrong," Meier said. "It's pathetic."

"My intention is to return to WLS," Conn said in the first minutes of his afternoon show. "Garry, it appears, will not," he added, "for reasons that are beyond my grasp personally."

Although Conn acknowledged that "at the moment, feelings are pretty hurt on both sides," he said he would welcome the opportunity to work with Meier again, even though there were no obvious places for that to happen, with him committing to re-sign at WLS.

"At the end of the day," Conn explained, "he had to do what he thought was best and I had to do what I thought was best."


Bill Zars/Daily Herald File Photo

For Meier, it wasn't as clear and easy.

"Roe and I had an agreement that neither of us would sign until the other was happy," Meier said. "Yeah, we went in different directions. He ran for the money and left me hanging.

"As soon as he did that, I was dead meat."

Meier and Conn enjoyed an eight-year run at WLS. They were often at the top of the local Arbitron ratings, both overall and in the 25-54 age demographic favored by most advertisers.

Yet, with Meier's contract due to expire last February and Conn's to expire this month, WLS management staged a pre-emptive strike in renewal talks by yanking Meier off the air in January. At first Conn maintained a united front, and said they would soon be reunited at some station if not WLS. Even Tuesday he said his years with Meier were "the most fun I have ever had" professionally.

"We worked eight years for this, and you've got to play it to the end," Meier said. "I wanted him to take it to the end if necessary."

That, he pointed out, was the only way they had any leverage. Yet, in the end, WLS's divide-and-conquer strategy prevailed - although it may yet prove to be a Pyrrhic victory.

Irate listeners called in when news of the impending split first broke last week. Contributor Ron Magers, the WLS-TV Channel 7 news anchor, said he wasn't sure he would continue.

Conn said on the air that he was not looking to work with a new co-host. Instead, he seemed intent on continuing his interplay with news anchor Jim Johnson and traffic reporter Christina Filiaggi.

"We have no plans at this time" to add a co-host, said WLS Operations Director Michael Packer. "We've been doing well with Jim and Christina in there."

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WLS' contract hardball leaves Meier 'stunned' 

January 13, 2004
BY ROBERT FEDER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST 

Months of private contract negotiations between WLS-AM (890) and afternoon co-host Garry Meier exploded in public Monday even as both sides insisted they're eager to sign a new deal.



Citing a lack of progress toward reaching an agreement, Zemira Jones, president and general manager of the Disney/ABC-owned news/talk station, yanked Meier off the air, leaving afternoon partner Roe Conn as solo host. Conn, who took Monday off, is expected back on the show today.

WLS will continue to pay Meier for the remainder of his current contract, which expires Feb. 18.

"This was not something that we preferred to do," Jones said. "We've been working for a year to avoid this. But we can't have Garry on the air without a contract. So we're continuing to negotiate, we're hoping that he'll continue to talk with us, and we're optimistic that we'll get a deal done and he'll be back on the air.

"I want to reach an agreement. It's really up to Garry to say he wants to stay here."

For his part, Meier seemed bewildered by the latest turn of events, but expressed hope that a deal could be struck. "Nothing's final until it's final," he said. "Everything is still ongoing."

Added Meier: "I'm just stunned that it's gone this way. I don't understand this tactic. I don't understand what this accomplishes except to disrupt the flow of the show and put everybody in an awkward position for who knows how long. It's not fair to me, it's not fair to Roe, it's not fair to the audience."

The first sign of trouble came last September when Meier fired his longtime agent, Todd Musburger, and replaced him with Meier's wife, Cynthia Fircak, a commercial real estate broker. At the time, it was believed that WLS was offering Meier a long-term deal that would have paid him more than $1 million a year.

By all accounts, little progress has been made since then.

Meier declined to discuss his salary demands in specific, but he pointed to Arbitron ratings that show Conn and Meier's show consistently at or near the top of the market in every significant demographic group.

"The market value is what we're looking at," he said. "Everybody in the business knows what the market value is. That's what we're looking for. I'm leaving it at that."

Caught in the middle of all this is Conn, whose contract runs through June 15 and who employs his own agent, George Hiltzik, of the New York-based firm of N.S. Bienstock.

"Obviously, WLS has made a decision about how they want to proceed with these negotiations, and I fully intend to live up to the terms of my contract," Conn said. "But this is a partnership -- and it has been a really great partnership -- and we intend to continue it."

For most of the last year, Conn and Meier seemed on the verge of scoring a payday of epic proportions. In addition to WLS' willingness to re-sign them to seven-figure deals, they also were expected to hear from Bonneville International's WLUP-FM (97.9), Infinity Broadcasting's WSCR-AM (670) and Tribune Co.-owned WGN-AM (720), among other would-be suitors. But for a variety of reasons, offers from those outlets seem much less likely today.

Meier, 54, acknowledged that he has had a history of "contentious" negotiations with WLS since he rejoined the station and teamed up with Conn in 1996.

Money was the issue the last time around -- in 1999 -- and Meier was off the air for more than a week before he finally agreed to a five-year deal reportedly worth more than $2 million in salary and bonuses.

As that contract squabble played out in the press, Meier publicly encouraged the preposterous rumor that he might consider reuniting with his former partner-turned-nemesis, Steve Dahl, who now competes with him in afternoons on Infinity Broadcasting's WCKG-FM (105.9).

With Conn and Meier both off the air Monday, Dahl couldn't help fanning the flames, devoting much of his show to the controversy and playing out his grudge against Meier's agent/wife, whom Dahl has always blamed for breaking up their legendary radio partnership in 1993.

Dahl's most stinging zinger: "My wife's a lawyer -- and I wouldn't let her negotiate for me."

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Garry Meier has enjoyed a long and successful career in the electronic media. Garry joined WLS-AM in February 1996 as co-host of the afternoon drive show with Roe Conn from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. But this is not his first time at WLS - he was one of the celebrities on the Chicago scene that put WLS on the map.

As a young boy growing up in Chicago Garry knew radio was his destiny, because his parents' initials are AM & FM (Angie and Frank). Garry began to realize his dream in 1973 when he landed a job at WFYR, then moved to WYEN in 1974 until 1977, and then overnights at WLUP in 1979. In that same year Garry met his match when he teamed up with Steve Dahl. 

The duo became an immediate success in Chicagoland and continued until 1993, when they went their separate ways. During the Steve & Garry tenure at WLUP (1979-81), the team was number one and continued that success at WLS AM & FM from 1981 through 1986. In 1986 they returned to WLUP, until they split. Garry stayed at WLUP and became midday host until 1994. Branching out into television, he was a feature reporter at WGN-TV in 1994.

Garry attended Tinley Park High School where he took the Rugby team to international acclaim. During this time he was made a member of the British Empire, which means he gets free parking whenever he visits Buckingham Palace (which he does quite often because he is close to the Queen Mum). Garry attended the University of Illinois Medical Center to become a pharmacist. He left after two years but claims that turned out to be the best training for entering the world of broadcasting.

His hobbies include anything that won't hurt the environment or anyone's feelings. He's currently involved in several boutique religions and claims to be closer to the answer than ever before.

Garry grew up, so to speak, in Chicago and says living in the city that has the largest Polish population outside of Warsaw is truly inspiring. Garry has almost met Pope John XXIII, Elvis, and Mickey Rooney's fourth wife. In the future he hopes to direct films and traffic, and he always displays his license plate in his car's back window instead of the back bumper.