Mark Giangreco on Chicago Sports TV, Michael Jordan, & the ’85 Bears | The Pat McGann Show Ep. 20

Chicago sports broadcasting legend Mark Giangreco joins Pat for a wide-ranging, old-school conversation about the golden age of local TV — when ratings were brutal, anchors were larger than life, and everyone was trying to beat each other on the 10 o’clock news.

They discuss growing up in Buffalo, breaking into television, and landing in Chicago in the early 1980s, covering everything from the 1985 Bears to Michael Jordan in real time. Mark shares stories from the era of newsroom rivalries, on-air suspensions, insane ratings wars, and why Anchorman felt less like a comedy and more like a documentary.

The episode also gets into Chicago as a sports town, the personalities that defined local media, how journalism and broadcasting have changed, and what it was like working when millions of people actually watched the same newscast every night.

🎧 New episodes every week — filmed in Chicago with comics, locals, and special guests.

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🎤 Guest: Mark Giangreco

X: Mark_Giangreco

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