Both Mayor Daleys get ‘scrootened’
Bill Cameron has been sticking his microphone in the face of Chicago mayors since he was a cub reporter lugging a reel-to-reel recorder around town.
“Came on the beat in 1970,” the WLS 890AM newsman says.
“I was negative 3 years old,” a pressroom smart aleck replies. Cameron laughs.
“Been a long time but it doesn’t seem that way, and it’s still fun to come to work and see all the farce and corruption,” Cameron says. “I guess the trick, like Old Man Daley said, is to never retire.”
Besides grilling powerful politicians, the best part of Cameron’s job has been capturing those rare funny moments in the often-humor- less world of big-city government.
And after 42 years of running tape at City Hall, nobody has provided Cameron with more hilarious on-the-record radio moments than a couple of guys from Bridgeport named Daley.
In 1979 Cameron produced a vi- nyl LP of the original Chicago Boss’ most notable on-tape rants. including the notorious “the policeman is there to preserve disorder.”
This week Cameron, 65, released a digital recording of the finest halfhour of the younger Daley’s mushmouth mumblings, mispronuncia- tions and misspeaks just in time for the younger Daley’s 70th birthday Tuesday.
Sure, you hear Daley scream, stammer and butcher the English language when reporters ticked him off with their tough questions. But there’s also tape of Daley sob- bing about the troubles of son Patrick and the struggles of his late wife, Maggie, who last year lost her battle against cancer.
Cameron’s recordings also offer a rare chance to hear the similarities — and differences — of the father and son.
“Richie didn’t fall far from the tree, did he,” Cameron says.
Credit old-school dogged questioning for prompting this Daley gem: “Scrutiny? . . . Do you want to take my shorts?” Daley ranted and Cameron recorded. “Give me a break. … Go scrutinize yourself! I get scrootened every day!”
Listen to highlights of “Mayor Daley’s Greatest hits with Bill Cameron” on suntimes.com. Part of the Best of Daley will be broadcast on Cameron’s show “Connected to Chicago” Sunday at 6 a.m. on WLS 890AM. Eventually, Cameron expects the entire recording to be available as a download on the radio station’s website.