Radio personality Mancow talks about his niche in the radio industry, his new book and his comparison to Howard Stern

One of the nation's top radio personalities, Chicago's very own Mancow, will be 103.5 X's new featured morning talk show host.

103.5 X is picking up "Mancow's Morning Madhouse," to be aired Monday through Friday, in a move that will not only cater to students from Chicago who are attending SIUC, but the strategy will hopefully expand upon Mancow's already tremendous listening public.

The Pulse was recently granted the opportunity to speak with Mancow about his status as one of today's hottest radio personalities, his new book and his comparison to Howard Stern.

Pulse: According to your press bio, it says you attended Central Missouri State and afterward got a job at KMOK in Kansas City. Are you from Missouri?

Mancow: Yeah, my parents are from the east coast, but I was born and raised in Missouri. My dad was a traveling salesman, so I spent a lot of summer months growing up in Chicago. I just love this city.

Pulse: You're supposed to be having a book coming out soon. When is it supposed to be released?

Mancow: Yes. It's a Harper-Collins publication, and it's out on June 3. It's a major release. They don't print reviews until closer to the time, but I've gotten a heads-up, and people who've read it love it. It's called "Dad, Dames, Demons and a Dwarf." What it's about is my nervous breakdown after the death of my father.

Pulse: So should it be expected to be a more serious book since it's about your father's passing, or should people expect there to be some humor involved?

Mancow: It's all over the place. It's very odd, and I don't know how to describe what it is. People are having trouble describing what it is. It's scatological. That's probably the only word I can use. It's just weird. There is some serious stuff in it, but it's not serious.

Pulse: When you first launched your career, was there another personality or figure that you modeled yourself after, or perhaps took some inspiration from?

Mancow: You know, everyone's kind of taken credit for me, which is interesting. I never was much of a radio listener, and what I heard I didn't like. What inspired me the most was what I didn't want to do.

I was doing theater in college, and I found out that just with actors in general, 90 percent of them are out of work. You realize that it's not a really good field. I was working. I was busy all the time, but I was broke. I was bussing tables, washing dishes, and I heard about a radio station that had an opening. 500 people auditioned. I borrowed a ratty, old suit from my older brother John.

The only reason I got hired - the guy didn't remember much about me, but he noted on my application that I wore a suit. I think that may be important to remember. That wearing a suit and having decent table manners can make a difference in your life.

What I really wanted to do was do a show that spoke with people and not at people. And I always wanted to come at it with the attitude of being one of the guys. It started when I sat down with a bunch of friends and we did it as a kind of college think tank. We talked about what we wanted to hear.

I really wanted to do a show where people could express their opinions and their points of views, and the host was unimportant. I thought the host was too important in a radio show, and became too megalo-maniacal. Of course the longer I did it, the more I realize why that happened. They've got to take control, otherwise it just sounds like a mess.

So early on, the inspiration probably wasn't anybody other than what I didn't want to do. But P.T. Barnum, who was a great showman and premier of freaks, and Houdini. So if I had to pick anyone who had an impression on my life, it would be P.T. Barnum and Houdini.

I can discuss the life of P.T. Barnum in great detail, and people that are experts on his life and have written books about him are amazed. I don't believe in reincarnation, but there is something going on. My dreams are the dreams of P.T. Barnum.

Pulse: Is it difficult to take criticism, especially as a radio personality?

Mancow: Well, everybody's a critic. I've developed a very thick, thick hide. And it doesn't matter what you say in this world. People are going to hate you. I hate the term "shock" used about me, because I don't think I'm shocking. I think I'm "honest." The clean-cut anchor people that host your TV news - if you heard what they had to say in real life, it would be considered shocking.

The fact is the minute I say that I'm studying to become a minister, hell, half the people want to kill me. The second I talk about being in love and getting married half the people hate me. No matter what you say, people are going to hate you. So once you get past that, it's a very comfortable spot to be in.

I would have to say that the hardest part of the job is the hours. I get up at 2:30 in the morning, and I got home today around four. And it is the gift that keeps on sucking. As I said, the people that say your clock resets and all of that, they're liars because everyone else is on a nine to five clock. The world ticks on whether or not Mancow is sleepy. That's what sucks. I have spent my entire life, it seems, exhausted.

Everyone seems to think I'm out having a good time, and partying, and doing drugs and sleeping with models - there's certainly been an element of that - but the majority of it is that I'm just trying to catch up on sleep, and discipline is really tough.

Pulse: Earlier you'd mentioned that you'd gotten married. Have you tried to keep that out of your show, and maintain some sense of privacy?

Mancow: No. Absolutely not. When you talk for five hours a day, it's very hard not to talk about many aspects of your life. I don't fight it. It's also very relatable to people.

Pulse: Some people have referred to you in the past as a knock-off or second-rate version of Howard Stern. Do you feel that's fair? How do you usually respond to stuff like that?

Mancow: Well, first of all, those are writers in New York who have never heard my show. So much has been done behind the scenes by Howard Stern's company, CBS-Infinity, to get me out of there.

If you go to www.smokinggun.com and read the memos as I have, you'll realize his number one fear on Earth is Mancow Muller. But it's all laughable. I mean, I just keep rolling the money into the bank [laughs] and continue to get on stations like the one in Carbondale. But anyone who'd say that has obviously never heard my show. It's just a weird beast. I don't know how else to describe it.

"Mancow's Morning Madhouse" will be airing Monday through Friday on 103.5 X. For more information on Mancow, go to www.mancow.com.