Posted on 08/13/2007 6:00:18 AM PDT by raccoonradio
Today’s long-anticipated on-air reunion of WEEI Sports Radio co-hosts John Dennis and Gerry Callahan has been scratched by the station, which has taken the pair off the air indefinitely amid unraveling contract talks and rumors of defection.
The highly rated morning hosts say they’ve been locked out. The radio station calls it a chance to “reflect.”
“For me to be locked out on the week that we do the Jimmy Fund Radiothon breaks my heart,” Dennis told the Herald yesterday. “It’s the most important thing we do all year long.”
George Regan, spokesman for WEEI (850 AM) and its owner Entercom Communications, said Dennis and Callahan aren’t victims of a lockout, but rather beneficiaries of some unexpected R and R.
“It’s a great time for a vacation, and it’s a great time to walk the beaches of Cape Cod to relax, reflect and think,” said Regan.
Dennis was on scheduled time off last week. Callahan, a Herald sports columnist, planned to join his Emmy award-winning sidekick behind the mike this morning after a four-month recuperation from throat surgery.
Callahan declined to comment on the dispute.
Sources said Entercom vice president Julie Kahn is offering Dennis and Callahan “a substantial increase” to stay on when their contract expires in the first week of September, but the sports talkmasters don’t feel the undisclosed raises reflect the revenue their 10-year-old show generates. Their ratings consistently rank No. 1 among male listeners in the coveted 25- to 54-year-old demographic.
But another source cited embarrassing on-air missteps like comparing an escaped Franklin Park Zoo gorilla to a METCO student and having fugitive serial killer James “Whitey” Bulger’s gravedigger as a guest.
“The station and Julie Kahn have stood by them and taken a lot of grief for it,” the source said.
With a virtual stranglehold on Boston’s obsessive sports scene, however, grief could be what Entercom faces should it lose Dennis and Callahan to the morning drive slot of a proposed network of New England radio stations rumored to be wooing them for sports talk.
“I like them,” said Shawn Carleton of Springfield, kicking back at Game On! at Fenway Park [map] yesterday. “(WEEI) should let them come in and do their reunion. Work the contract out later. To hold it against them is petty.”
Entercom also owns WRKO (680 AM), which will lose afternoon-drive talk king Howie Carr on Sept. 19. Carr, also a Herald columnist, quit because Entercom wanted to cut his pay by more than $50,000, a station source said.
Entercom is suing Carr to stop him from taking over the morning drive slot at rival WTKK (96.9 FM) once occupied by Don Imus. In what could be a precedent-setting case for Boston on-air talent, Carr is suing WRKO over provisions in his current contract he argues unlawfully prevent him from jumping to a competing station.
Red Sox TV analyst Jerry Remy, a regular guest on “Dennis & Callahan,” called their benching “business.”
“Hopefully they’ll work it out.”
But listener Dan Eagleson of Boston said, frankly, he doesn’t care.
“They don’t really hit sports like they used to,” Eagleson said. “I listen to WEEI for sports. I don’t really care about their views on politics.”
The self destruction of Entercom Boston continues....
There has been grousing on radio and sports messageboards about John & Gerry’s politics—which as far as I know are
not exactly liberal...
Years ago WEEI had Imus in that slot but they decided not to renew him, so WTKK took the I-man on...WEEI’s ratings went up
in the morning with local talk (Dennis and Callahan). Now
Imus is out and sister station ‘RKO’s afternoon guy,
the great Howie Carr, is set to inherit Imus’ old slot
(which for awhile was hosted by Howie’s nemesis Mike
‘A Yuk On Every Page’ Barnicle...supposedly Howie jumps to
WTKK on Oct 1 once legal stuff gets worked out.
>>wanted to cut his pay by more than $50,000
WRKO supposedly leaked his salary, said to be $790K
(the rumor for years had been “800 large”). So they lose
him because they decide to cut his pay by 50k...DESPITE consistently high ratings?
Geniuses at WRKO/WEEI...
And oh yes, hire a convicted felon for am drive (WRKO)
while you’re at it.
But supposedly D&C do well in the mornings and Howie does
well in afternoons...we’ll see how these stations do
without them, though. Yeah, it’s all about money and maybe about respect, too...maybe they’re overpaid but they
deliver ratings $$
WTF is going on an Entercom? Are the trying to destroy both of their Boston stations at the same time?
Why hurt the Jimmy Fund?
When are some of the “management” over there going to lose their jobs?
WTKK should hire D&C for the morning and move Howie to the afternoons. If they want to keep Jay they can give him the spot E&B are in now.
Jason Wolfe and Julie Kahn are idiots. This is just more of the same kind of ineptitude that cost them Howie. This also smacks of personal and political vendetta. Entercom knows that D&C take the Jimmy Fund marathon very seriously. It’s really the only time Callahan drops his harda** demeanor. I also love the “unnamed source” quoting about how Kahn stood by them. In both cases she turtled to the PC crowd. The ratings have always been too good to fire these two. As an extra insult, they replaced them with the odious Craig Mustard!
Callahan is returning from his illness and they lock both him and Dennis out? Especially with the Jimmy-Fundraiser approaching?
Are they on glue? Can they purposely be this stupid, adding this mess onto the Howie Carr situation? A dog would have more sense than this.
I’ve been tuning in more and more to ESPN-890AM, I guess it’s time to listen full-time.
D&C, Graham, Jay, Howie. Makes sense to me.
. . . Our gut feeling as of Sunday night at 11:48 p.m. when we write this? D&C are gone from 'EEI and Wolfe is left trying to explain to his bosses why he has now lost three of Boston's most influential voices (Howie, Dennis and Callahan) in the course of one miserable summer.
See! We should have started a radio station! We could have given Howie and D&C a piece of equity to join.... Then we’d have our pictures on the cover of a magazine where they’d call us, “the new geniuses of Boston radio.” LOL!
Entercomm has made some very odd business decisions this year, which one can only attribute to arrogance, stupidity, or both. Hiring “Tommy Taxes” Finneran was a direct slap to Howie Carr, as was the decision to use the marginally stronger signal of WEEI to broadcast Red Sox games in the evening (thus preempting Carr’s broadcast in the Boston market). Then you take the hosts of your #1-rated drive-time AM show and needlessly insult them in a very public way. I can’t figure it.
WRKO, actually, is the one you mean (i.e., making them
the flagship)—I actually am fine with that because I
work nights and WRKO comes in better than WEEI but it
does indeed cut off the last half hour of HC’s show.
And remember all those pre-emptions back in March
and early April?
>>Hiring “Tommy Taxes” Finneran was a direct slap to Howie Carr
Exactly! And cut Howie’s pay to help pay for The Felon.
Entercom isn’t called “Cheapercom” for nothing.
I guess the figure for Sox rights was $16 mil a yr over
10 years. Then they cut out the news department at
WRKO and now this.
I love the Dennis and Callahan show. :(
I had forgotten momentarily about the axing of the 'RKO news department, which I think they have substituted with a FOX News feed. Just keep diminishing that unique local content, Entercomm. And Tommy F. doesn't count - unless the new planned format is going to be "Hack Radio". Is Billy Bulger available on weekends?
yeah no prob...WEEI used to be 590; switched to 850 with its sports talk...590 went to biz news and is now religion.
The old 850 of course used to be WHDH which had the Sox
a lot over the years.
I’m taking “Jason Wolfe’s career” in today’s HC death pool...
LOL!!! I would love to hear Howie take that call!
The board ops at WRKO and WEEI are definitely cutting out any references to stuff like that! :)
"Hiya, Howie: Has anyone taken Ed Asner yet? Yeah, he's not lookin' too spry these days... Well, it was either him or Jason Wolfe's career...."
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