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.”
What is the line on how much D or C makes?
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