Posted on 02/08/2007 12:32:40 AM PST by raccoonradio
Controversial gabster John DePetro blew it in Boston - one of the top radio markets in the country - but has landed a new job at a Rhode Island radio station.
DePetro’s new morning talk show on WPRO-AM in Providence debuts Wednesday. The station wanted him so badly they fired host Dave Barber after a mere 10 months on the job.
Boston’s WRKO-AM axed DePetro in November after he called gubernatorial candidate Grace Ross a “fat lesbian” on the air. In July, DePetro was suspended for two days and forced to apologize for calling ex-Turnpike boss Matt Amorello a “fag.”
Barbara Haynes of Citadel Broadcasting Co., which owns WPRO, said she was more interested in DePetro’s past performance in Rhode Island than his Boston stint. DePetro had a show on rival Providence station WHJJ-AM before the Entercom-owned WRKO hired him in 2004.
“He had great ratings here,” Haynes said.
WPRO program director Paul Giammarco said he didn’t have concerns with DePetro’s offensive remarks on Boston radio although the station talked about “everything” with DePetro before hiring him. Giammarco said he’d have to hear the crude comments on his own station before reacting to them. “We hired John because of his Providence roots. He’s compelling. He’s provocative,” Giammarco said.
DePetro said returning to his Ocean State radio roots isn’t a step back. Boston is the eleventh biggest radio market in the country, while Providence is No. 38.
“I miss talking to the people of Boston but this is a great opportunity for me. It feels good to be back with a respected radio company,” said DePetro, who once worked as an intern at WPRO.
More from a similar article in the Herald:
Despite his pattern of offensive remarks on Boston radio, the controversial John DePetro has landed a morning talk show on Rhode Island radio station WPRO-AM.
“It’s a great station. I miss talking to the people of Boston but this is a great opportunity for me. It feels good to be back with a respected radio company,” DePetro told the Herald today.
DePetro, a native of the Ocean State, was fired by Boston station WRKO-AM in November after he called gubernatorial candidate Grace Ross a “fat lesbian” on his morning show.
...DePetro said he’s excited to get back on the air and doesn’t see the move to the station where he once worked as a college intern as a step backward. While he said Boston is obviously a “much bigger city,” DePetro said one of the things that attracted him to WPRO was the station’s owner, Citadel Broadcasting Co.
Citadel is in the process of acquiring 22 ABC Radio stations.
“One of the things that attracted me was the management and that this is a growing company,” DePetro said.
DePetro, a married father of three, said there were “a number of things” he could have done but that, right now, the WPRO gig “makes the most sense for me.”
As for WRKO, DePetro said his firing didn’t have to happen. “I was factually accurate,” he said of the Ross remark.
“John brings to WPRO a rock solid history of high ratings, provocative conversation, investigative reporting and a fast-paced and highly entertaining broadcast,” WPRO program director Paul Giammarco states in a press released issued today.
Citadel General Manager Barbara Haynes said in the statement that “DePetro will deliver to the WPRO audience insight and analysis of issues important to our families, Rhode Island and our nation.
“What makes John so right for WPRO is that he is a talented talk show host and a native Rhode Islander. John is a graduate of Bishop Hendricken and Rhode Island College.John and his wife are raising a young family in the suburbs of Rhode Island. His institutional knowledge as a lifelong Rhode Islander is going to be a great asset to the WPRO lineup,” she said.
Before WRKO (680 AM) hired him in 2004, DePetro hosted a show on Rhode Island station WHJJ-AM.
Was he telling the truth? Is Grace Ross a fat lesbian? Is Matt Amorello a fag?
Yes on both counts. Starting next week RKO's AM will be hosted by a felon ex-politician (Dim).
Correction, I read "fag" as "fat". Yes to the latter only.
Translation: It's great to be getting a paycheck again, regardless of where it is.
DePetro's comment (the one that got him suspended but not fired) was to refer to "Fat Matt" as "Fag Matt--wife
wears the pants..."
I hadn't heard his original "problem" statement. Sounds like he should have said "Sissy Matt..."
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