I thought I remember reading that there were several deadlines that were ignored by WRKO to renew Howie’s contract. So if this is true, why are we even at this point if management at WRKO ignored the deadlines?
They claim they managed to match the offer—that they had a certain period of time with which to meet the offer. Yes
Howie had agreed a couple times to extensions (maybe
to extensions in the offer window?) but they did nothing.
As soon as the WTKK offer became public, they then
made their own offer.
Here’s the latest, from today’s Herald:
While another court date has been set, Boston radio host Howie Carr remains a man without a station, for at least this week.
“If this were a country song, this would be about an attempted breakup where the heartache keeps going. Entercom does not want to let Howie go,” said Tom Taylor of radio-info.com.
Last week, Carr’s debut on WTKK (96.9 FM) was thwarted after a Suffolk Superior Court judge said WRKO (680 AM) had the “right to match” WTKK’s offer, which was struck before his WRKO contract ended.
Legal experts say the situation may have been different had WTKK waited to offer Carr its morning-drive show until after his WRKO contract expired last week.
WRKO wants him back on its airwaves. The station continues to advertise Carr’s show in the newspaper and still touts him on the air and on its Web site. Todd Feinburg has taken over Carr’s old afternoon-drive show for this week.
“Howie will not be on WRKO. We do expect him to be on WTKK in the near future,” Carr spokeswoman Nancy Sterling said yesterday.
On WTKK’s Web site, the station posted a statement- its first public comment on Carr - that said it hoped he’d be part of the station’s team in the near future.
Now, legal experts say Carr’s options include appealing the judge’s order, sitting it out, going back to WRKO or having all three parties sit down and talk. The court has set a status review of the case for Oct. 15.