Replies

The Thu. re-ping.
Here’s a blog entry by Brian Maloney from SaveWRKO.com
and some comments.

BY BRIAN MALONEY:
Not Fooling Anybody

Tuning in for the first few minutes of what is still called “The Howie Carr Show”, it just seemed incredible that WRKO and Entercom believe the station’s remaining audience is that stupid.

Tell me, who out there doesn’t know that Howie Carr QUIT his show, sued the station, was counter-sued and would rather have his forearm fed into a garbage disposal (Whitey Bulger really did this once, to a completely innocent woman) than return to Guest Street?

Anybody not clear on this concept? He HATES the place and would rather be off the air than forced back to WRKO.

That said, every day that WRKO continues this phony “Howie Carr” charade only compounds the foolishness. Today, Todd Fill-in-burg made a point of repeatedly mentioning Howie’s name, as though that could keep Carr’s fans tuned in.

The station is only embarrassing itself by continuing this sham.

some comments from that site:

Chris:
Entercom’s financial picture isn’t fooling anyone, either: They’ve gone from a 16.1m profit at the end of Q3 2006 to a 12.5m LOSS at the end of Q2 this year. I can’t wait to see Q3 and Q4 of this year. Those Boston idiots will be Wal-Mart door greeters just in time for the Christmas rush. Oh...did I say ‘Christmas?’ Sorry! ‘Holiday rush.’

Brian P. Henchey:
Two comments:

First, Todd Feinburg is a great guy who has principles and, like everyone else, is trying to further his own career. If you worked for ‘RKO and management asked you to fill-in and say Howie’s name a bunch of times, and if through doing this they would maybe put you on permanently for the afternoon drive, wouldn’t YOU do it?

I agree that claiming the “Howie Carr Show” is still at ‘RKO is a bit ridiculous, but they do have 14 years of precedent and they’re fighting to keep him. Just don’t blame Todd for any “sham”; blame management.

Second, all this “I need Howie or I’m gonna die!”-crap is pathetic. CHILL THE BLEEP OUT. Howie will be back eventually. Relax. In the meantime check out Hannity at AM-1150 WTTT or Severin at 96.9-FM WTKK. You can also check out Scottie McCall 4-6p at AM-1120 WBNW (moneymattersradio.net) — he’s pretty funny.

Hugh Jass:
Todd Feinburg is good people, IMO. Management has put him in a tough position. But he is talented and hardworking.

He is no Howie, but who is, really?

Further, I think WRKO clinging to the “Howie Carr Show “ sobriquet is a legal ploy for Entercom to show they still want Howie (and, therefore, the judge should not free him to work at WTKK).

Barbara:
LMAO @ entercom, how ridiculous are these people? How much longer are they going to continue this charade? Granted Howie goes back to court on the 15th so does that mean entercom is going to continue with the “Howie’s off this week” crap until the 15h? Then what? It’s obvious Howie isn’t comimg back, do they really think they can force him back? How uncomfortable will that be for entercom cuz you know Howie will not be his usual self if he’s forced to sit back in front of the mic @ RKO, it will be very unpleasant for Howie and his listeners. I just don’t understand why entercom can’t be gracious and just let it go, the longer it goes on, the worse entercom looks, trying to prove a point is one thing, dragging it on and on at the expense of listeners and making yourself look like an ass is just,,,,well, it’s just what entercom is doing.

Joy:
-I never heard anything so retarded as that station.
-does anyone know if it was part of the “decision” in court that they could not remove his name from the show as long as they were going to hold him to the first refusal portion of the contract? That would make sense. Has anyone read the decision.
- is Save Wrko still appropriate name for this site?

Stocky:
Don’t be so sure Howie won’t pull a D+C and come crawling back to WRKO. What choice does he have? He’s losing a lot of cake each day he’s not on the air.

Lisa:
Just got a new car with XM radio (free for a month) - should I sign up is there any good talk on there? I’ll do almost anything to fill the void left by Howie’s departure. And I am as fed up as you with the charade, Brian. It would be laughable if I didn’t miss his show so much.

What is the timeline now? When does Howie next go to court and what are the various possible outcomes?

Reality Check:
It is still the Howie Carr Show because regardless of what you all think, there is a better chance he will be back on WRKO than there is that he will be on WTKK (not impossible, but not likely any time soon). Howie got his clock cleaned in court and will probably not fare any better in the future.

Howie is in this position due to hubris, bad legal advice and bad faith bargaining on his part. He should be sitting on the beach and getting ready to start on WTKK in January, if that is what he really wanted.

Not sure where Chris is pulling his figures from, but for years Entercom has been no worse than on par with the other radio companies in its sector and it outperforms them in most quarters. In Boston, this band of incompetents manages to return large margins on all of its other stations and a modest profit on WRKO. WEEI is the top billing station in Boston and Entercom is the top billing cluster (despite one less station than CBS) in Boston during baseball season. Try talking to a real live radio executive at CBS, Greater Media or Clear Channel and they will have a different opinion of Entercom than what you get on this site.

We are all welcome to our opinions about radio programming, but don’t think you are learning much about the radio business on this site. If you’d like, of course you can spout off, feel smart, call people idiots and prattle on about how foolish these dolts who are actually drawing paychecks in the industry are, go right ahead, and by all means watch out for the windmills.