Posted on 12/29/2007 9:13:43 PM PST by raccoonradio
Howie Carr thread for week of Dec 30, 2007. Howie's Sunday Herald column to follow.
Howie Carr ping. Avi Nelson on Mon., prob a best of
on Tue., Howie back Wed.
Old gang hopes to win one for the Zipper
By Howie Carr | Sunday, December 30, 2007 | http://www.bostonherald.com
Top 10 things overheard at the Zip Connolly fund-raiser at the South Boston Yacht Club on Thursday night:
10. “How are things in Taormina - I mean, Glocca Morra?”
9. “Why isn’t this being held at the Naples Yacht Club?”
8. “Don’t get too close to Dooley - I think he’s wearing a wire.”
7. “People forget: Jimmy never strangled any of Stevie’s girlfriends unless Stevie asked him first.”
6. “I haven’t seen Finnerty beaming like this since the day the judge described him as ‘thoroughly corrupt.’ ”
5. “Hey, watch out for that guy in wingtips - he’s handin’ out subpoenas!”
4. “I know direct deposit’s a lot simpler, but I still miss getting that kiss in the mail every month.”
3. “Anybody know what ‘subornation’ means?”
2. “No Judge, you won’t be getting your car keys back tonight.”
1. “I swear I seen Whitey right behind that Bhutto lady’s car just before the shooting started.”
So what if they had a fund-raiser (a “time”) for corrupt FBI agent Zip Connolly, and Billy Bulger didn’t even show up? He speaks at Dapper’s funeral but somehow can’t bring himself to attend what amounts to a wake for his boon companion, the FBI agent who was also a made member of his brother Whitey Bulger’s mob. I thought Billy was a stand-up guy.
Billy’s no-show reminds me of that old joke of James Michael Curley’s about the Ancient & Honorable Artillery Co. Billy dusted it off every March 17th:
“Invincible in peace, invisible in war.”
It’s always wise, though, to funnel some do-re-mi in the direction of a guy who knows, literally, where all the bodies are buried. Even if the statute of limitations has run out on just about everything except Whitey’s murders, the Corrupt Midget can still be humiliated in ways other than the occasional photo finish with the grand jury.
For instance, “60 Minutes” has never been able to get enough of the Whitey Bulger saga. Coming up next: Johnny Martorano’s story, as told to Steve Croft. Johnny will be one of the major prosecution witnesses in Zip’s Florida murder trial - whenever it takes place, if it ever does - and surely that’s what the money raised will do: buy even more continuances and delays for Zip. In Zip’s case, justice delayed is not justice denied. It’s an absolute imperative.
Martorano promised his first post-prison interview to CBS newsman Ed Bradley, one of his offensive linemen at a Rhode Island prep school back in the late 50s. Bradley always said the team called Martorano “the Milkman,” because he always delivered. Bradley died last year, but Johnny kept his promise to CBS.
The “60 Minutes” piece may run as early as a week from tonight.
Think what an “exclusive” with Zip would be worth to “60 Minutes.” For a while there, Lindley DeVecchio was giving Zip a run for the coveted title of “Most Corrupt G-Man in History.” But that case was just thrown out of court in New York. So when it comes to bent feds, Zip remains, you’ll pardon the expression, Number One with a Bullet. Even if he beats the murder rap, old 22928-038 will be locked up until June 28, 2011.
Whitey used to say, “Christmas is for cops and kids.” The CM and his sidekick Finnerty missed Christmas by three days, but better late than never. Happy Kwanzaa, Zip.
The funniest thing in Laurel J. Sweet’s story in this newspaper Friday was the quote from Finnerty about his “childhood friendship” with Zip. Remember back in 2003, when Billy Bulger was under oath in front of Congress, and one of the solons asked him if Zip was his “childhood friend”? Billy harrumphed that given their seven-year age difference, it would be imprecise at best to describe himself and Zip as “childhood” friends.
Now comes Tom Finnerty, who like Billy is 73 years old. But since it suits his purposes, he cops to being the mobbed-up fed’s boyhood chum. As always, the Bulgers and their liegemen are too cute by half.
Since in his dotage Billy Bulger seems committed to assisting down-on-their-luck crooked hacks from his own sordid past, I just have one final question for him:
When are you having a time for convicted felon and Advil junkie Tom Finneran?
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1063512
Don’t know about you but I’ve read Howie’s book, found it to be fascinating and spt on, what’s scary is I lived in Southie at the time Whitey and his goons were running loose....
Yup, great book!
Mon ping, last of ‘07. Avi Nelson filling in. No ping tomorrow since it’s likely a best of (but if someone’s on live,
maybe). Howie back on Wed.
I’ll prob. miss today’s shows due to a couple afternoon
concerts here in Beverly (a pop/country/blues retro band
called Bob Kramer Band, and then the soul stylings of
Barrence Whitfield—real name Barry White but had to use
stage name for obvious reasons).
Happy New Year!
From Scott Fybush’s North East Radio Watch
(http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html )
(stories of the year, 2007..#1 was the Imus story):
While Don Imus’ mouth was getting him in trouble in New York, one of Boston’s most prominent talkers was silenced for much of the year for another reason: a contract dispute.
On July 9, Howie Carr’s lawyers announced that the veteran WRKO (680) afternoon host would be leaving the Entercom talk station for greener pastures, moving to the morning slot at Greater Media’s WTKK (96.9) that just happened to have been recently vacated by Don Imus. Carr’s contract with WRKO was set to expire in September, and Entercom had failed to exercise a renewal clause - until Carr threatened to jump.
The result was a legal soap opera that filled Boston radio headlines for most of the rest of the year, as Carr first returned to the air at WRKO, then vanished again while enduring a series of legal rulings that came down pretty consistently in Entercom’s favor. By mid-November, Carr effectively conceded defeat, signing a new contract with Entercom that returned him to the air at WRKO until at least 2012. (It didn’t help Carr’s case that WTKK suddenly had an easy solution to its own morning woes, as the revived Imus show became available to return to its old Boston home.)
The return to status quo for both Carr and Imus still left other holes in Boston’s talk picture, most notably in morning drive at WRKO, where former House speaker Tom Finneran struggled to find success as a talk host. WRKO’s midday lineup was shuffled as well, with Todd Feinburg giving way to Reese Hopkins at year’s end. Over at WTKK, Mike Barnicle spent some time filling the former Imus slot, then left his old mid-morning slot vacant as he left the station to concentrate on his columns and TV commentary (though he did return with a daily commentary during Imus’ show), while Herald reporter Michele McPhee moved from frequent fill-in host to full-time evening talk host, leaving the paper in November to focus on her new radio career.
Happy New Year to you and yours! Happy New Year to all HOWIE CARR fans!
Happy new year everybody!!!
Happy New Year to all. A best of is on today—you could
tell because he referred to Dapper in the present tense.
yeah, I figured Howie wouldn’tcome in for new years
Dr77Radio writes:
"Finally, between you and me...RKO has finally been given the directive to hire some real Boston political talk talent. The suits at Entercom have decided to step-in and require the local RKO management to fix the broken "talk" station for 2008.
"Word from the Inside is that Rush will be replaced with local show and the early show will be replaced with 2 hosts from the Boston area. The weekend line-up is about to see sweeping changes in the months ahead.
"WRKO insiders are talking about re-branding as "The Talk Station" once again...new logos have been discussed the last couple months...keep the faith everyone...this time they will get it right."
Again just a rumor at this point but who knows! Note: if Rush were to leave WRKO, who would pick him up? Possibly WTTT 1150 (WTKK has no room in their lineup) or: for years rumor had it Clear Channel would make WKOX 1200 into a conservative talk station (it was Air America, and has been "Rumba" Spanish for the past year... signal due to be upgraded soon...and Clear Channel's syndication arm is Premiere, which does Rush/ Coast to Coast/ Glenn Beck, etc.)
Howie column ping
Mitt finds $20M can’t buy voters’ love
By Howie Carr | Wednesday, January 2, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com
Mitt Romney said last year that it would be “akin to a nightmare” to have to fund his presidential campaign out of his personal fortune.
But I can think of worse things. One would be spending $20 million of your money . . . and then losing. Forget “akin to” - that would be the politician’s ultimate nightmare.
So now Mitt Romney is about to find out how much it costs to buy - or fail to buy - an election in 2008. A lot more than the $6 million it cost him to buy the Massachusetts governorship in 2002, that’s for sure. Forget the $63 million Mitt raised through the first three quarters of 2007 (which included $17 million of his own).
Let’s talk about how much of his cash Mitt has thrown into the campaign by now. We won’t know until Jan. 31, but it’s got to be way more than $20 million.
And for what? Who knows at this point? By this time in most campaigns, the candidate has a pretty good idea if he’s going to win or lose. But this week the polls are all over the place.
And for at least another day he finds himself in a two-front war, with John McCain in the East and Mike Huckabee, the dope from Hope, in the West. Two-front wars are tough - just ask Napoleon and Hitler.
But what has to be worse for Mitt is the prospect of possibly losing in Iowa to a Gomer Pyle look-alike. It’s one thing to be running barely ahead of John McCain in New Hampshire - he’s a war hero, a political heavyweight, not to mention the amigo-in-amnesty of Ted Kennedy, who crushed Mitt in 1994. Plus McCain has all the local newspapers behind him.
But Mike Huckabee? This is a guy who used to be a radio DJ in the ’70s, and not in any major markets, either. Remember those cheesy polyester-garbed types spinning Top 40 platters on the 5,000-watt AM stations? They all signed off their shows with such doggerel as: This is Mike the Huckster, and just remember, as you go through life, whatever your goal, keep your eye on the doughnut and not on the hole.
Huckabee’s problem, though, was that he did keep his eye on the doughnut. Soon he weighed 300 pounds. Most of those ’70s DJs migrated into the exciting field of previously owned automobile sales. But Huck set up shop in a tent. Can somebody shout amen?
This remains the base of Huckabee’s support, of course. Among those caucusgoers who have handled a poisonous snake as part of a religious service in the past 30 days, the Huckster has a 96-2 lead, and that last two goes to Fred Thompson, not Mitt.
McCain’s core voters are the people who speak Spanish, Huckabee’s are the people who speak in tongues.
How does Mitt explain to the partners at Bain Capital if he loses to Mike Huckabee? I mean, that would be like losing to Warren Tolman or John Lakian. Completely unacceptable.
No wonder Mitt has been spending money like a drunken sailor, although the difference between the sailor and Mitt is that Romney doesn’t have the bad-ice-cube excuse. Everyone has the occasional moment where suddenly you can’t control your spending - you’re trying to impress some babe, maybe, or you’re in a high-stakes poker game. Which I suppose is what Mitt’s in, although I think by this time he thought he’d be reacting to Hillary, not Huckabee.
Bhutto gets shot, and Huckabee apologizes to Pakistan, like the United States shot her or something. And what happened after Huck made a fool of himself? He went up two points in the national tracking polls.
I hope Mitt pulls it out in both states, but if he doesn’t, the reporters will be grilling him in a few weeks about why he blew 20 million in Steve Forbes-like futility.
To which Mitt should reply, “I was drunk.” So what if it’s not true? It’s an answer that always works for the Kennedys.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1064050
I think Mitt is a good man -- far too good for politics, if truth be told: it puts him at a disadvantage. But running for president on the strength of part of one term (the last part he spent running for president) as governor of an insane state -- !!! And that idiot must-purchase health insurance deal he "worked out" with the legislature (I wanted to put legislature in quotes because no one could possibly consider them a serious legislative body!) to have something to show for it. Who was it that said satire is impossible in the modern world?
>>(the last part he spent running for president)
yes—he spent much of his last year in office OUT of state
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 2 Howie is back
1st Hour to be announced
2nd Hour to be announced
3rd Hour
CHUMP LINE! Call 617-779-3469 and leave Howie, Sandy or Happy a message about today’s stories or anything else buzzing around your bonnet and we may play it back on the air!
Max Robins our TV Guru will be with us to answer all of those nagging questions about your favorite show on the boob tube...
4th Hour to be announced
HC Poll
Bob Novak says Hillary will come in 3rd in Iowa. Do you agree with Bob?
Yes
63%
No
37%
(I voted no because I think she could still finish second
behind B.O. but who knows...could she finish behind
Breck Girl too?)
FLASH! Howie will be back on WCRN AM 830 Worcester from
5-7 pm (not sure when). Howie just mentioned on air.
WCRN is back today, so tune to 830 if your 680 signal
gives you trouble. 5 till 7.
Excellant!!!!!
I refuse to be fitted with collar and chain by the pollesters!!
Not that Romney's my first choice. Or second choice, for that matter....
Either Duncan Hunter/Fred Thompson or Fred Thompson/Duncan Hunter for ‘08!
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