Howie has been ‘phoning it in’ ever since he screwed up his contract with WTKK and had to stay at WRKO. Even his local stuff is pretty weak; plus he seems to get 1 week vacation out of every 6 weeks. His replacements usually are pretty weak themselves. I get the feeling that he’s really trying to ‘pimp’ himself into a national TV gig and wants to get out of Boston.
Given that WTKK hired Imus for what was going to be Howie’s morning slot, he’s really lucky that the court decided for WRKO.
I'll agree with the last part...
Sorry to go off topic, but your use of the phrase "phoning it in" reminded me of something I once heard Gordon Liddy say on his radio show, back in the mid-'90's.
He was talking about his new "boss," who IIRC was the president of Infinity Broadcasting. Liddy was complaining that he never saw the guy; apparantly, the previous president had been more available to him.
Anyway, Liddy said that he never saw the guy, that he "phones everything in." Then he said "he's got a new young wife and for all I know he phones it in to her too."