Posted on 04/06/2011 9:39:05 AM PDT by raccoonradio
GREATER MEDIA Talk WTKK (96.9 BOSTON TALKS)/BOSTON talk host JAY SEVERIN is out. The company suspended the talk show host last month (NET NEWS 3/31), and reports last week (NET NEWS 4/1) claimed the suspension was related to comments about sexual harassment.
GREATER MEDIA released the following statement:
"GREATER MEDIA TODAY ended its relationship with JAY SEVERIN. Our company has always encouraged a free and open dialogue on a variety of issues and topics, and we will continue to be guided by that principle. But we also demand that our on-air talent maintain an appropriate level of civility, and adhere to a standard that respects our listeners and the public at large.
"JAY SEVERIN has been an important part of what we have accomplished with 96.9 WTKK-FM since its inception in 2000 and for that we are grateful and wish him well in future endeavors. Unfortunately, it had become clear at several points in the past two years that JAY was either unwilling or unable to maintain our standards on the air. It's for that reason we have made the decision to end our relationship.
"In the interim, MICHAEL BOWER will be assuming the on-air duties from 2-6 each day on WTKK while we review our long-term programming plans for that time slot."
I did not hear it, but apparently he said on air that he once had a small company, and that he slept with pretty much every woman that worked for him. Yeah, I can see how that means he should not be heard on the radio... I hope he comes to Va Beach area.
Michael Bower stinks, as does Michael Smerconish. WTKK is rapidly becoming irrelevant.
I called this the day after he was suspended. He had made boastful comments about sleepng with every single woman he hired at a previous job. He was proud of it. He saw nothing wrong with it. Any employer with an ounce of common sense would have let him go.
Howie must be having a cow!
They signed a big deal with him in 2007, to run till 2013. Ratings went down, and 2 yrs ago they tried to get rid of him. The latest “personal people meters” ratings were horrid (for him, and many talkers). Now they got their excuse to get out of their contract.
File under “Severin-ce pay”
Howie only wishes he could be so lucky...
Severin’s Agreement?
I used to love Howie’s show but I’ve had it with his constant commercials for everyone who has had a part in remaking his body. If it isn’t liposuction, it’s a new smile, and now hair restoration. Enough already. I won’t, however, switch to WTKK. I heard Jay’s replacement once and turned the dial.
I wonder if this will prompt Howie to try some maneuver to get away from Entercom once and for all?
Maybe buy his way out of his contract? I'm sure Greater Media would make it worth his while.
He only went down when they nutered him, and he talked mostly about mindless social issues and stuff like that.
Making way for Howie in ‘12
No static, no static, no static at all.. FM! (No static at all...)—Steely Dan
Indeed.
And if he did jump, the stations running him now on the network might sign up if Greater Media did their own Howie
network (but, I’m getting ahead of myself)
Late 2012 (just imagining), Howie, 5 pm: “Right about now if I were at my old station, I’d be telling you to change the station because we have to power down or change the direction of our signal. Needless to say you won’t have to do that anymore...”
He must be almost ready to end his “bit” at RKO.
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Good point. Well, now they have Jim and Margerie, two of the biggest liberal nitwits in radio history, Bower, who is a mindless moron, and Smerconish, who is clearly just a fill-in. The only person with talent and political insight there now is Michael Graham, and who knows how long he'll last?
And he too. Maybe he wanted out.
They’re picking up Smerconish’s nationwide show (I think he does a local-to-Philly one, too) for now. WTKK PD Grace
Blazer helped him get started in radio.
For now the WTKK site, which does have a link to the Greater Media statement re: Jay, now lists Bower as host of the 2 pm
show (though the banner up top has a space where Severin’s
name had been) and it still says TBD (To Be Determined)
for the 6 pm slot.
More lifestyle, less politics at TKK? Maybe they’d consider a music format again...Jim and Margery’s contracts end in 2013 (so was Severin’s but they got out of it). Have them
talk for awhile and play some tunes?
One thing’s for sure: I doubt they would go back to
smooth jazz, the format they had before the ‘99 switch to
talk. THAT format is dying. (For a time, WTKK was “Imus in the Morning, Smooth Jazz All Day” in 99)
Except that Jay has made pretty much the same comment many times over the years. Why is it a problem now?
I couldn't take Jay's shtick every day but his show was the only reason 96.9 occupied a preset on my car radio, now it will be cleared. Michael Graham does a decent job but he's not on when I'm in the car, so goodbye 96.9!
I’m disgusted by their management. The weekends are even worse, with the exception of the Andelman brothers on Saturdays. Sometimes they’re very funny, and Dave is fairly conservative. Other than that, the weekends are a wasteland on WTKK.
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