Posted on 10/01/2007 6:04:04 AM PDT by raccoonradio
Not the Howie Carr Show live thread for the week of Oct 1. This was supposed to originally be the day Howie was to debut on WTKK. As the Sept 19 deadline got closer there was speculation he'd debut on 96.9 on Sept 20 but a judge's ruling has delayed it. A judge ruled that while a non-compete clause was not valid, a "right to match" was. Now while Entercom claims they have the rights to Howie for the next 5 years, Howie was been sitting it out, refusing to report for work. Listeners have been getting Todd Feinburg. It's NOT the Howie Carr Show, despite what WRKO tells you.
Appeals are in motion and a meeting between the various parties is expected on Oct 15.
Howie's Sunday Herald column below.
Not the Howie Carr Show live ping; Howie column from
yesterday to follow.
Howie’s column from yesterday
You Just Can’t Make Up Stuff like This
by Howie Carr/ Boston Herald
9/30/07
So here is Billy Bulger describing me:
“He’s just so evil. All kinds of things - he just makes it up.”
Makes it up, you say? Name me one thing about you that I “made up,” Mr. Corrupt Midget. Go ahead, what did I make up?
Whitey Bulger’s little brother is featured in a long profile in Boston magazine by Joe Keohane. I had to read the whole thing since I’m a recurring presence, like a snake at the garden party, or herpes. Apparently the CM doesnt like me very much, but at least he remembers my name.
“The name comes up often with Bulger, and when it does, he doesn’t speak it so much as cough it up; occasionally, he swaps in ‘the savage,’ and, better, ‘that excrescence.’ ”
Which is a Latinate word for, well, let’s just say its root is “excrete.” I picked that up from my “top-shelf education,” which according to the story I share with the CM, along with “humble beginnings.”
“And just for the record, we are both immensely intelligent.”
The writer says, “They could be brothers themselves.”
Maybe - if I had a brother who was 18 years older and 7 inches shorter than I am. But I will cop to once being mistaken for the CM’s son. It was at a federal pension-fraud trial of a Kevin White ward boss from Southie. One morning Mrs. Ward Boss comes up with a big smile and says to me, “Oh, I can tell who you are just by looking at you. It was so nice of the Senate president to send one of his sons. Which one -”
At which point her son grabbed her and said, “Ma, that ain’t no Bulger, that’s Howie Carr.”
Did I mention, Billy also calls me a “lying son of a gun”?
Eat your heart out, Alan Dershowitz. He hates me more now than he hates you. I think he loathes me even more than he does Mitt Romney.
He says I make things up, but he told one whopper I can personally call him on. He said he’s never spoken to me. In 2003, I personally asked him down in Washington: Who’d paid for his entourage to fly down for the Congressional hearing? (He walked away in silence.) I also pointed out to the magazine that once, at the State House, I tracked him down with my TV crew at a party for a little book about State House recipes.
The Corrupt Midget is sopredictable, I knew he’d come up with some lame joke if I asked him what his favorite recipe was, and that I could easily top him. So I waited until he was backed up against a column, surrounded by payroll patriots. Then I advanced on him with my cameraman and asked him what his favorite recipe was.
“Roast reporter,” he riposted, as his pantrymen guffawed.
“Really?” I said. “I would have thought it would be strawberry SHORTcake.”
The laughter ceased, Billy slithered around the column to flee, and his last words to me were: “Observe my back.”
Another little fib: He says he “enjoyed it all?” Does that include the last grand jury, Mr. CM? Or 75 State Street? Or that Congressional hearing in 2003?
The great thing about covering the Bulgers is that you don’t have to make anything up. When I was writing my book, I read his. In it he included a heartwarming anecdote about defending future Senate President Tom Birmingham’s father after the old man was accused of improperly OK’ing welfare benefits to the family of an imprisoned con named Suitcase Fidler.
A few months later, I’m reading the confession of Johnny Martorano, a Winter Hill hitman. And under oath, Martorano says Whitey Bulger lured a guy named Tommy King to his own murder by telling King that they had to whack a guy named . . . Suitcase Fidler. I draw no conclusions here, I just report the facts. It’s a small world, isn’t it?
Did I make up the story in my book about the farewell dinner at Tecce’s for imprisoned ex-FBI agent Zip Connolly in 1990 - you know, the G-man who’s about to go on trial for murder in Miami? At the farewell dinner, Zip described Billy as “a special, special person. He taught me the value of public service.”
If you got a problem with that quote, Billy, take it up with your brother Jimmy, because those words come right off his videotape of the party, which you basically hosted. Did I make up the quote from Kevin White describing the true source of Billy’s power: “If your brother threatened to kill me, I’d be nothing but nice to you”?
I only have one regret about my years on the Bulger beat. That day at the State House, instead of mentioning strawberry SHORTcake, should I have asked him if his favorite dish was shrimp wrapped in baloney?
"Interestingly – Entercom filed its own emergency motion, seeking to prohibit Greater Media from talking with Carr or his reps, or even making public statements about the sticky situation. Entercom market manager Julie Kahn tells the court there’s “no doubt that Entercom will lose substantial…money” if Carr takes his act to WTKK.
10 years ago: The Jeffrey Curley murder. Had been talked
about a lot on Howie’s show and elsewhere.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1904835/posts
MONDAY OCTOBER 1
1st Hour
2nd Hour
Rudy Giuliani's national strategist Brent Seaborn and Giuliani supporter Cong. Bill Paxon will be in studio to talk about how the campaign is going. Get on board!!!!
3rd Hour
CHUMP LINE! Call 617-779-3469 and leave Howie whoever is filling in for Howie, like Feinburg, 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!
4th Hour
Did I actually hear Todd refer to the Witch as “attractive”?
Good Lord...and then we hear Phil Hendrie (late nights,
WTKK) saying that maybe Prez Hillary might not be so
bad after all (this along with “I am a Democrat but I
voted for Bush in ‘04 and would do so again”)
Deval going to eliminate the Mass Pike? Well, not the
road itself, but the agency. Don’t worry, the hacks
will find a safe place to land.
From today’s Herald:
Gov. Deval Patrick is eyeing a series of dramatic reforms that would abolish the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and centralize power in a single agency in charge of all transportation services, including those operated by the MBTA, the Herald has learned.
Patrick administration officials confirmed details of the sweeping re-organization effort after the Herald obtained an e-mail outlining aspects of the proposals. The changes would fundamentally alter the way the state manages transportation and cut costs by untold millions of dollars.
Administration officials cautioned that options are still being reviewed, but they said the principle reforms could include the elimination of the 55-year-old Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, the dismantling of its board of directors and the creation of a super transportation agency to oversee bridges, roads and MBTA services.
>>A special legislative commission charged with recommending solutions to the deficit has called for an 11.5-cent increase in the gas tax a new 5-cent-per-mile toll system on all 10 interstates.
“Traffic’s backed up at the Burlington tolls on I-95
(aka Rt 128)...”
“...and on I-91 in Springfield...”
“...and on 93 in Woburn...”
“...and on...”
HOWIE CARR COLUMN PING—he may be off air but he’s still in the Herald.
Name change won’t take a toll on these hacks
New name, same hack heaven
by Howie Carr
Boston Herald 10/2/07
I’d prefer that they get rid of the tolls, but since that’s not going to happen, we’ll settle for the “abolition” of the Mass. Turnpike Authority.
Granted, it’ll still be there, not even open under new management, just under a new name. Which means that no matter how you slice it, it’s still baloney.
But I’ll settle for the symbolism. Maybe we can finally lose the Pike’s silly Pilgrim hat logo - it always bugged me even before they removed the Indian, excuse me, American Indian arrow that was shot through it, on the grounds of insufficient Political Correctness.
And since we know the hack toll collectors are going nowhere, if the Pike is officially folded into a larger hackerama, can we at least stop all these legislators’ dim-bulb kinsmen from wearing official “MASSPIKE” polo shirts, as if they’re members of a paramilitary organization, which they are, if the Budweiser division counts.
Who will take over the Pike’s toll collector school, where the unemployable reps’ even more unemployable relatives spend weeks memorizing how many ones you have to return when someone hands you a five, or God forbid, a sawbuck.
Sometimes an agency becomes just too big an embarrassment, even in Massachusetts - think the BPD’s old Tactical Patrol Force, or the late, unlamented Legislative Research Bureau. Remember the old MDC police, or hell, the MDC itself.
Now it has some new initials, but it’s still the same old MDC, and I’m sure this new “super DOT” will be just the local version of Homeland Security.
Still, when you’re raising taxes, big time, some sops must be thrown to the marks.
Whatever, you gotta love the thought of merging the Pike and Mass Highway, and all the rest of ’em. A “broad reorganization,” they call it, including the MBTA and the Steamship Authority. How many members of the Bulger family will be directly affected by this?
Deval’s crew is even talking about stripping the Tobin Bridge from Massport, as if they don’t already skim most of the take from those very reasonable tolls that have gone up, what, 300 percent in the last 10 years?
It’s a long way to the official end of the Mass Turnpike Authority, but I’m already thinking we need a museum of sorts at 10 Park. A historical diorama, like they have at Adventureland at Disney World. Only instead of Mike Fink and the river pirates, we can have the toll booth pirates - lifelike figures with beer breath chanting, “One quarter for the MassPike, one quarter for me.”
I hope the Pike Museum will include a statue of Alan McKinnon, the ex-state senator who was Mike Dukakis’ choice to run the Pike. McKinnon immediately fulfilled a lifelong dream by flying to Oklahoma and going to lunch at Hooters.
We won’t need a statue for McKinnon’s predecessor, ex-state treasurer John Driscoll. He’s already got that building named after him just west of the 128 tolls. You know the place - it sleeps at least 100.
And we’ll need a replica of Fat Matt Amorello’s North End office, the one he never got to use.
What a squalid history - from Foster Furcolo’s father to Fat Matt. There was Jim Aloisi, who was Edgar Bergen to McKinnon’s Charlie McCarthy. Sen. Petrucelli’s electrician father with the $288,000 paycheck. John Vitagliano, who combined a hack job at Massport with a board seat at the Pike, or was it the other way around? Either way, you got the picture - not to mention toll increase after toll increase after toll increase.
Andrew Natsios, who spent every Friday “working” out of his home in D.C. Boo Hoo Kerasiotes, he of the on-budget-and-ontime Big Dig. Jack the Barber, and Jordan Levy, who came to the board from the hock shop known as the Governor’s Council.
The saddest thing of all, though, if the Pike does follow the MDC into hack heaven - that Fat Matt never got to build the monorail to Albany.
First MoveOn spams the Howie Carr poll on Rush Limbaugh, then Todd starts in on psychopharmocology, again, (I keep waiting for the Nature Bee song somewhere...), and... slowly... my finger twitches... inexorably... towards the off button on the radio remote...
Strangelove lives again, here in Roslindale...
I just learned about the whole sordid story today. I finally thought to Google “Howie Carr”, thinking he had a disease or something. I’m very glad that he doesn’t! What a big mess - I really hope that somebody smartens up and gets Howie back on the radio soon. Just give him what he wants - he deserves it!
This is the first time I voted in a "HowieCarr.com" poll in months.
hopefully it’ll be resolved soon...the only news I have
of course is a “status meeting” will be held Oct 15.
Hopefully Howie’s holdout/benching of himself will lead
to a settlement/agreement and he can move to FM
>>then Todd starts in on psychopharmocology, again,
I didn’t really hear too much of Todd F today for Howie,
but someone on SaveWRKO.com noted what he was saying—
and then noted that ironically an ad for Novartis
popped up right away.
I hope SOMETHING positive happens for us listeners, and that he’s still syndicated, or at least on internet radio. I’m glad to have a place where my sentiments are shared. I’m a loyal listener for over 6 years, and I feel like there’s a hole in my afternoons. At least we have his columns...
While he was out burning his vacation time (unbeknownst to me) I was just happy to hear his intermittent shows, and for the past two weeks I’d been hoping he’d show up on some random day. If I hadn’t Googled, I’d never have known. I have a feeling the average listener doesn’t know what’s going on, especially in areas like mine where Howie isn’t a huge media force. With Sandy and Todd speaking as if Howie will be walking back through the door any minute, it’s a very good farce.
I’m in Central Maine, near Augusta, between the Howie hot spots on WVOM FM in Bangor and WGAN AM in Portland. WVOM’s “network” had a few FM stations with Howie’s show a couple of years ago, but Clear Channel took him off the one I could hear clearly in my area. I was thrilled when WRKO finally got a permanent, reliable internet broadcast a couple of years ago. If I’m in my car, I’ll just hear garbled transmissions, but I listen online all I can. I really enjoyed the internet replay show on WRKO during the 12-3 slot, since I usually don’t catch most of the 5-7 slot. I hope that a similar format happens wherever he ends up, so I can hear his shows. (I also hope he can keep his fun segments - Wizard of Uhhs, Max Robbins, Death Pool, Chump Line, Police Blotter Fax Friday, et al, etc., ad infinitum.)
I wonder if there’s anything people can do to get the word out, besides all of the great websites that are out there. I wonder if calls to WRKO would be effective, or a letter writing campaign. (I wonder how many calls about this Sandy gets and can’t air.) Just give the guy his freedom!
I agree with you. Hope he comes back (even if he comes
back to WRKO though I know he doesn’t want that, and
that station is turning into a joke). We do still have
his columns but he should be on air.
Entercom wasn’t all that keen on bringing him back or
at least they lowballed him on the offer, then suddenly
it’s Howie’s Our Most Important Talk Host (which he is)
once Greater Media gave him a better offer. Entercom
knows they may not be able to get him back but this
way he stays off the air—so even though WRKO can’t
have him, Greater can’t have him either. Surely WRKO
loses pm drive listeners with Feinburg, but they would
really get killed in the mornings if he went to WTKK.
He couldn’t directly address the issue on his show
due to Entercom restricting him...he did say “read
the papers” (about the situation). The Herald had
more than a few articles—Globe, too (could have
checked those out online)
If he does get to WTKK-—or even stays at WRKO—you
would still get the show online and they could even
podcast highlights (Chumpline, some interviews) as
WRKO had. I suspect WTKK could even rebroadcast
one hour at midnight as they have been doing with
Michael Graham.
In my own situation to hear Howie in the morning I’d
have to record it on the comp. and listen back on mp3
due to my sleeping hours (night job) but that’s OK.
Entercom doesn’t want to give him his freedom though
because he’d jump to another, competing station.
They will only let him go, I’d think, if Greater
Media paid them a big money settlement of some sort.
Or if after months and months of this charade (a
Howie Carr Show without Howie) they finally give in.
The Wed. re-ping. Today’s Howie column below.
Hub Politician Dials it Up A Notch—Or Six
by Howie Carr/Boston Herald 10/3/07
They’re burying Jack E. Molesworth this morning, and with him, a small but colorful bit of Boston radio history.
Molesworth was probably the first and definitely the last guy to attack a Boston radio talk-show host during a broadcast, and to engage in a knock-down, drag-out brawl with the host while the air went dead for five or 10 minutes, depending on which paper you read. The host was Jerry Williams. The radio station was WMEX. The year was 1962.
It didn’t rate a mention on either paper’s obituary page yesterday, but the brawl was front-page news on May 23, 1962.
The Herald: “Molesworth, Radio MC in Studio Brawl”.
The Traveler: “Fight Show Enlivens Hub Radio”.
Molesworth, who died Sunday at age 81, was at the time a Republican state committeeman from the Back Bay. Jerry Williams hosted the top-rated night show in Boston, on AM radio believe it or not, routinely getting 40 shares (now you can win with a 6 or 7). His WMEX lead-in was Arnie “Woo Woo” Ginsburg’s Night Train.
Molesworth was not a “first-time caller.” He had been feuding with Williams for months. On this night, Jerry’s first guest was a Democratic rep from Dorchester, Bill Keenan, who was apparently putting the knock on GOP Gov. John Volpe over some long-forgotten legislation.
Molesworth ran downstairs from his 166 Beacon St. apartment and drove the few blocks to the MEX studio on Brookline Avenue to demand “equal time.” In those days, Jerry had a studio audience for his live show, and Molesworth muscled into the studio around 12:10 a.m. By that time Williams was interviewing a new guest, the legendary Rep. Julius Ansel, also of Dorchester, whose heart always belonged to Ward 13.
Molesworth rushed up to the microphone and began yelling at Jerry. Williams informed his audience that he was being heckled by a member of the John Birch Society. “Typical Molesworth tactic,” Jerry sneered.
Let’s pick up the Herald account: “A heated argument then began. Listeners heard a loud crash, then a pause. The pause lasted more than five minutes.”
Molesworth was outnumbered, and as the Traveler put it, “the professional stamp collector took a licking.”
Molesworth got the bum’s rush out of the studio. But despite reporting a “possible broken shoulder, a fractured left elbow and numerous bruises,” he claimed victory over Williams, a radio technician, and a supporter of Ansel’s from Topliff Street.
“They took me unawares,” Molesworth said, “and then we sort of wrestled out the door. Then we were on the floor and I think Williams was on the bottom.”
As the battered Molesworth drove directly to MGH for treatment, Williams breathlessly returned to the microphone: “I’ve never experienced anything like this in 16 years of radio work.”
More than 30 years later, aging listeners would come up to Williams wherever he appeared and tell him that they were there in the ‘MEX studio the night he duked it out with Jack Molesworth. You’d think Jerry was broadcasting from the Garden that night, rather than from Whim-X’s cramped quarters.
The story petered out after a few days, and life went on. Rep. Ansel was elected to the state Senate in 1964 and on election night told his devoted supporters, “Now that I’m in the Senate, let me say this: The price is going up!” He died the next year.
Jerry Williams remained Jerry Williams. He passed on in 2003. And Jack Molesworth? He ran for Congress in 1964 against House Speaker John McCormack, didn’t get very far and eventually moved out of the city to Winchester, where he’ll be buried today at Wildwood Cemetery.
Goodbye Jack, and wherever you are, give my regards to Jerry and Julius.
Re: the Limbaugh controversy:
According to Tom Taylor’s column today (Radio-Info.com), reflecting the TALKERS numbers (a magazine about
talk radio):
>>Rush is still #1 at about 13.25 million in minimum weekly 12+ cume (all numbers rounded off to the nearest quarter million).
No wonder the libs hate him.
Other leading talkers include Sean “You’re A Great American”, Michael “The Liberal VERMIN!!”,
Glenn “Conservative But Not Necessarily Republican” and
Laura “Shut Up And Buy My New Book”.
Mark “get off the phone you big dope” is up there too, and:
>>Then Mike Gallagher and Michael Medved at about 3.75 million each.
So why the low numbers for WTTT in Boston which carries
them?
And yeah, there’s a lib or two in there, like Sgt Schultz who is tied with Bill Talking Points.
We need Mark Levin in Boston. One of two soundboards
where you can click on a sound bite from his show.
http://marklevinfan.com/MarkLevinBoard.htm
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