Posted on 09/13/2007 6:48:35 AM PDT by raccoonradio
Entercom and Greater Media have been mum about Howie Carr leaving (his contract is expected to expire on Sept 19) to go to WTKK. But there is a clue that is could well be happening. Howie's Worcester affiliate, WCRN, now has this on their webpage:
"Starting Monday, Join Peter Blute for 4 hours of Live and Local Talk in the morning! The Peter Blute Show from 6-10AM, and Hank Stolz moves to the afternoons 2-6PM. THE SWITCH IS ON!"
So Howie has been replaced, on a station that has been quite loyal to him. It looks like the move to FM in the AM could well be on. No word yet on whether Howie's move to WTKK is indeed happening, or what other Howie affiliates would replace him with...
If/when he does move... he should leave Col. Hunt behind.
Pinging the Howie Carr list...he’ll be off as of next Monday on WCRN at least. Will Howie’s last show on “AM in the pm”
happen next week, to be soon followed by the first one on “FM in the am”?
yes I hope he does ditch Col. Hunt—great soldier,
great military expert, etc., but I can’t take that
raspy voice. Maybe good as a guest but please, not as a host.
If he does move to WTKK they could poss. put someone
like Michael Graham in his place and have someone else
fill Michael’s slot.
I was listening to WTKK 96.9 in Boston this morning, and morning drive host Michael Graham was making not-too-thinly veiled statements that made it pretty clear that Howie will be taking over Graham’s drive time slot this month. Graham also basically said that his own show will be moving to the 9-12 slot.
Jay Severin has been touting similar changes, although he has not been quite so specific as Graham was this morning.
It’s pretty clear that Howie’s move to WTKK is a done deal and will happen this month.
Peter Blute?!
Yes, I haven’t heard Graham’s or Severin’s shows but I have heard such hints have taken place and as you say,
not-too-thinly veiled. Howie yesterday was talking about
the Deval statement on 9/11 and referred vaguely to another talk host who’s been mentioning it: “someone I will soon
be talking to on a daily basis”
The original plan was Howie on WTKK on Oct 1...would it
happen earlier?...later...?
*************
Excellent. McPhee stinks.
Peter used to be on WRKO in the mornings; the former
Worcester-area Congressman who was in the scandal along
with the GOP’s Sandy Tennant (think the Nautilus boat
and a scantily clad woman who wound up on the front
page of the Herald...a “three hour tour” paid for by
the MDC—trying to remember all of it).
He was partnered with John Osterlind (”Ozone”) orig.
from WAAF at first, then with Scotto (Scott Allen Miller).
Blute was either fired or resigned (prob. the former)
and we had the S.A.M. morning show...then Finneran
came along.
I remember Peter “training” to be on the air—he filled
in for Howie once. It sounded a bit rough at first but
he got better. “Bluto”, as I call him, has been doing
mornings on WCRN for a little while.
WCRN is trying to get a niche as a talk-and-sports station
in Central New England. They also have Laura Ingraham,
Jerry Doyle, Michael Savage (IIRC) and the Red Sox. Also
local talker Hank Stolz, who is apparently getting
Howie’s slot.
>>a big void in the afternoon drivetime slot.
if possible, tape it on your computer and dub it to mp3.
Play that through your car speakers. I will give some
info on how to tape shows online (there’s software
you can get which has a timer, if need be)
I remember Blute. I guess that’s why I’m surprised they rehired him. He can’t measure up to Howie.
Here is WTKK's signal reach. It actually could be better or worse depending on terrain or various other conditions (sometimes during warm weather, for example, people in Boston area suddenly pick up FM stations from the Cape, R.I., N.H., and Maine a bit better). And unlike WRKO those to the west don't get screwed after sunset when THEY have to change their "pattern". Of course HC will be on mornings anyway
It’s going to be a long afternoon with Howie gone from WRKO. I like to end my work day with light hearted stuff. Plus I have six computers running here and FM is impossible. I suppose I could listen on-line but our office doesn’t open until 9.
I can’t get a good signal from WRKO, and I hated Mike Barnicle, so if Howie moves to WTKK, which I get pretty well, it’s a good thing.
I definitely bummed about this move; not because I’d have to choose between D&C and Howie in the morning but because in New Hampshire there’s not much of a decision - WTKK’s signal pretty much dies north of Manchester. Perhaps if they upped their power from 22.5 to 50kW it would help. I’m hoping they simulcast through another Greater Media station that we can pick up here, but I haven’t heard anything along those lines.
I don’t think Greater Media has stations up that way
but they can find other stations...currently Howie’s
affiliates all have local morning shows. Conceivably
if they really want Howie they could pick him up live
(if the syndication continues, or should I say if
G.M. starts to syndicate him) and put their morning team
on in the afternoon. Or run him at 3 pm tape delayed.
This is still all up in the air.
Greater Media site says they have stations in Boston,
Detroit, New Jersey, and Philly. (GM site still
says WTKK has Barnicle and Imus, btw...)
>>Plus I have six computers running here and FM is impossible
in my own workplace, a huge post office, AM reception is a bit tough and as for FM, depends on where the station is. I can
hear Howie fine because WRKO’s towers in Burlington are a couple towns away. We used to work in Woburn and I could see
the WRKO towers from our parking lot! WEEI a bit tougher
due to interference, etc., from machinery.
We get some FM
stations clearly, including WMKK “Mike” 93.7 (tower in
Peabody) and WCRB 99.5 (tower in Andover). WCRB is now
half-owned by Entercom and rumor has them EVENTUALLY
ditching classical and perhaps moving WEEI there.
(Don’t panic, it hasn’t happened yet, classical fans,
but the possibility does exist.)
WTKK does come in at work, though it’s shaky sometimes.
Of course he’d be on mornings anyway, when I’m NOT at
work. But I sleep till 9 or 10 am so I’d have to tape
show and hear it back later on mp3.
No kidding. He's best in 30 second snippets. After that, he doesn't have much to say.
UH oh. Finneran in trouble? (then again, he’s a Dem
so he’ll just get a slap on the wrist). From the Herald:
Smackdown: Finneran takes hit on Brits comment
By Jessica Heslam | Thursday, September 13, 2007 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage
Women activists say former House speaker-turned-WRKO talk radio host Tom Finneran took his Britney Spears bashing way too far yesterday when he said he would have given the fading pop star a “black eye” and “dope slap.”
Finneran and co-host Wendy Murphy, an attorney and victims’ rights advocate, were discussing Spears’ disastrous Sunday night performance at the MTV Music Video Awards.
During his morning show, Finneran said Spears was late to Las Vegas, and didn’t go right to rehearsals. “Come on, a lot of divas show up late for rehearsal,” Murphy said.
“Then she comes down an hour later,” Finneran said. “So it’s 4hours late. Diva? You know what she’d be if I was there waiting for 4hours? She’d be a diva with a black eye. I’d give her a dope slap.”
“I mean,” Finneran said, “I wouldn’t do it as a guy to a gal.”
Mary Lauby, executive director of the statewide anti-violence Jane Doe Inc., called Finneran’s comments“horrible” and said he should apologize.
“Whoever ends up in front of that microphone seems to become a neanderthal,” Lauby said. “Silly me, but I expect the former speaker to operate at a different level than that. It’s really a huge disappointment.”
WRKO spokesman George Regan said Finneran is a “gentleman” who wouldn’t mean “any disrespect toward women.”
“People are overreacting. This is talk radio,” Regan said.
Last night, Murphy said Finneran’s comments were inappropriate and that she told him so when they went off-the-air. “You don’t joke about hitting people. But the truth is, I know he doesn’t mean it,” Murphy said. Finneran didn’t return a call last night.
In 2003, Boston Globe sports columnist Bob Ryan was suspended for a month without pay for saying on TV that the wife of New Jersey Nets guard Jason Kidd needed someone to “smack her.”
WRKO fired host John DePetro after he called gubernatorial candidate Grace Ross a “fat lesbian.”
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