Thomas Finneran to leave WRKO post this week

Boston Herald ^ | 5/29/12 | Matt Stout

[raccoonradio]

Former Speaker of the House Thomas Finneran said he’s leaving his post as a radio yakker on WRKO-AM, announcing on air this morning that Thursday’s show will be his last.

Finneran said on the “Tom & Todd” morning show that he will be pursing other “plans and opportunities out there in the real world” and will sign off after Thursday’s show. He joined the station in February 2007.

“We’re having a very amicable parting,” he said.

Finneran lost his own law license and was sentenced to 18 months unsupervised probation after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice in 2007.

The charges stemmed from misleading testimony in a 2003 federal suit filed by minority voter groups upset over a House plan to redraw legislative districts along racial lines. Finneran denied knowledge of the plan but actually played a “key role” in crafting the new districts, prosecutors said.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Jeff Katz was talking about Marisa “Wasserman-Schultz” DeFranco this morning. Should make things interesting. She’s so bat$h|t crazy she could actually affect the Presidential election by turning out normal people to vote against her and the president, by association. Liz is just as bat$h|t crazy but she’s sooo much better at hiding it.

[raccoonradio]

Don't know...in the meantime, longtime Boston talk host Lovell Dyett has passed on http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/05/29/wbz-radio-legend-lovell-dyett-passes-away-at-77/ >>Lovell Dyett, a longtime talk show host on WBZ NewsRadio 1030, has passed away after a long illness. He was 77. Dyett was noted throughout his life for being an erudite speaker, devoted community activist, and renowned television and radio broadcaster. Throughout the late 1960′s, Dyett worked on the campaign to elect Edward Brooke (R-MA) as the first African American U.S. Senator, and was an organizer and director of the campaign that elected Tom Atkins Boston’s first black City Councilor. Dyett enjoyed stints at WGBH-TV, WBZ-TV, and the former WNAC-TV, and began his WBZ NewsRadio 1030 career on Sunday, December 3, 1971 as host of “The Lovell Dyett Program.” It was billed as a “telephone-talk show that dealt with all issues affecting the black community,” but it turned out to be much more. For nearly 40 years, Dyett covered topics and issues that affected people of all walks of life, discussing topics that were often times contentious, like busing and the desegregation of Boston’s schools, and sometimes uncomfortable, such as interviews with former members of the Ku Klux Klan....Dyett will be greatly missed by not only those who knew him personally, but also by those whose lives he touched over the airwaves of WBZ, where he ended each show by quoting Duke Ellington: “I love you – I love you madly.”

[SamAdams76]

There will be some big changes in the local talk radio scene (Boston market) come the fall, when Howie's contract with WRKO expires. Maybe Finneran sees the handwriting on the wall. Wouldn't be surprised to see a change of format at WRKO and Howie over at 96.9, leaving 96.9 and Talk 1200 to fight it out.

Speaking of Talk 1200 - that signal is terrible! Even downtown Boston, the signal drifts in and out.

[9YearLurker]

I always liked Lovell.

[raccoonradio]

Howie Carr ping: No Howie...off all week I think now that I think of it? No “my heart feels like an alligator” till next Mon.?
Avi is on

[rockabyebaby]

No “my heart feels like an alligator” till next Mon.?

Perhaps Howie might mention it in one of his columns this week....

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Yeah, Avi didn’t do the happy dance for Howie. Next week will be too late.

Remember when Barnacle got canned off the Globe? “A boil on the rear of Boston journalism has been lanced.”, Howie gloated. I knew Barbacle was a fabulist and I assumed his editors knew it, but didn’t care. Until he mixed fabrication with verifiable plagarism, for the second or third time and became too much of an embarassment to avoid. It wasn’t just Howie, Boston Magazine, no right wing wingnuts, did a little fact checking on a couple of his more easily debunked pieces and found that not only were they patently false, buy the most cursory fact checking would have proved them to be complete fabrications. “Too good to check.”

[johnthebaptistmoore]

Maybe, Howie’s other website (not WRKO) mentions something.

[rockabyebaby]

I didn’t see anything on the howiecarr.us website about the felon, lots of things about granny warren, ebt cards, but nothing about the felon.........

[GOPsterinMA]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeI5ke0BENw

[martin_fierro]

Finneran said on the “Tom & Todd” morning show that he will be pursing other “plans and opportunities out there in the real world” and will sign off after Thursday’s show. He joined the station in February 2007.

“We’re having a very amicable parting,” he said.

Finneran lost his own law license and was sentenced to 18 months unsupervised probation after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice in 2007.

The Burger King french fry production line beckons.

[Sparky1776]

I’m thinking Kim Carrigan did a very good job last week on WRKO, just saying.

[raccoonradio]

He’s on vacation this week.

btw someone on a radio-interest mailing list mentioned to me (and all) that Howie prob. wouldn’t get morning drive at
WTKK or WXKS...he wants to keep his network of stations around New England. Trouble is, these stations all have
local morning drive shows and they wouldn’t want to lose them. He could conceivably do a network of Clear Channel
owned stations (should he go to CC) including 580 in Worc.,
920 in RI, and 610 in NH, but they also have local morning shows. am drive and pm drive are important.

Anyway if Howie goes to morning (even if he winds up as the morning guy at...RKO!), realize that he may not necessarily get his “network” but who knows.

[raccoonradio]

Oh no—Howie may be stuck at RKO for TWO MORE YEARS.
Not official but in today’s Herald:

>>WRKO-AM (680) didn’t announce any other on-air changes yesterday, but the station is in desperate need of a ratings boon. During the April ratings period, WRKO was in a three-way tie for 24th place among the key 25- to 54-year-old listeners, according to the latest Arbitron ratings.

The five-year contract for the station’s star — afternoon-drive host and Herald columnist Howie Carr — expires in the fall, and the station has the right to renew him for another two years.

“I’m hoping I can escape from AM radio,” Carr said yesterday.

http://www.bostonherald.com/business/media/view.bg?articleid=1061135163&srvc=rss&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bostonherald%2Fbusiness+%28Business+-+BostonHerald.com%29

[raccoonradio]

Did anyone catch this? From the WGAN facebook

Big show Wednesday morning on the WGAN Morning News! Howie Carr joins us at 7:08 to discuss his future at WRKO in Boston, pimp his books and talks Presidential politics. Fox News Military Analyst and the President of Howie Nation, Col. David Hunt joins us at 7:38 to discuss Syria and what role, if any the US has and he’ll talk fried clams on Pine Point too..

[nutmeg]

Anyway if Howie goes to morning (even if he winds up as the morning guy at...RKO!), realize that he may not necessarily get his “network” but who knows.

I hope (for my sake) that Howie stays in his present spot during the PM drive-time slot (3-6pm). (Just a reminder: I listen to Howie via WHYN 560 AM - Springfield, MA).

We have an excellent local conservative talk show host - Jim Vicevich, WTIC 1080 AM, 9am - noon - but he discusses national issues. Glenn Beck runs on other local AM stations 9-12 as well.

We have few choices of good conservative talk radio shows in the Hartford/Springfield area in the afternoon - just Howie on WHYN and Gov. John Rowland's pretty good conservative talk radio show on WTIC 1080 AM (3-6pm). Rowland mostly discusses Connecticut issues and politics.

The only way I can now hear Sean Hannity live is via XM/Sirius in my car or online in the house. WTIC 1080 AM repeats Hannity's show 10pm - 1am, which is a ridiculous slot - it's too late, and part of the show is often pre-empted by Red Sox coverage.

As you may know, we used to have another decent conservative talk show in the 3-6pm slot on WDRC 1360 AM (Hartford, CT) - Dan Lovallo - but he was dumped several months ago in favor of crap programming.

To be honest, I really don't like listening to radio talk shows that exclusively discuss Connecticut politics - it's too damn depressing...

[raccoonradio]

Howie wants OFF AM!
(hope it plays for you...Firefox wouldn’t work, does play for me right now on Google Chrome)

http://www.wgan.com/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=5869165

[raccoonradio]

Listen to link

He does NOT want mornings.

He never talks to J. Wolfe (WRKO prog dir). “I don’t know why (Ent.) hired Finneran. The station is run by jocksniffers.’Finneran’s like the Bill Belichick of the State House?...he’s the head of the tax-TAKING team”

http://www.wgan.com/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=5869165

OK about your local radio etc.

[LongWayHome]

Dyett worked to get consevative radio talk show host David Brudnoy fired at WBZ. It worked for a while, but Brudnoy got his job back. Dyett & Brudnoy borh worked at WBZ together at the time. Dyett woked with elements of the radical left in Boston to run Brudnoy off the air. Dyett was a typical race-hustler. He was NO conservative.

[rockabyebaby]

Howie did an interview on WGAN this morning and said he’s not interested in morning drive and not interested in AM radio, he wants to keep afternoon drive hours on an FM station.........