Despite his best efforts, John DePetro is not going to get his job back. But it may slowly be dawning on the brainiacs at Entercom that they should have said they were removing DePetro from his slot at WRKO Radio (AM 680) because of his lousy ratings — period. To claim that they couldn’t tolerate DePetro’s “fat lesbian” crack at a station that could market itself as the Hub’s Home of Homophobia is laughable.
DePetro may get a decent settlement out of this before returning to Rhode Island, where he was a radio talk-show host in the Providence market before coming to Boston, and where he still lives.
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Aaron Read
Sorry about that (now deleted) folks…first, for screwing up my HTML. I meant to link to the reborn (with Adam Reilly) over at the Phoenix, the post our esteemed fearless leader previously held. I must’ve forgotten the close-link tag.Second, because I didn’t notice until afterwards that Dan had indeed linked to Adam’s post on DePetro on MediaLog. Within this very posting, no less.Still, a little fanfare would’ve been nice. ;-)On a serious note…why would DePetro get a settlement? Breach of contract? I ask because last I checked, Massachusetts is an “employee at will” state; either side can terminate the job relationship with no warning, correct?
Anonymous
Funny, recently in the Herald Depetro was going on about how he is the sole income provider for his family of three. The “independent man” would have ruthlessly mocked anyone who griped about their firing in such a way. I just know he would have said, “get a job and stop whining”. This guy was a jack ass on the air and I guess the chickens are coming home to roost. Entercom and Wolfe are just as bad for their hypocrisy.
Dan Kennedy
Aaron: This is sheer speculation, but here’s why I’m guessing that DePetro might be able to get some money out of Entercom.Let’s say he had a contract through the end of, oh, I don’t know, 2007. Let’s say that it contained a clause that said if he were let go because of poor ratings, he was entitled to be paid right up to the end of his contract. Or maybe for six months. Or three months. Or whatever.Now let’s say he had another clause in his contract that said if he were fired for cause, then he’d be entitled to nothing.WRKO is claiming it fired DePetro for cause, but that’s going to be a hard claim to substantiate, given what else is on that station. That’s why I think DePetro might be entitled to some walking-away money.
Anonymous
Clicked on the Entercom link. “We have a passion for our people!”Er, not so much.
Chris Estrada
I remember watching a few of DePetro’s shows on TV – his WHJJ broadcasts(920 Providence) got simulcast on Rhode Island’s statewide public channels.Never got an inkling about how far to the right he really was. I wonder if I was really paying attention to them considering the fallout he’s had with ‘RKO/Entercom.Oh well. I’m sure they have another local conservative host at the ready. NEXT!
Anonymous
Ananon 2:56I think Depetro obviously played the up the right wing thing while he was on WRKO, but I always thought of him as just a craven opportunist and kiss-up who would do anything to have a big name on his show. You should have heard how much butt-kissing he would do with Menino and many other Massachusetts pols and leaders regardless of their ideology. Depetro just wanted to be a somebody and now he’s nothing. Not many are crying for him despite the fact that he was fired in a hypocritical manner.
Anonymous
I don’t think it matters that they said they fired him becaus eof the “fat lesbian” comment.A station licensee can program the radio station in any manner they want.It’s even their right to have lopsided standards. Looser standards in the PM drive, tighter standards during the “housewife” hours….or whatever reasoning they want.They say “Free speech belongs to the one that owns the hall”.Free Speech belongs to the radio station owner/licensee. It does not apply to an employee.However, he may get something in the way of $$$ to “go away”.
Anonymous
Lord, I haven’t seen so much whining since … Matt Amorello! Depetro considered it his birthright to mock, insult, condemn and belittle anyone without a moment’s thought or a glance at the facts. someone who chooses to live his life as a bully and a jerk is suddenly crybabying because some bigger jerk-bully came along? nothing new there but boy does it expose this craven little microphone putz for what he is. Shouldn’t john be out there raking leaves or delivering pizzas? — or does he plan to sit back like a welfare baron and suckle at the unemployment and severance teats? i got four words for you depetro — start practicing — “quiere fritos con esta?”