If you can call this a response. I think he’s invoking the “any idiot would know it’s a fake” defense, which I anticipated in my item yesterday. But it’s kind of hard to tell.
Tag: WTKK
Michael Graham’s anti-Obama fakery
I suppose this is like pointing out that the sun rises in the east. But WTKK Radio (96.9 FM) talk-show host Michael Graham is running a fake photo on his blog showing Barack Obama speaking in front of a poster of the Latin American terrorist/’60s icon Che Guevara.
The photo of Obama was taken during his 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. It’s been superimposed on a background of Guevara. You may recall that there was a brief controversy some months ago when an Obama volunteer put up a Che poster at the campaign’s Houston headquarters. The campaign, not surprisingly, responded by denouncing Che.
Graham’s deceptive hackery isn’t even original — it was posted here back in February. No doubt Graham will tell us that anyone would know the Obama-Che photo is a fake. But if you listen to his callers, I’m sure you’ll agree that’s a stretch.
The second-best part is that Graham calls his blog “The Natural Truth.” The best part is that Graham is on a crusade to convince people that McCain-Palin supporters aren’t really hate-mongering against Obama. I guess he’ll have to exclude himself.
Boston’s talk devolution
While the focus on the talk-radio wars here and elsewhere has generally been on the dysfunctional station that is WRKO (AM 680), it seems that the real mess may be at WTKK (96.9 FM). Globe columnist Steve Bailey reports that WRKO is charging — and presumably getting — considerably more money for advertising than its rival during the all-important morning and evening commutes.
In the morning, ‘RKO’s Tom Finneran show (on which Bailey appears) is charging $400 for a 60-second ad, compared to $250 for the same ad on the syndicated “Imus in the Morning” program on ‘TKK. In the afternoon, Howie Carr (WRKO) gets $600, while Jay Severin (WTKK) lags at $350.
I imagine this needs to be taken with at least a grain of salt. In the newspaper business, ad-rate cards tend to feature more creative writing than anything you’ll find in the actual paper, and that may be true of radio as well. But Bailey’s numbers make a certain amount of sense.
Finneran, the born-again non-lobbyist, hasn’t exactly set the world on fire, but the aging Imus’ return has essentially been a non-story. I suspect that most of Imus’ few remaining listeners found a new morning routine during his richly earned hiatus, and they’re not going back.
As for the Carr-Severin war, it’s a shame both sides can’t lose — but Carr does manage to bring intelligence, wit and an encyclopedic knowledge of Boston to the table, despite his laziness and his occasional indulgences in homophobic snickering. Severin possesses a large vocabulary, but his ranting, his mindless cheerleading on behalf of Mitt Romney and his mundane-yet-offensive insights into politics are tiresome. I’m not sure why, but Severin has become much less listenable since his return from syndication a couple of years ago. I guess listeners agree with me, given that Severin was beating Carr in the ratings before he left.
WTKK could have solved its drive-time shortcomings. Part of it wasn’t the station’s fault — Howie Carr wanted to switch and become the station’s morning host, but his contract didn’t allow him to do so. If I were running ‘TKK and had somehow found a way to land Carr, I’d have kept him in the afternoon and moved Severin to the less important mid-day slot. Then I’d have moved “Eagan and Braude,” the station’s best program, to morning drive.
Not that they asked me. But you know what? They’d be better off if they had.
One final note. Bailey also reports that the ad rates charged by the sports-talk programs on WEEI, a sister station to ‘RKO, absolutely blow away both ‘RKO and ‘TKK. To paraphrase Henry Kissinger’s famous dictum about academic politics, the infighting between ‘RKO and ‘TKK is so fierce because the stakes are so small.
Yes, McPhee is leaving the Herald
Boston magazine’s Joe Keohane confirms rumors that crime reporter Michele McPhee is leaving the Boston Herald, and reports that she’s taken a full-time job at WTKK Radio (96.9 FM).
Given that McPhee just lost her 10 a.m.-to-noon slot in the Imus shuffle, it would seem like a good bet that she’s moving to evenings. Intriguing, given that talk stations generally fill the post-drive-time evening hours with cheap syndicated programming.
Wednesday morning update: The Herald’s Jessica Heslam confirms that McPhee will be on WTKK from 7 to 10 p.m. each weekday. We’ll see how that works out. As a talk-radio talent, McPhee is still pretty raw. And she’s chosen to thumb her nose at Howie Carr’s First Rule of Talk Radio: Never, ever give up the newspaper gig, because you just don’t know what will happen.
Is McPhee parting ways with the Herald?
On a day when publisher Pat Purcell is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the birth of the modern Boston Herald comes word that one of the paper’s more recognizable bylines may soon be departing. The Phoenix’s Adam Reilly writes that crime reporter Michele McPhee is rumored to be leaving.
Oddly enough, the McPhee rumors come at exactly the same time that her 10 a.m.-to-noon program on WTKK (96.9 FM) has been displaced by Michael Graham, who was moved out of the morning drive-time slot to make way for the new Imus show. Perhaps McPhee will pop up elsewhere on the station. Stay tuned.
And speaking of Imus, the Herald’s Jessica Heslam reports that I-buddy Mike Barnicle will be doing local commentaries during the show on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Gee, the excitement just never ends, does it?
Why is McPhee sorry?
If the Boston Herald is going to report on Michele McPhee’s on-air apology for seeming to draw a relationship between homosexuality and pedophilia, shouldn’t the paper also report what she was apologizing for?
On Thursday, the Boston Globe’s “Names” column included this item on McPhee:
WTKK apologized yesterday for a comment by Michele McPhee that seemed to equate homosexuality with pedophilia. McPhee, the brassy Boston Herald reporter who hosts a daily, two-hour talk show on 96.9 FM, was talking about the trend in the fashion industry toward skinny models. After saying that the industry is largely dominated by gay men, McPhee said: “And who do homosexual men like? Little boys.” Asked about the comment later, McPhee declined to talk to us. But a station official then issued the following statement: “Michele’s comments were made in the context of a fashion industry that designs women’s clothes for atypical body types. She regrets if her remarks were taken to mean anything else, as no other meaning was intended.”
Globe item prompted some further ruminations by John Gonzalez of Boston Magazine.
The Herald finally weighed in today. But though Herald reporter Jessica Heslam quotes McPhee’s apology at length, we never quite learn why she’s sorry.
Heslam does write, “Station officials have refused to release an audiotape of the comment in question.” But surely McPhee could have confirmed the quote reported by the Globe for her fellow Herald staffer. And failing that, the Herald could have have reproduced what McPhee had “reportedly” said. It’s not like she was denying it.
Same as it ever was
After all that, we’re going to have Howie Carr back in his old time slot on WRKO (AM 680) and a new/old Imus show in the morning on WTKK (96.9 FM)? Apparently so. WRKO is milking Carr’s return for all its worth, running a huge “I’M BAAACCK!” graphic on its Web site this morning.
Prediction: Howie’s numbers will be better than they were before he disappeared from the airwaves, at least for a while. He’ll have an opportunity to show some energy and attract some new listeners — or maybe bring back a few old ones who’d given up on him in recent years. But Imus, who hasn’t had the benefit of all the free publicity Carr received during the past few months, will have to rebuild.
Brian Maloney, who earlier this week was wondering if Carr might move to a talk station in Charlotte, N.C., now says, “Other than a higher salary, Howie doesn’t seem to have won a single battle.” Other than a higher salary? Good grief. We should all be such losers.
And why can’t someone come up with a new idea in this market that actually works?
Has Howie surrendered?
The trade publication All Access reports that the Howie Carr will return to WRKO (AM 680), an admission of defeat following the courts’ refusal to let him jump to WTKK (96.9 FM) in violation of a provision in his now-expired contract. Brian Maloney of Save WRKO and Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald have the details.
Maloney thinks Carr has been “humiliated.” I disagree. But it is an admission on his part that he got incredibly bad advice in his attempt to shift to ‘TKK’s morning drive. As “Amusedbutinformedobserver” correctly points out, if Carr had simply let his contract with ‘RKO run out, he could then have done anything he liked. Instead, the shift to ‘TKK was announced while he was still under contract, and a provision that allowed ‘RKO to match any other offer kicked in, to his detriment.
It looks like Boston radio could soon be back to the same as it ever was. I’d guess ‘TKK will return to its previous schedule by picking up the new Imus show for morning drive and moving Michael Graham to a shift where no one will run the risk of actually hearing him.
About the only change in the offing is for the worse — Imus’ loathsome former sidekick, Bernard McGuirk, remains at large, and could wind up at WRKO.
Vennochi to Carr: Phone home
Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi absolutely nails Howie Carr and Tom Finneran today. She writes:
Other than the late Boston city councilor Jimmy Kelly and the ailing former city councilor Dapper O’Neil, I can’t remember anything nice Carr has ever said or written about anyone.
His critiques go far beyond differences over ideology. His commentary is often rude and personal and he takes adolescent delight in mocking physical characteristics. His unflinching meanness undercuts an admirable willingness to take on the powerbrokers. But from a marketing perspective, Carr obviously knows what he’s doing, as proven by the bidding war for his services.
At the same time, Finneran’s long-winded odes to every establishment figure and cause in town cry out for an antidote. Finneran has the pol gene, which makes him congenitally unable to find fault with one of his own. Boston Mayor Tom Menino, Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley, the Boston firefighters or the Boston police — they are all heroes no matter what.
Vennochi predicts that Carr, who’s been off the air since September, will eventually see the light and return to WRKO (AM 680), whose management has so far refused to let him out of his contract. She may be right.
I had thought that ‘RKO would eventually let Carr move to WTKK (96.9 FM) in return for huge piles of cash. But there may be no pile large enough to compensate for what ‘RKO would lose if Carr is allowed to take over the morning shift at ‘TKK and compete head to head with the likable but hapless Finneran.
Severin versus Rooney
This is pretty amusing. Boston Globe columnist Steve Bailey reports that WTKK Radio (96.9 FM) talk-show host Jay Severin is pouting because he didn’t get an invitation to the recent “Greater Boston” 10th-anniversary party at the new WGBH-TV (Channel 2) headquarters.
The upshot: “Greater Boston” host Emily Rooney has been disinvited from her regular Friday chit-chats with Severin. Hey, ‘TKK listeners’ loss is Rooney’s gain. The foul-mouthed Severin is the most self-referential of talk-show hosts, so I’m guessing he’ll spend most of the afternoon whining about this. We’ll see.
Disclosure: I’m a regular paid panelist on the “Greater Boston” Friday “Beat the Press” edition.