Beat The Press re: Severin

[raccoonradio]

http://www.beatthepress.org/episode/segment/239
thanks to Maloney for link

Rooney used to be on Severin's show. Dan Kennedy urges him to do more local stuff and get
some guests on. Rooney brings up the PPMs and how Jay, and WTKK, have suffered. The perks
may end (smaller salary, doing show from his home). Joe Sciacca: WTKK may have to re-focus
their format.
Callie Crosley: The absence has given people a chance to hear other hosts (incl. the fill ins on
WTKK;she liked Smerc.

 

[raccoonradio]

The panelists suspect re-negotiations are going on and WTKK may try to reduce his salary and at the very least his perks (perhaps having him broadcast from their studios rather than his home) and toning him down, but he
could be back.

Having Jay in their studios with executives nearby monitoring it to make sure he doesn't cross the line...?
Sponsor boycotts have worked in the past; it got Imus off WFAN (only to land on WABC) There is
talk on the segment of re-examining talk hosts and their shows, etc.

People like Jay have been called shock jocks. But there's a slippery slope here; what if someone who
lives close to the line actually crosses over it? (One comment on the WGBH site says they have an effort
to boycott WTKK if Severin is brought back. Actually the PPMs may be showing people are boycotting
WTKK in another way: simply not listening (dwindling ratings)

 

[raccoonradio]

See Jay. See Emily. See Emily play.

See Jay invite Emily to be on his radio show once a week. See Emily accept the offer.

See how Emily somehow "forgets" to invite Jay to the birthday bash of her show.

See Jay pull Emily off his show.

2007.
http://medianation.blogspot.com/2007/10/severin-versus-rooney.html

 

[kjlassoc]

I'm sure he didn't move to Manchester-by-the-sea expecting to be commuting to Morrissey Blvd. every day. I'm sure that won't go down very well. Then again, neither would a pay cut.

As for the suggestion that he get local, I'm not sure he's very well versed in local issues. He's hasn't actually lived here that long and since he has, he's been ensconsed in his home studio most of the time. Sort of like living in your Mother's basement only the basement is very luxurious. Don't forget that he's going up against Howie Carr. Severin can never compete with Carr on local topics. I assume that he chose to focus on national politics for just this reason.

 

[SonicOverload]

the only question is who is the bigger diva? Emily or Jay?

 

[raccoonradio]

When fill ins do their shows from other cities they quickly scan the (online versions of) paper and at least get a very brief understanding of what's going on locally. Severin has been here for more than a few years so he
may have a leg up on these folks, but I get the feeling national/international is what most interests him and
hey, if you want local issues, they have Graham and McPhee.

 

[kjlassoc]

Maybe what interests Jay most is National/International but aren't the ratings showing that the audience prefers more local talk given that Howie Carr's numbers are way ahead? Besides, if all WTKK wants to give us is National/International they can easily do that with a syndicated program. I assume that was Dan Kennedy's point on BTP that he should be more local in his content.

I still remember once during the period when Severin would broadcast from Sag Harbor but pretend to be out of Boston and he would also call into Imus' program once in a while. It was during the Jane Swift era and something she did was making news outside of Massachusetts. Imus asked Severin about Swift and his reply was, "how the hell should I know?" Well, it seemed reasonable that he would know a thing or two about the governor of the state where his listeners resided - especially since he claimed to be broadcasting "live and local" at the time.

 

[Blackroc]

Emily somehow "forgets" to invite Jay to the birthday bash of her show.
I can imagine the guest list. Jay could have bought his way into respectability, sort of.