Maybe it's me, but.... (yet another WRKO post)

[BoscoGoldBear]

I had made a wild suggestion to Casablanca in person over the recent holiday season. I admit that this is wild, even by my own standards, but have you noticed recently about all the moves (DiPietro's firing, Tommy Taxes' hiring, Howie's syndie slashing) that were made at WRKO since they hooked up with the Red Sox? I'm not the biggest on conspiracy theories, but isn't the single biggest owner of the Red Sox named Pinch Sulzberger, owner of the New York Times and - most important to this post - the Boston Globe. (I think that both John Henry and Tom Werner each own less of the Red Sox individually than Sulzberger, but I could be wrong.)

Since Henry, Werner and the Boston Globe took over ownership of the Red Sox, the Globe had ordered its sportswriters not to appear on WEEI's sports shows, which the Globe (largest single owner of the Red Sox) felt was an arm of the Boston Herald. As we all know, it wasn't the ratings or revenue which contributed to the Globe-owned Sox leaving WEEI; it was the social culture which is exactly the polar opposite of the Globe's which led to the exodus. I think if the Globe had its way, the Red Sox would air on WBOS (or WTKK, or on 102.5 with country being relocated to 92.9 or 96.9); however, I think Julie and Jason not only offered the Sox money, they offered Sulzberger and the Globe total editorial control and free reign over WRKO, hence their firing of two (admittedly ratings starved) social conservatives, their hiring of certainly one big time liberal bleepity bleep (Tommy Taxes - IMHO anyone who put down the death penalty and paved the way for a mob mouthpiece to be the current State Speaker is a big-time liberal in my eyes) and stopping Howie from his usual fun sound effects (Ted's laugh, Scondras' grunts). Next thing you know, WRKO will suddenly fire Howie and replace him with the Plagiarist (Mike Barnicle, who can't be happy with having just one hour knowing full well that Imus will go back to 10 a.m. again here soon), and the "curly-haired boyfriend" (I don't know who made the reference here) Dan Shaugnessy will be on from 10 to Noon. ???

Of course I could be wrong in all of this, as I told Casablanca. But what if I'm not? Please reply, especially if my conspiracy theory is as bunk as all of Art Bell's theories. One thing is certain though - I really (expletive) hate the Globe!

PS

I will give Shaugnessy props for admitting that his employer also owning the Red Sox is a conflict of interest - something that the Herald has repeatedly run promos on for months. ;D

 

[raccoonradio]

I've said before that the high price Entercom paid for the Sox could result in cutbacks elsewhere...or at
least the Sox are the tail wagging the dog, and outside of Howie the rest is mere window dressing. Or is it...
what with the big money hiring of Finneran...

>>if the Globe had its way, the Red Sox would air on WBOS (or WTKK, or on 102.5

Had that happened you'd have the Globe's radio arm right next to them right on Morrissey Blvd.: Greater Media

btw DePetro ("no I") is correct spelling of his last name

The Scondras sound effect is mothballed, perhaps permanently, due to the DePetro controversy I would think

I think I heard that Howie has one more yr left on his contract; if he can't get a good deal from Entercom
might he turn up with Greater Media...?

 

[raccoonradio]

btw a letter to the editor in today's Herald points out that while WTKK has a holier than thou
attitude re: Finneran, they continue to employ a plagiarist...

>>WTKK radio hosts are actually playing up a “we don’t hire liars to be show hosts” angle. Of course, they, as well as we, know that WTKK has as a host Boston’s own version of Jayson Blair: Mike Barnicarlin.

 

[Varulven]

more than the fact that Barnicle is a plagiarist is the fact that he possibly "piped" stories (is that the term Howie used?), like Patricia Smith he might've just made stuff up. Barnicle is not a heavyweight because of talent, it is because of his connections. Howie's columns are stale, Barnicle's were dull.

I like some aspects of The Boston Globe, but outside of Joan Vennochi and Eileen McNamara and Dan Payne (and he's only once in awhile, once in a great while) they don't have good columnists. Jacoby is awful, Beam is mediocre, Derrick Z. Jackson, while I agree with his philosophy, is so boring in his execution of a column (he truly executes it, and not in a good way) that The Globe becomes like WRKO, putting stuff out there that is sub-standard and hoping it will stick because. Key word is "because". It is not based in reality or sanity.

SO, with that set-up in mind, YES, Steve N, the Red Sox are probably forcing things onto WRKO, it is hardly a conspiracy, it fits the pattern that the Red Sox employ: eminent domain with just about all aspects of their business.

This would also explain the WEEI 2 - I forgot about the Red Sox run-in with WEEI.

Raccoon also has a point about the cutbacks due to the money the Sox require.

Who said "Curly Haired Boyfriend", was it Manny Ramirez? Shaughnessy is so full of himself - he didn't like a letter I wrote to the Globe about him so he phoned my house and then e mailed me. Talk about a thin skin!
It was a friggin' letter to the editor and it wasn't even printed. Boy, they can dish it out but they can't take it...

Boston Globe Sportswriter Dan Shaughnessy

DanBambino@
Date: Thu, Jan 3, 2002, 2:44pm
Subject: Re: Speaking for Bledsoe
To: [email protected]

joe --
i just hope someday i make it to the big-time like yourself. clearly, you have reached the pinnicle of your profession. always good to be critiqued by the best. cheers. shaughnessy

(Dan, the correct spelling is "pinnacle", glad to help a fellow journalist out...)
=================================================================================

i keep it as an example that these people love to trash our sports heroes, and are totally full of themselves.
Shaughnessy is hardly a "star", think he will be remembered like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_McDonough

hardly.

so, for the reasons Steve N and Raccoon cited, yes, RKO is going to have their strings pulled by their newest affiliation - The Red Sox and the minority owner, The Boston Globe (they don't own a major share, Steve N., but it is enough to cause concern with the reporting. Just because Shaughnessy discloses what we all know doesn't mean the Sox aren't pulling his strings too.)

so if someone made the suggestion that Depetro might not have been fired for the Grace Ross comment had the Sox not come onboard, it is probably accurate. RKO without The Red Sox - say, the Red Sox had gone to WBOS, you could expect Feinburg/Depetro/Scott Allen Miller, the same old same old. The Sox are going to want their own newspaper and their own radio station. It's the way of the world in the new millennium.
It makes good business sense, though it is hardly objective. Manny Ramirez understands fully what happens when a team owns the media. He is an example to the other players of the bad press that will unfold if you don't stay within the boundaries. Ramirez is HUGELY popular with the sports fans around here. What you read about him does not reflect the fan loyalty he has. That is a shame. The Globe and The Herald distort Manny's popularity with catch phrases like "Manny Moment", etc.

Harvey Wharfield experienced that at WZLX. The station cares more about the signal than the on-air talent.
They refused to understand Harv, and what he brought to the equation. Thank Jerry Charm for that.

Or as Donald Sutherland says in the film Disclosure "I MADE TOM SANDERS" (Michael Douglas' character) - which is not really accurate. (Disclosure is a Michael Chrichton book http://www.michaelcrichton.net/ probably based on a sexual harassment suit filed against DIGITAL CORPORATION way back when; the "fictional" company is called DIGICOM). Manny Ramirez talent made Manny.

Get ready for all sorts of marketing strategies. That "Cowboy Up" thing was repulsive. It dilutes the sport.
With a radio station onboard they will shower us with all sorts of stupidity

 

[weee]

Carl Everett spewed out the curly haired boyfriend line.

 

[Smoke]

Last time I checked the NYT owned 17% of the Sox. The Boston Globe owned the team when they were the Boston Pilgrims about 100 years ago, but corperate-wise the Sox and the Globe are on different balance sheets.

 

[radiodizzy]

The Sox move to WRKO has nothing to do with "Social Culture", it has to do with money. The brass at Entercom know that the Sox will boost ratings on WRKO, and they believe WEEI can stand alone without the team. If it works out, both stations will be right at the top of the ratings, and national advertisers will dump more money into the cluster, thus taking it from other stations, other companies. That's it.

 

[raccoonradio]

speaking of Globe I might be mentioned in an article on Feb 1 or so about Morgan White Jr. (does WBZ
fill ins, and trivia at various locations). A Globe reporter talked to him at the Coolidge Corner Clubhouse
in Brookline on Monday night (I was there to play trivia) and I was asked about why I enjoy his trivia
shows, etc. It'll say "Bob Nelson of Beverly..."

Agreed with radiodizzy about Entercom and Sox, etc.

>>because of his connections

His brother Paul is, or was, with Boston police