• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Sandy back on the air

By the way we know who you are. Not the best reputation in the business. This discussion ends here for me. Do not expect Further response. Bye, bye!
 
Wimmmex said:
Let's not rehash crap from your personal and professional career from THIRTY FIVE years ago on this radio discussion board.

The radio world today does not revolve around your rumors and personal vendettas from 35 years ago.
Click to expand...

As a casual forum user who is not a broadcast radio professional, but merely a consumer, I've often got the impression reading the forum most of you know one another professionally (and probably some personally), as I cannot imagine the job market is all that extensive, within the confines of a specific region (Boston). I have found it rather sad that some posters seem very bitter, professionally, and let that vitriol carry over into what could be otherwise informative discussions about current events, such as Sandy's return to radio.
 
Jerry had Howie on as part of the "Governors" and as a fill in host. In the late 80s or early 90s, Howie had a morning slot on RKO where he co-hosted with Victoria Jones (at least for an hour). He was let go by RKO and went to WHDH 850 where he was on 3-6pm following Rush Limbaugh. In 94, when WEEI moved to 850, Rush and Howie moved to RKO which wound up putting Jerry on weekends and late mornings ("fastest two hours in radio") until 1998 when RKO let Jerry go. (Howie's show mentions it's celebrating its 25th anniversary--though I thought it started before '93...)

I think CBS briefly owned 680 and they woudn't pick up Jerry's contract. Wikipedia: "In 1998, after several mergers, Atlantic Ventures (renamed American Radio Systems) decided that owning broadcast and cellular telephone towers was its preferred business and merged with CBS, Inc. WRKO was spun off to Entercom since the merger brought CBS over FCC ownership limits."

Howie was asked about pushing Jerry out and he basically said Jerry was getting up there in age..."My name's Howie Carr, not Father Time". Jerry was briefly at WMEX 1060 and WROL 950 "while fighting disease" and did get to do one final show for WRKO, one Sat. afternoon broadcast. People like Barbara Anderson and Alex Beam called in. In April of 2003, Jerry died at the age of 79. Howie did a tribute show with clips etc provided by Sandy and there was another tribute some days later, hosted by Pat Whitley. (I might have some of this material lying around, recorded onto cassette)

Getting up there in age--it's happening to Howie too, who turns 66 next week. Rush Limbaugh just turned 68. (Now I've got that "266-68, 68" in my head...)

btw for those who enjoyed Mike Siegel filling in for Kuhner--Siegel was on RKO for a few months in late '14 after they wouldn't take Howie's self-syndie show--I recall Siegel was, with Jerry, one of the founder of the National Association of Radio Talk Show Hosts. This no longer exists.
 
Interesting history but it is not complete. Not for this thread but there is an interesting story how Howie and Jerry first made contact.
 
I think "Sandy" is doing some work for a political candidate, which may be keeping her busy ( and hopefully paid) but it is always sad to hear someone of her caliber and talent ending up on the beach or under employed.
 
For a time Joe Shortsleeve was on before her on WMEX, then he left to run for State Senate. I think it was said she was working for him. The election was in October. Shortsleeve ran as an independent and came in third with 9 per cent of the vote. https://ballotpedia.org/Joe_Shortsleeve

Don't know if she's now working for someone else.
 
Nancy Shack is a very nice person. Still hard for a woman to break into talk radio here and probably across the country. Unless you sound like a banshee like Miss Screech you don't seem to go anywhere. Nancy has a very nice modulated voice which works on radio.
 
raccoonradio said:
Jerry had Howie on as part of the "Governors" and as a fill in host. In the late 80s or early 90s, Howie had a morning slot on RKO where he co-hosted with Victoria Jones (at least for an hour). He was let go by RKO and went to WHDH 850 where he was on 3-6pm following Rush Limbaugh. In 94, when WEEI moved to 850, Rush and Howie moved to RKO which wound up putting Jerry on weekends and late mornings ("fastest two hours in radio") until 1998 when RKO let Jerry go. (Howie's show mentions it's celebrating its 25th anniversary--though I thought it started before '93...)

I think CBS briefly owned 680 and they woudn't pick up Jerry's contract. Wikipedia: "In 1998, after several mergers, Atlantic Ventures (renamed American Radio Systems) decided that owning broadcast and cellular telephone towers was its preferred business and merged with CBS, Inc. WRKO was spun off to Entercom since the merger brought CBS over FCC ownership limits."

Howie was asked about pushing Jerry out and he basically said Jerry was getting up there in age..."My name's Howie Carr, not Father Time". Jerry was briefly at WMEX 1060 and WROL 950 "while fighting disease" and did get to do one final show for WRKO, one Sat. afternoon broadcast. People like Barbara Anderson and Alex Beam called in. In April of 2003, Jerry died at the age of 79. Howie did a tribute show with clips etc provided by Sandy and there was another tribute some days later, hosted by Pat Whitley. (I might have some of this material lying around, recorded onto cassette)

Getting up there in age--it's happening to Howie too, who turns 66 next week. Rush Limbaugh just turned 68. (Now I've got that "266-68, 68" in my head...)

btw for those who enjoyed Mike Siegel filling in for Kuhner--Siegel was on RKO for a few months in late '14 after they wouldn't take Howie's self-syndie show--I recall Siegel was, with Jerry, one of the founder of the National Association of Radio Talk Show Hosts. This no longer exists.
Click to expand...

That information above is all correct. I've lurked year for years (and occasionally posted on the former board) and knew both Jerry and Howie at various career stages. While it makes for great drama and gossip to say that Howie attacked Jerry or pushed him out, in reality the station management (under shifting ownership/PDs during those years) makes changes at the station and let Jerry go, not Howie. There was no knife twisting. Jerry's last show on WRKO (that Saturday in 2002) also made things clear. Howie's only sin was being available for the microphone. Anyone in radio knows that jobs come and go regularly. Howie has said recently that if Jerry had been born 20 years later he would have been as popular/trailblazing as Rush Limbaugh.
 
Electrons said:
I've lurked year for years (and occasionally posted on the former board) and knew both Jerry and Howie at various career stages. While it makes for great drama and gossip to say that Howie attacked Jerry or pushed him out, in reality the station management (under shifting ownership/PDs during those years) makes changes at the station and let Jerry go, not Howie. There was no knife twisting. Jerry's last show on WRKO (that Saturday in 2002) also made things clear. Howie's only sin was being available for the microphone. Anyone in radio knows that jobs come and go regularly. Howie has said recently that if Jerry had been born 20 years later he would have been as popular/trailblazing as Rush Limbaugh.
Click to expand...

Wow...Thanks!
 
Electrons said:
That information above is all correct.
Click to expand...

Not surprising. I've always found Bill's(?) posts highly credible and free of vitriol... something I cannot say about other posters.
 
Sorry Bob. I remembered Nelson (mainly because I recall asking if you were related to Avi at one point) and remembered the B... Memory isn't what it used to be :)
 
Electrons said:
That information above is all correct. I've lurked year for years (and occasionally posted on the former board) and knew both Jerry and Howie at various career stages. While it makes for great drama and gossip to say that Howie attacked Jerry or pushed him out, in reality the station management (under shifting ownership/PDs during those years) makes changes at the station and let Jerry go, not Howie. There was no knife twisting. Jerry's last show on WRKO (that Saturday in 2002) also made things clear. Howie's only sin was being available for the microphone. Anyone in radio knows that jobs come and go regularly. Howie has said recently that if Jerry had been born 20 years later he would have been as popular/trae ilblazing as Rush Limbaugh.
Click to expand...

Let me fill in some gaps for you. After the Hizzoner broadcast of July 16, 1982 this poster was interviewed by the then EYE columnist for the old Boston Herald, Norma Nathan. She wanted to write a follow-up column but feared it might jeopardize her husband, Norm Nathan, who was then the morning man on WRKO. So, she asked that a new cub reporteir at the Herald interview this poster which he did several weeks later. The column was quite supportive of this poster and blamed management and the general manager specifically for initiating a publicity stunt that went off the tracks. The Hizzoner broadcast involved a mimic who was a sound a-like of the then mayor of Boston Kevin Hagen White. During the broadcast White called management in New York of RKO General, namely the VP of Radio, Bob Williamson, who months before had been the GM of Channel 7 WNAC. Williamson called WRKO and spoke to the GM of WRKO whho said he knew nothing about the broadcast although WRKO had a year long campaign attacking Kevin White on MBTA Billboards and with protest marches on Boston City Hall. The cub reporter stated in his column that management and specifically the WRKO GM scapegoated the lowest person on the totem pole namely the Executive Producer of the program. To quote the cub reporter he wrote the GM saying, " Who the hell is (insert name of the Executive Producer here) anyway...". This poster told the cub reporter that he now knew what it must have been like being part of the Nixon Administration during Watergate and to be left " ...twisting in the wind..." when Jerry Williams failed to confront the General Manager and tell him that the publicity stunt was the General Manager's idea soley. After the column was published, "Jerry's Pal Left Twisting in The Wind" Williams read the entire column on air and started to cry. Williams said he did all he could do for his executive producer short of standing up to the General Manager and losing his job ( that was unlikely since Williams was the major money maker for the station at that time.) Subsequent to his reading the article Jerry Williams invited the cub reporter on his program to discuss the column. Apparently, they hit it off because Jerry Williams asked him to fill in for him when he took time off. From that point on the cub reporter began his campaign to dethrone The Dean and take over his throne. In a sense Jerry Williams created his own Frankenstein... or is it Frankensteen... Of course, that cub reporter was and is Howie Carr. So, without the Hizzoner incident there would probably be no talker show host by the name of Howie Carr. I think this fills in some of the gaps and explains how Howie Carr ended up on the radio. This poster and Jerry Williams later reconciled their differences. This post in time realized that nothing Jerry Williams could have said or done would have changed the situation with this out of control general manager who bore a striking resemblance in words, action, behavior and looks to the current occupant of the Oval Office. As they say,' people who look a-like act a like. As to Howie Carr this poster has had no contact with him since the original column was written. Clearly, he accomplished his goal with great thanks to Hizzoner.
 
Thanks for info..I think the White imitator bit made it into the Jerry bio, Burning Up the Air.It may have also mentioned that Jerry as a result invited Howie to come on again and also do fill ins.
Howie may have joined Jerry for things like the 88 Dem convention.
That year, Howie appeared on the Morton Downey Jr show (clip on youtube) during the Willie Horton controversy.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=311s&v=K06WgWZK2hQ
Jerry was opposed to Dukakis for various reasons. A woman called up Jerry and sang "Unelectable..." to the tune of "Unforgettable". They had a recorded bit:
PEE WEE HERMAN: What's the secret word for today?
DUKAKIS:Taxes..
[Sound of woman screaming]
PEE WEE HERMAN: So when you hear the secret word...scream real loud!
--
Dukakis won ten states.
---
Jerry invited Howie to be one of the Tue. afternoon "Governors" along with Barbara Anderson.I think Bob Katzen was used instead of Howie when Howie went to WHDH."Always a pleasure," Howie would say on the "Governors".
When Jerry took time off :"Good afternoon New England, I'm Howie Carr and I'm in for the Dean today"

Yes it's true Howie would have never got on radio had it not been for Jerry but he could have done it via another local host, like Brudnoy, and eventually got his own show.
Various knights of the keyboard got their own shows including Mike Barnicle, Margery Eagan, Gerry Callahan etc
 
Last edited:
True but without Hizzoner Howie Carr would probably be just another ink stained wretch. And yes, there is piece about Hizzoner in “Burning Up ...” but this poster was never consulted on what the authors wrote. In fact, they were a bit defensive about setting the background of the incident. Perhaps, they were afraid of burning some corporate broadcast bridges that might hire them in the future.
 
Wasn't one of JW's beefs with Dukakis the result of Dukakis's decision to run for Gov. in '74, thus torpedoing the run of another Rep. from Brookline (Cohen?) whom JW favored? The plan had been for Cohen to run for Gov and Dukakis for AG, but Dukakis "double-crossed" Cohen and elbowed him out of running for the Corner Office. At least that's what I've heard.
 
Sandy got a mention from Howie yesterday but only as an aside when he was talking about hack salaries and referred to the annual list put out by the Comptroller Tom Shack, brother of "Sandy" Shack who used to be on his show.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom