Howie probably wouldn't write something that would put himself in a bad light.
Looking at the history of 'RKO via
http://bostonradio.org/stations/1902
In 1994, we had Rush and Howie moving over from WHDH 850; WEEI sports took its intellectual property and calls from 590 to 850 (the toilet flush on 850 at midnight). This was American Radio Systems, and : "In 1997, American Radio agreed to merge with CBS, forming the largest radio group in the country by revenue." They were forced to sell RKO, EEI, EGQ (93.7), and AAF, with CBS keeping 98.5. The aforementioned stations went to Entercom.
>>Under Entercom, WRKO struggled to find a place for itself in the Boston market. While Carr's local show remained successful (so much so that ABC Radio took the Herald columnist into national syndication in 1999), ratings for Limbaugh's midday show and the Laura Schlessinger advice show that preceded it remained flat
("National" but really just the occasional station in Wash state, Florida, Utah, Wisconsin.)
So the day that Rush and Howie moved to RKO in '94 I think they moved Jerry to late mornings, right? And eventually to weekends. Yes, Howie began appearing with Jerry starting in '88 IIRC
(the Dem convention), then there were all those "governors" shows and Howie filling in for
Jerry...and Howie winds up with the Dean's time slot. I think Jerry was off RKO by '98
From the Jerry Williams tribute site:
http://www.jerrywilliams.org/article-detail.php?article=6&articlename=Sounding off
That was a Globe article from 2002"
>>But his worst pain may not be physical. "I just wanted to do a last week of shows at 'RKO. I didn't want to do tearful goodbyes every day. After all, I'd been there a long time. They wouldn't let me do it. . . . I guess I was making too much money." WRKO referred questions about Williams to Entercom, the company that bought the station in 1998 from CBS. An assistant for John Donlevie, Entercom's general counsel, said Donlevie did not know Williams and could not comment.
Later the article mentions the changes:
Sep 94--Howie and Rush to RKO, Jerry to late mornings. Half the air time--"the fastest two hours in radio" he may have said, something Jeff Kuhner would basically say when he got the 11-noon
slot on RKO more recently, "the fastest 60 minutes in radio". Same article also mentions that
Jerry said after Howie got the job that oh, Howie DID say nice things about him, but Howie also kept mentioning how Jerry was older. This is where we get the "my name is Howie Carr,
not Father Time" quote from the Fried Clam Man.
Then (I forget exactly when), Jerry to weekends. Then by '98 IIRC, he was gone though he
popped up briefly on 1060 and 950. I think 1060 was an effort to re-create RKO--wasn't Gene
Burns on there too? Marge Clapprood? And in '03 Jerry passed away. If you ask Howie he
didn't force out Jerry--his mentor--it was a matter of Jerry growing older and the station
wanting to move on. (Barbara Anderson is quoted as saying they wanted Jerry to retire but
he kept wanting to go on)
Fybush, Oct 1998
>>one of the legends of Boston talk radio is going off the air. Jerry Williams helped create the genre in the sixties and seventies, rode it to unprecedented success at WRKO (680) in the eighties, and ended up relegated to weekend duty in the last few years.
Entercom's takeover of WRKO doesn't come with Jerry -- his contract is with prior owner ARS and didn't get transferred with the station Entercom's now trying to find a way to get Williams back for a farewell show; it's likely he'll find another permanent home at a different station sometime soon.
http://www.bostonradio.org/nerw/nerw-981009.html
who stood up to them.