Wiser and mellower? Not on your life. True story from Cary's Cape adventure: He asked a local guy who had established himself in the Cape media, without Cary's help, to interview for the Boch station as on-air talk talent. The two made a deal but at the last minute Cary decided the new guy should have a partner...no choice but to go along with it after reorganizing his life to accept the new job our guy was stunned when Cary said, "Of course, that cuts the package in half." Then the guy became the station star and Cary had to raise his pay by more than triple to keep him...also began to search for plan B.
Then the daily drama began. Cary is a little on the obsessive side of compulsive and he gives being cheap a bad name. He would poke his head into the talk studio during the morning drive talk show and ask, "Have you finished with the Herald yet?" Newscasters, sportscasters and talk talent were expected to buy their own newspapers...the station bought nothing...then Cary would scoff them up and read them as if they were his own.
Going to lunch with Cary: "They have great specials here...have one of the specials." Followed by, "You're not going to have desert, are you?"
Getting fired by Cary (also known as plan B): "Don't worry, I won't say you were fired for cause so you'll be able to collect unemployment." In fact, the talent stayed on the air for three weeks after being told he was out. Cary kept asking, "So, when is your last day?" so he could claim the talent had quit. Talent's response never varied, "You terminated me...you tell me when the day is." (St. Patrick's Day 1995) Then, oddly, the unemployment claim was challenged...fired for cause. Hyannis unemployment office said, "Here we go again, I've dealt with this character before." When asked by the Hyannis unemployment office to justify the challenge Cary flat out lied...and they knew it and allowed the claim, told him he could put it all in writing and there would be a formal hearing in ten days...under oath and recorded. Why didn't Cary want to do that? The truth was that Cary fired this guy to save money and then tried to make it look as if he had cause, and very serious cause at that. Cape Cod is a very small place. Cary has not been missed at all. He did not make friends here...well, there was that one blond in the newsroom, but maybe they just had a lot in common and one surviving talk host who needs remedial English instruction. "Good mahnin', how ah yah?"
My experience with Pahigian is first-hand. I understand that early in his Portland career one of his stations was offering sponsorships for farts. What class, what talent, what originality. First class guy? If only Judy Jarvis were still alive to tell her Pahigian stories. Would I ever believe anything he says? NO. Do I doubt that this deal he has cooked up for Howie is unethical and sleezy? NO. I just hope Howie does not get hurt in the frey. He is a good guy. Radio is a tough business...but does it have to be as evil as Cary makes it? I don't think so. By the way, when newsman Chris Barnes left Boch Broadcasting and went to another Cape station Boch broadcasting sued him under their non-compete, and won. Cary must have seen the light, finally.
Final story (pardon the long post, but this is a beauty): Boch bought a small cluster of Cape stations to add to WXTK. Some teenagers exressed their anger at the format change by cutting a cable that snaked along the ground from a satellite dish to the studio building. Boch (through Cary) posted an announcement in all the Cape media for a $10,000 reward fro information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perps. Our fired talk guy happened to hear a friend telling how his son knew who had done the deed. Talk guy told his friend about the rward, friend went to the police with his son, game over. Cary refused to pay the reward. He said it was not payable because the perps had surrendered to police but had not actually been what he considered 'arrested'. Informant sued and went to arbitration where Cary and Boch beat him down to less than half the amount they had posted. Yup, I guess you could say he is a first class guy. Cary tried to claim many, many, many thousands of dollars of damage to electronics as a result of the incident. Would you belive him?
