Hall Of Famer

I’m told Howie Carr has apparently been inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame.

Now if can just get out of his Entercom contract.

Taking On Howie

At his Boston Herald blog page, Tai Irwin takes on Howie Carr, accusing him of “phoning-in” his radio program and newspaper column.

Irwin says he is willing to do both for free, if that’s what it takes to put some energy back into our tired local media scene.

While I agree with some of his points, Tai’s timing is off: Carr’s listeners can’t wait for him to return after suffering through a week of Fung Wah, his replacement.

The emails we’ve been receiving on this subject are amazing. Apparently, this is the first many had heard of the New Jersey hip hop promoter. Suddenly, Col Hunt’s ramblings actually seem coherent by comparison.

Howie’s quaint income tax approach

Howie still fills out paper tax forms and takes them to the post office! How quaint:

Mailed my state income taxes Monday. Stood in line at the post office. Thought about writing that check the night before, and all the layabouts who would be getting the money.

Thought about who was responsible for the fact that instead of 5 percent, it’s 5.3 percent Рa certain bald-headed, talentless fork-tongued little corrupt felon-lobbyist who should be doing a five-year stretch in prison, if only Judge Stearns had given him the same deal he’s going to give Cadillac Frank Salemme.

God, I can’t wait for Nov. 4, when I get my chance to vote to abolish the state income tax.

It’s going to be on the ballot in the fall. Could you use a 5.3 percent pay increase, or would you prefer that the money go to “the children” Рthe Bulger children?

Follow The Money Trail

In one of his best columns in recent memory, Howie Carr connects the Bay State’s corrupt political culture to the rape of a six-year-old boy in a New Bedford public library.

John McCain is crazy to be campaigning with Jane Swift.

The key point is this: it’s fun to chuckle about corruption in Massachusetts, but there are real victims of this malfeasance, including children.

But hey, if we bury ourselves in enough sports hype, we can pretend none of this is actually happening.

Howie’s Button Stunt

Boston radio folks are buzzing today about Howie Carr’s decision to wear a WTKK button while broadcasting his WRKO afternoon drive show from Manchester.

What’s it all about, Howie?

Carr was broadcasting from “radio row”, set up by Talkers Magazine, the industry advertorial publication.

Thanks to Scott Allen Miller for the report from the scene.

And now, to you: do you think this stunt was a wise move, or not?

More On The Spanking Flap

… at my other site, which is aimed at a national readership, so forgive me if you’ve seen bits of this here already.

Carr Benefits From Mass Ridicule

With Massachusetts reaffirming its position as America’s true pariah state, Howie Carr is capturing a bit of publicity from the proposed spanking ban. From ABC News:

Child psychologist Theresa Whitehurst said, “When a husband does it to a wife, the very same act is considered domestic violence. And when you hit a child, what’s the difference?”

Today, Boston talk radio took the idea to the woodshed.

“The listeners are pretty much appalled,” WRKO Radio host Howie Carr said. “Once again, Massachusetts cements its reputation as the craziest state in the union! What are you going to do? Are you going to have cameras in houses? Are you going to have 5-year-old kids testifying against their parents? It’s absurd.”

It’s one thing for a parent to decide not to spank their children. Plenty of parents have. But it may be quite another for the government to outright ban the practice. Massachusetts would be the first state in the nation to do it. But it wouldn’t be the first place in the world.

What’s especially annoying about the proposal is that it gives the “progressive” blue-state crowd an opportunity to claim Massachusetts is “ahead” of the other 49 states. That’s the same position Californians take whenever they propose a boneheaded law.

Howie’s Close Call

Howie Carr seems to have narrowly avoided being named in a suit filed by Ted Kennedy’s alleged “love child” and the young man’s mother, according to our Globie friends.

Carr’s lucky this Sandwich pair isn’t after his lunch:

A Cape Cod woman is suing the National Enquirer, claiming that two stories it published about a supposed “love child” with Senator Ted Kennedy were untrue. In the suit, filed Tuesday in US District Court, Caroline Bilodeau-Allen of East Sandwich says that “virtually every critical fact which [the Enquirer] reported is false and defamatory.”

The Enquirer published two stories early last year – on Jan. 30 and Feb. 6 – alleging that Kennedy and Bilodeau-Allen began dating in 1983, before Kennedy’s divorce from his wife, Joan, was finalized, and that Bilodeau became pregnant in 1984. (Bilodeau-Allen was unmarried at the time and is referred to as Bilodeau in the stories.)

The tabloid further alleged that the senator, then in his early 50s, begged Bilodeau, who was in her early 20s, to have an abortion. The Enquirer also claimed that he gave her expensive gifts, including a black Mustang convertible, a purebred Shar-Pei, and $15,000 cash in exchange for her silence.

[...]

As a result of the stories, the suit claims, both Bilodeau-Allen and her son have had their reputations “ruined.” Though he’s not named as a defendant, the suit singles out radio host Howie Carr for “mocking Christopher for his ‘love child’ status” on his talk show. Both Bilodeau-Allen and Christopher are now on antidepressants and under the care of psychologists, according to the claim.

Howie’s First Show Recap Promo

Funny enough, the first Howie Carr promo to air since his return has the host praising a local judge for throwing out charges filed against him many years ago. It ran just before Rush Limbaugh’s show today.

Given Howie’s more recent luck with Hub judges, it’s a strange topic choice, don’t you think?

The Body Snatchers Surge Ahead

Now that Howie Carr has fallen prey to Boston’s body snatchers, there’s quite a smear effort underway against SaveWRKO.

As the bad guys are feeling especially powerful now, why shouldn’t they work to bring us down? Many people thought Howie had a backbone, but look how easily he was brought under their control. How hard can it be to wipe out a silly blog?

Supposedly, any time this site reported and commented on the latest speculation, we were making “predictions”. And so what if we “guessed” wrong? Howie folded a lot faster and easier than anyone could have expected.

Frankly, we weren’t Howie’s friends during his legal battle, nor are we his enemies now. It’s about calling them as you see them.

It’s funny how a station that hired a convicted felon, has done pedestrian “whaddaya-think” radio during much of the rest of the day, fired its entire news staff and watched ratings plunge outside of Red Sox baseball coverage has the gall to question anyone else’s credibility.

What angers them is simple: this site has readers, from fed-up talk radio fans to local TV, radio and newspaper professionals. Even when Howie hasn’t been making news, traffic has been consistently impressive, especially considering our modest digs.

Don’t expect this site to be intimidated by the party opposite’s thuggish tactics.