Entercom’s Luxury Box Blues

Today’s Boston Herald Media Biz column is a doozy, with Entercom and WRKO looking foolish on many fronts.

First, Jessica Heslam reports that the beleaguered broadcast firm has asked sales execs not to bring clients to the company’s Fenway luxury box this weekend so that elitist CEO David Field can entertain his friends and pretend all is well.

Next, she has an update on the Reese Hopkins meltdown over any suggestion he might have misbehaved at the ballpark:

Meanwhile, over at Brian Maloney’s savewrko.com, the Entercom suite was getting attention for another reason.

Maloney wrote that it was a “risky proposition” for WRKO-AM (680) to send host Reese Hopkins to Gloucester earlier this week to do his show after the “Fenway incident” last spring. Hopkins broadcast his show live from Fenway on Opening Day.

Naturally, many Web visitors wanted more details and Maloney told them to ask Hopkins or WRKO. One radio listener did. Hopkins responded to the listener with an e-mail and Maloney posted the response online.

“For the record, after my show I went up to the luxury box to watch the game, had a few and got in the face of a few media types that had been giving me crap while hiding behind their articles and cameras,” Hopkins wrote.

Yesterday, Hopkins wouldn’t comment on the “private e-mail” he sent to his listener. The host told MediaBiz that he has talked about the Fenway incident on his show, telling listeners he “went upstairs and had a few.”

Finally, she reports that Tom Finneran couldn’t successfully auction off a spring training trip, with proceeds going to charity. Number of bidders: zero.

See the column here.

Unnecessary Meanness

Though radio is by no means a “nice” business, there’s nothing typical about the way WRKO’s managers have handled their recent affairs.

What normally would be done with great discretion has instead been mishandled and carried out in public view. Has Entercom’s corporate HR department lost influence with WRKO’s management?

Examples:

- Scott Allen Miller has all but been fired in the newspapers, forced to suffer each day through Julie’s latest indiscreet tip-offs to the press (and her competition as well) about her station’s programming plans.

- After trying very hard to cater to Kahn’s whims, host Todd Feinburg essentially has been told he’s only taking the 9-noon slot until someone better comes along, also relayed via the press for maximum public humiliation.

- Topping it off, WRKO’s all-day negotiations with Finneran were held in full view of the station’s staff yesterday, taking staff morale to a fresh low, if that could have previously seemed possible.

Through her actions, Kahn has made it clear she’s been given the power by Entercom and CEO David Field to behave as she wishes, without fear of consequences. But it’s meanness for its own sake, with no business purpose and bound to catch up with her soon enough.

In fact, she tipped off the competition so many times as to her plans that one station juggled its lineup ahead of her moves. It’s like giving your playbook to the opposing team.

Another key here is that Kahn seems to be enjoying the Boston media spotlight a bit too much, one big reason why the Finneran deal remained on track until the end.

Even if Entercom does finally rid itself of Kahn, however, it will now be stuck with Finneran and his contract.

Finneran Still Negotiating

It’s a testament to the sheer level of misery present at Entercom Boston that employees are coming out of the woodwork to give us confidential tips. Anybody still in the building is clearly looking to get away from Julie’s Reign of Evil as soon as possible.

And one that we can report tonight is that Finneran spent a good portion of the day negotiating with WRKO’s station management in a long, closed-door session. Is the deal really done?

And what is taking so long? Is Finneran really in a position to push for even more money? If not for WRKO, he’d be unable to secure the night shift at his nearest Store24 or Stop & Shop.

That’s why many who have contacted us feel there’s something fishy going on regarding Finneran’s deal. Why is a inexperienced felon worth big money? If they offered him $10 an hour, would that be too high?

UPDATE: am hearing at least one TV station is reporting Finneran’s been hired. At this point, it’s anticlimatic.

Herald: Finneran Announcement Tomorrow

The least surprising story of the day is that WRKO expects to announce Tom Finneran’s hiring tomorrow at 11am, according to the Herald.

In establishing this site, we never expected to change Julie Kahn’s mind. She’s bound and determined to bring WRKO to its knees and the next phase of the station’s comlpete destruction will begin tomorrow. Opposition, no matter how strong, only forces a person with this mentality to further dig in her heels.

Kahn is simply never going to admit that she has no idea how to program a talk radio station.

At the same time, her determination to rescue a crooked convicted felon friend with no experience hosting a daily talk drivetime talk show seems not to have set off any alarm bells at Entercom headquarters in Pennsylvania. That isn’t surprising either.

While her huge ego and astounding arrogance will eventually be her undoing, for now, she’s still being protected at some level of the company.

In the meantime, all it would take is for about four of Howie’s callers to bring Finneran to the point of exploding into an uncontrollable rage.