Beacon Hill In Meltdown Mode

Could things be any worse for the Corruptocrats on Beacon Hill?

Just days before the election, senators are meeting to determine the fate of Bay State Bra Bandit Dianne Wilkerson (D-Robbery). They could move to oust her, but she might retaliate and finger them for their own crooked behavior.

In a particularly precarious position is mean-spirited, anger-filled Senate President Therese Murray (D-Ragebury), who may prove to have had a role in the alleged Beacon Hill bribery/extortion racket.

This makes it tough for SE Mass papers like the Patriot-Ledger, which normally lionize Murray and support corrupt, single-party rule. Today, however, that paper did report on her troubles.

Especially hilarious is watching Mayor-For-Life Mumbles Menino claim his hands are clean.

At this point, we don’t even know what impact this could have on the elections, where area Democrats now caught up in this meltdown are the very ones who’ve pushed hard for Barack Obama.

That may not affect the Massachusetts vote, but remember that Boston television and radio outlets dominate New Hampshire, where the race between Obama and McCain is very close.

With Wilkerson and the rapidly-growing corruption scandal now dominating headlines for almost two days, this can’t be good for their cause.

Meanwhile, The Felon’s sick attempt at defending Wilkerson and Beacon Hill’s corruption is making news today. From the Boston Herald’s Media Biz column:

And as Finneran defended the scandal-plagued Wilkerson yesterday, co-host Wendy Murphy let him have it.

“The fact that you want to say ‘just cause somebody’s giving me money and I happened to help them with their special legislation doesn’t mean the money was a quid pro quo’ – you can say that all day long and I hope it helped you sleep nights,” Murphy said.

Finneran cut her off and shot back: “Don’t even get up to a line let alone cross a line on that bull (expletive). I’m dead serious.”

Finneran’s foul language didn’t make it onto the air, said program director Jason Wolfe, but it was heard loud and clear on the Internet, where listeners can tune into WRKO-AM (680) live.

“When you nail him he just gets angry and resorts to abusive language,” said savewrko.com blogger Brian Maloney . “Wendy went for his throat and he couldn’t take it because he’s trying to defend the indefensible.”

Finneran didn’t return a call to MediaBiz yesterday.

Potential WRKO hosts should be required to take a character test. With last week’s arrest of Reese Hopkins, the station can add alleged child molester to its roster of ex-personalities.

Yesterday wasn’t the first time Finneran lost it on the air.

Back in February, Finneran fumed “bull (expletive)” twice on his show but the producer pushed the “dump button” in time and the profanity wasn’t heard on terrestrial radio. Offensive on-air language can mean a steep FCC fine.

Finneran has failed to attract a large audience, and it’s pretty clear why.

Mumbles, Wilkerson images: John Wilcox, Boston Herald

Sicko Finneran Defends Wilkerson’s Corruption

When confronted with the reality that his Beacon Hill friends are disgusting crooks, The Felon at first tried to defend their corruption. But when pressed on the issue, the arrogant convict snapped and once again resorted to dropping the S-bomb.

Heard this morning on WRKO:

What is this creep still doing on the radio?

Herald: Entercom Cuts Hit Boston

As Entercom’s share price sinks below two dollars a share, layoffs hit the company hard today, with deep cuts coming across the country.

Here at home, the Herald’s Jessica Heslam reports that 10 were let go in Boston, including “Reese Hopkins” of WRKO, The Felon’s producers and even a sales manager:

The ax came down hard today at Entercom-owned radio stations in Boston and the casualties include WRKO host Reese Hopkins – who was whacked after his mid-morning show.

About 10 employees at Entercom’s Boston stations have been canned so far as the company’s stock tumbled to under $2 for the first time ever during trading today.

Two producers of Tom Finneran’s morning-drive show were also ousted, including Rich Teter, and Andrew Strecker, according to sources. The head of promotions at WRKO-AM (680), Laura Rieder, and the head of national sales, Donald St. Sauveur, were also let go. A producer for the “Hillman Morning Show” with Greg Hill on WAAF [website]-FM (97.7 and 107.3) was also canned.

But if they can’t afford these people, then how can they continue to pay Finneran a high salary for subpar performance? How many programming managers will really be needed to oversee a shrinking on-air staff?

Judging by the rapidly-collapsing stock price, Entercom (NYSE:ETM) may have much less of a future than anyone could have imagined just a few months ago.

Between the credit crunch, loss of traditional advertisers such as car dealerships, still-bloated managerial costs and heavy debt levels, it’s a wonder how any radio company is able to survive this crisis.

At Entercom, however, these moves could prove much too little, way too late if the hidden financial picture looks as bad as one might suspect.

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.

A Risky Proposition

It’s one thing to keep Reese Hopkins on the air because WRKO management is unwilling to admit they’ve made a grave error, but quite another to send him out in public.

After the Fenway incident, why haven’t they learned their lesson?

From the Gloucester Daily Times:

Reese holding ‘Town Hall meeting’ at George’s on Monday morning

By All Hands

One of Boston’s leading talk radio show hosts will be talking, and listening, to residents in Gloucester Monday morning.

“Reese on the Radio,” the 10 a.m.-to-noon show featuring host Reese Hopkins on WRKO AM-680, will broadcast its entire program Monday from George’s coffee shop at the corner of Washington Street and Centennial Avenue, with the show serving as a “real Town Hall meeting” on teen pregnancy from Gloucester High to other areas of New England and beyond.

The remote show is designed to “allow listeners and local members of the community to visit Reese at the coffee shop to talk about the teen pregnancy issue,” said WRKO marketing coordinator Christina Anders.

George’s proprietor Dean Salah said he was contacted by WRKO and agreed to host the broadcast once coordinators noted that the show is meant to generate positive and open discussion about teen pregnancy, not negative talk about Gloucester and its teens.

Host Hopkins has dedicated parts of several programs to the Gloucester teen pregnancy issue and teen pregnancy in general since the local story broke. He has talked on the air about his own family’s ties to the issue ‚Äî he has a sister who was a teen mom ‚Äî and has said he believes this is one issue on which talk radio can make a difference through open discussion.

The Reese on the Radio midday show regularly includes guests in the studio and on the phone, as well as phone calls from listeners. The show runs Mondays through Fridays in WRKO’s 10-12 time slot, sandwiched between the likes of former State House Speaker Tom Finneran, Rush Limbaugh and Howie Carr.

Lawyer For Talk Radio Felons Passes Away

Richard Egbert, a criminal defense attorney whose clients included crooked talk radio shysters Tommy Tune Out and The Other Felon, has passed away, according to news reports.

From the Herald:

Egbert’s client list included former Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci, former Massachusetts House Speaker Tom Finneran, controversial State House-connected accountant Richard Vitale, a Stoughton cop accused of extortion, a state trooper accused of soliciting sex from a boy, and several accused mob figures. Fellow Boston mob lawyer Tony Cardinale said Egbert was a tireless worker and brilliant lawyer.

“He was a good friend,” Cardinale said. “You want to set the mark of a tremendous, unbelievable lawyer, he set the mark, and he was a great guy, too. . . . I think we’ve lost a champion. I don’t know that there’s anybody who can fill his shoes.”

Used To Criticism?

In a news story announcing Tom Finneran’s hiring, the felon himself makes the case that he’s already accustomed to taking critical calls:

He also declared himself more than ready for the rough- and- tumble of talk radio, saying after 26 years in public life he’s accustomed to “people calling in and criticizing.”

The problem is that unlike talk radio, where these calls come directly from the public and go right out over the airwaves, Finneran had a full staff on Beacon Hill to insulate himself from this kind of heat. And, given his legendary arrogance, Finneran likely has one of the thinnest skins in politics.

And here, he really must have had reporters laughing at this comment:

Finneran was accused of lying under oath in a lawsuit that stemmed from a legislative redistricting plan.

Finneran said today he made a mistake and is now paying the price for it.

No, Tommy Taxes, thanks to Julie Kahn and whatever sleazy deal got you this job, you’ve paid no price whatsoever.

Tom Finneran and Willie Brown

A huge problem with Boston’s media environment is that it is notoriously insular and provincial, to the point where not having worked in other parts of the country is actually a bragging point.

As exposure to different markets can earn one a great deal of industry respect, Boston’s insider media sentiment is the opposite of what reporters, hosts and TV anchors will encounter elsewhere.

As a result, what you don’t see in coverage of the Finneran hiring is a good perspective on just how many times other stations have tried and failed at this very strategy in the past.

A fantastic comparison can be made between Finneran and Willie Brown, the former California State Assembly speaker who ruled the Golden State with an iron fist for at least as long as Tommy Taxes ran Beacon Hill.

Brown’s immense power scared many Californians to death, to the point where some of his legislative supporters were removed in recall elections. Later, he became mayor of San Francisco, taking his flamboyant style and engaging personality to the Northern California city.

A far more interesting character than Finneran could ever hope to be, Brown moved into a high-profile morning drive position on San Francisco’s KQKE The Quake after leaving his mayoral post.

Teamed with comedian Will Durst, Brown’s morning drive show was a spectacular failure, despite his clear compatibility with the station’s liberal audience. It didn’t last a year.

Given that Kahn previously worked in San Francisco, she has even less of an excuse for not understanding this key point.

Finneran, on the other hand, is a square peg in a round hole at WRKO and will encounter an entirely hostile audience, if anybody actually sticks around long enough for his February debut.

Had WRKO’s current management team had the experience necessary to program a major talk radio station, this point would have been obvious. Instead, left to these amateurs, mistakes that others made long ago in other markets are now being repeated here.

Press Conference: Opportunity Lost?

In their press conference this morning, we’re told WRKO management announced that Tom Finneran would not start his new morning drive talk show until mid-February.

If that’s really the case, then they’ve lost the one advantage they’ve had going into this deal: the current wave of publicity surrounding the now-convicted felon.

Why the delay? If this guy’s really ready to go, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t start on Monday.

Five weeks from now, Finneran’s troubles will be old news, the spotlight will be on something else and news of his hiring will be stale and boring to the local media.

Add to that the lack of a natural talk radio audience constituency for Tommy Taxes and this show should prove to be Dead On Arrival.

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.