With renewed public outrage, the attempt by disgraced former Democratic House Speaker Tom Finneran to win a presidential pardon for his felony perjury conviction has opened up a huge can of worms locally.
During a phone conversation with a local media person Friday afternoon, I asked why The Finne-felon doesn’t simply wait for Obama to take office to mount his campaign. Why would Bush, a Republican, feel compelled to help an entrenched Massachusetts Democrat?
The quite logical answer: given the nature of The Felon’s crime, lying about his racist gerrymandering scheme, a pardon could prove politically sensitive for the Obamist Regime. That’s why the race is on to get this done in the next ten days.
Meanwhile, fellow WRKO talker Howie Carr isn’t waiting for Bush’s response, if any: his latest Boston Herald column, published in Saturday’s editions, offers his strongest language yet. Calling Finneran a “maggot”, Howie’s truly unleashed here:
The Four Stooges said Felon Finneran has been “severely punished.” Really? He’s still making big money for his wretched radio show, which we call “Sweet Sixteen,” because that’s generally about where it finishes in the ratings. The Felon usually runs neck and neck with “The River,” and sometimes he even edges the Manchester N.H. soft-rock station. Sometimes. His show is so compelling it now goes off the air at 9 instead of 10, and they’re trying to prop him up with a co-host.
Finneran should be breakin’ rocks in the hot sun. He fought the law and the law won. Although I still remember the day he was “sentenced,” and how Judge Rick Stearns was almost apologizing for having to ask him the questions every convicted felon has to answer.
Are you on drugs this morning, wiseguy? You do know you can’t own a firearm anymore, maggot. But no, it was all “Mistah Speakah” this and “I know this is a silly question but . . .” I was there in the courtroom hoping to make a victim-impact statement. See, I was at the courthouse the day Felon Finneran told his string of incredible whoppers about his racist gerrymandering scheme in the city of Boston.
I was shocked, shocked, I tell you. I tried not to let it destroy my faith in the integrity of the Massachusetts Legislature. But I can’t get over it. Then last year, the Felon speculated to Gov. Patrick that I should be taken for a one-way ride in the trunk of the governor’s Coupe Deval.
Just out of curiosity, I looked up “maggot” and discovered that Howie’s actually being a bit too kind to the Felon. He might even owe the little guys an apology.
That’s because the worm-like insects actually have an important medical benefit for patients suffering from flesh wounds, particularly for those who no longer benefit from conventional antibiotics, as a result of resistance.
That’s maggots 1, The Felon 0.
What is his benefit to society? He’s spent his entire life taking what he can from us and giving back not a damn thing.
Nonetheless, I think this kind of Bostonian public battle is healthy. After the damage The Felon has done to Massachusetts taxpayers, ethnic minorities and governmental ethics, why shouldn’t it be payback time?
By contrast, in “nice” Seattle, local newspapers would be scolding us all for a lack of “civility” and imploring everyone involved to get back to traditional Scandinavian pursuits, such as making stinky lutefisk. There, political scores are settled through pathetic backstabbing, while in Boston, it’s a good old fashioned fistfight.
Of course, all of that “niceness” has both of their daily papers in even bigger trouble than ours. They have two boring broadsheets, while we are burdened with just one.
Finneran image: Boston Herald
Tags: Beacon Hill, Boston Herald, Brian Maloney, Corruption, Entercom, Howie Carr, massachusetts politics, New England, state income tax, Thomas Finneran, WRKO
January 10th, 2009
Let me get this straight: after hiring a convicted felon (and former Democrat House Speakah) as morning host and an alleged child rapist for the midmorning shift, we’re supposed to feel sorry for two of the radio industry’s most notorious mismanagers?
The very public effort by Coffee Boy (in Herald image below, making his first-ever visual appearance at SaveWRKO!) and The Empress to be seen as victims of an angry WEEI listener is beyond belief. In broadcasting, threatening calls come with the territory, to the point where they’re mundane.
Not for a moment am I condoning the actions of one David Banner, who definitely doesn’t moonlight as The Incredible Hulk:
The man charged with leaving death wishes and menacing messages for WEEI sports yakkers John Dennis and Gerry Callahan and their bosses is a down-and-out wedding photographer who says he’s sorry and insists he never would have harmed them.
“I’m really sorry. I’m more angry at myself than anything else,” said David Banner, who says he’s getting help after he allegedly left messages wishing the radio bigwigs would “die.”
In an interview with the Herald yesterday, Banner said he’s been having “a bad couple of years.” He said his mother has Alzheimer’s and he’s been under a lot of stress. He said he also suffers from depression and has had a couple seizures over the past few months.
“It’s been tough. It’s not an excuse. I meant them no harm,” said Banner, 57, who appeared mild-mannered as he spoke from the multi-family Cambridge home where he lives. “If I could take it back I would.
“I’m just an average guy just trying to live a life, and I made a mistake,” he added.
At the same time, anyone with significant tenure in broadcasting who hasn’t toughened up to this kind of crap by now should find a new career.
Want to hear about REAL threats? In 1997, while working the afternoon drive shift at KOH 780 AM in Reno, somebody driving by the rear of the station (which unfortunately fronts a major thoroughfare) took a shot at my engineer, with the ammo stopped only by the interior bulletproof pane. If not for that protection, it would have hit him in the head, the positioning was perfect. Because it occurred during the wintertime, it was already dark, so he didn’t see who did it.
Who did I tick off that day? In Nevada, rather like Boston’s mobbed-up era, there are certain people one must avoid angering.
Before that, I worked at a Monterey Bay, California station that had absolutely NO security. The front windows were shot out repeatedly by friendly passers-by.
And in 1998, just as I was arriving at Seattle’s KVI to begin a new position as evening host, a violent demonstration took place in the building’s lobby, spilling out into the streets. The reason for the OUTRAGE (!!!): KVI hosts were adamantly supporting Initiative 200, which banned certain racial preferences. It ultimately passed.
When Rush Limbaugh visited the station a short time later, it took a full security team to protect him after angry threats of violence were made by dozens of supposedly peace-loving Seattle “progressives”. Standing next to KVI’s newsroom fax, I watched as these unhinged nuts spread this vision of “tolerance” from one machine to another.
Finally, sometimes the most dangerous people in broadcasting are inside the building, not out in the parking area. While at Seattle’s KIRO-AM, then owned by our good friends at Entercom, a fellow host with an unpredictable personality carried a gun with him at all times. Later, he was murdered by a drug addict who had moved into his home several months earlier.
Talk radio, with WEEI’s sports chatter most certainly included, is a medium with both friends and enemies. Whether one is a host or manager, working in this field requires a thick skin.
Though Boston’s a tough town, most of our broadcast outlets are run by touchy egomaniacs. In a dangerous business, that’s not a good fit.
That’s why I see right through The Empress and Coffee Boy: with their track records, they resemble perps much more than victims.
Tags: Brian Maloney, Entercom, Jason Wolfe, Julie Kahn, Reese Hopkins, WRKO
January 9th, 2009
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.
Tags: Brian Maloney, Entercom, Jessica Heslam, Reese Hopkins, Tom Finneran, WRKO
September 11th, 2008
