It's second all-time viewed.
"Contentious talk show host Severin fired; WTKK’s step may reflect a shift in radio culture
April 07, 2011 | By Mark Shanahan, Globe Staff
His show had struggled in the ratings in recent years....
I never listened. We get the flip side on the local news station out here. It is the Thom Hartmann, Randi Rhodes, Ed Schultz afternoon/evening marathon. I only listen in the car, and I'm tired of the whole Democrat-Republican thing when both parties have driven this nation to ruin.
Severin’s tenure had been particularly tumultuous. A self-described libertarian and “rock ‘n’ roll Republican,’’ he arrived on local airwaves in 2000 and immediately displayed his fondness for rhetorical bombshells. He used a crude epithet to refer to Hillary Rodham Clinton, called President Obama “demonstrably a racist,’’ and said that in his world “the poor and stupid would starve.’’
Aren't they already?
Severin did not return calls yesterday, but his attorneys, George Tobia and Laura Studen, did.
“It’s pretty transparent that this is no more than the station’s interest in saving money,’’ Studen said. “Jay’s the highest paid guy at the station and they have a ratings problem, so.... ’’
Oh, I'm sure they will have to pay him or buy out the contract.
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“I’d guess it was a business decision,’’Michael Harrison, publisher of the radio industry magazine Talkers, said. “If you have a controversial host, you have to put up with a lot of heat from special interest groups and, sometimes, the FCC. If the host is worth it, you keep him or suspend him. But when the heat outweighs the benefits, you get rid of him, and I’d say that’s what happened in this case.’’
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“You can be sure of a company’s motivations,’’ said Ari Rabin-Havt of the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters for America. “But obviously [Severin’s] shtick had gone too far in the past and his most recent comments went to personal conduct, and Greater Media made the decision that they didn’t want that conduct at their company.’’
Severin’s most recent suspension came for comments he made March 29, while discussing the case of American Apparel Inc. chairman and chief executive Dov Charney, who is being sued for sexual harassment by two former female employees. Severin called the women “whores and liars’’ and said they belong in jail. He went on to say that he had slept with interns.
“Those girls that got to sleep with me got to know their boss better, they got to go on trips, they got to travel in some cases to various parts of the world, to see things and meet people that they never would have seen or done,’’ he said.
Severin said he saw no problem in his behavior. “I don’t think of myself as a monster or strange in any way because of that. All I was was a young man who was the boss, and I did it because I could.’’
Ah, the attitude of war-criminals and Wall Street looters!!
Stations are less inclined to back a controversial host if ratings are low, Rabin-Havt said....
That and the paycheck are why he is gone now.
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Ah, the sound of silence.
