Monday, August 13, 2007

Dennis and Callahan on the outs? It's about time.

Dennis and Callahan may be on the outs with WEEI. Scott's Shots broke it, the Herald led with it, and Dan Kennedy analyzed it.

Good riddance. John Dennis is still all right, and I think that the last four months of co-hosts has allowed him to work outside of the rigid lines Gerry Callahan draws for him on the air. The ratings apparently remained sky-high for Dennis without Callahan, according to Scott:

While it is believed the two sides are at least in the same neighborhood on salary and length of the deal, Dennis and Callahan are basing their demands on what they see as their combined value to the station. Entercom's perception of that value (especially with the most recent ratings book indicating the absence of Callahan didn't have any appreciable effect on the show's popularity) appears to be somewhat lower.


If the rating stayed strong without Gerry tossing hate-filled bombs every morning, then 'EEI could replace one or both of these guys and not miss a beat. Dan Kennedy agrees, and suggests moving Dale and Holley to the morning drive time. That's a fine idea. I also think extending an offer to Bob Neumeier for an noontime slot with another host would work as well. Maybe you pair him with Steve Buckley and Jon Meterparel. Or swap Buck for Steve DeOssie. Or keep Meter in the mornings for some continuity with the 18-24 demographic. The station has options thanks to the cast of thousands format The Big Show employs. They've developed a fairly deep bench of players to draw from.

Still, it's incredibly bad timing on WEEI's part, as the Jimmy Find Radiothon is this week, and they want their A-Game to raise some cash. Why create this swirl of garbage now? WEEI is still running an ad featuring Dennis for the Jimmy Fund telethon. Whether that's an oversight, a sign that this is more posturing than a true break-up, or an effort to keep the best face forward for the charity is anyone's guess. And if the true story of Gerry Callahan's prolonged illness is more serious than run-of-the-mill throat trouble, this could become a very damaging story for the station in particular and Entercom in general.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can't stand the WEEI morning show. I stopped listening about three years ago when they stopped talking about sports.

Anonymous said...

If you want sports talk in the AM, listen to 890...Mike and Mike on ESPN radio!

Anonymous said...

Agree - ESPN in AM and PM...in afternoon they get guests in the world of sports (not people from Herald, ProJo, Lowell etc) and talk about issues...and on ESPN you don't have 5 people talking at once.

D & C stopped being entertaining as first poster says about 3 yrs ago...EEI is sports - maybe talk sports once in a while????

Anonymous said...

Dennis by himself is just fine. Callahan is a loud mouth jerk. Only listened again since Callahan out and Dennis has sounded fresh and it has been more sports oriented again. Keep John Dennis. Get rid of Callahan, "Headlines" and Meterparel and the show will be great again

Anonymous said...

The best morning show period. Jealous . Weei making a big mistake here.