Folks, our old friends at WEEI in Boston are at it again.
I think you all know my thoughts on the station as a whole. I used to be a massive fan, but then after the dismantling of Kirk and Callahan, I moved on.
Since I’ve started this blog I’ve mocked the hiring of 98.5 reject and known blowhard Andy Gresh. I’ve commented on the laughable reporting of Ben Volin that took place on WEEI’s airwaves. Then mocked the support that the on-air hosts gave for the Boston Globe, who once lobbied for them to be shut down.
Now we come to this week.
The failure of WEEI and all of its parent company’s stations is well documented. Audacy is in deep trouble financially. It is trading under fifty cents a share in the stock market. What does that mean? I’m no economist, but that’s bad. If I can throw down a Benjamin and buy a lot of shares of your company, you’re in tough shape.
So as you can imagine, any Audacy station is beginning to cut costs. WEEI is no exception.
First reported on the KIrk Minihane Show of Barstool Sports, there are some changes coming to WEEI’s radio lineup. Christian Fauria, currently on the 2-6 shift, will be joining Andy Gresh on the midday shift. Rich Keefe, who I used to like but turned into an insufferable puke as of late, is reportedly moving from his midday slot to evenings, which is currently hosted by Mike “Mut” Mutnansky. All of this is a typical radio panic-mode move. Taking talent that isn’t performing well and shifting them to a new time where they will, inevitably, not perform well. This is WEEI 101.
The bigger story here isn’t the useless musical chairs going on. It turns out that current afternoon host and former Boston Red Sox utility infielder Lou Merloni is out of WEEI.
This is total nonsense.
Lou Merloni was a quality host. He had some energy and would actually get passionate about his takes. Was it always legitimate? Who’s to say. But I was always entertained by Lou. He could make the painfully boring summertime baseball talk relatively palatable.
Now the show he was on was getting lambasted by Felger and Mazz in the ratings. I mean we are talking about getting beaten by 15 points. That’s a lot. Was it Lou’s fault though? I don’t think so. It is more the fault of inept management.
I hope for Lou’s sake, he lands on his feet. There is an opening as color commentator for the Red Sox on NESN due to the retirement of Dennis Eckersly. That would be a good spot for him. He clearly knows the game and has shown he can call a game on the radio.
One thing I’ve never understood, and Kirk Minihane mentioned on his program today, is when it comes to cost cutting, why aren’t they cutting people with huge salaries that don’t do anything? As someone who has been cut to save costs, it has never made any sense. Business wise, wouldn’t you look to get rid of big salaries before small ones? The answer is obvious of course. The losers that get paid a lot to do nothing are the ones making these awful decisions.
Now WEEI sees the writing on the wall, and if I were Lou, I’d be kind of happy I got out when I did. This station is going downhill fast. I mean take a look at the one show that wasn’t touched. The most “talented” person on the Greg Hill Morning Show is a producer. There is hardly any talent among the three hosts. I’m sure you could ax a big salary like Greg Hill’s.
It’s no surprise this is happening. The station has been mismanaged for a long time. All they’re doing is delaying the inevitable. It’s as simple as the crew of the Titanic moving the deck chairs around as it slips quietly into the north Atlantic.