Finn: Ordway gets the boot; Replaced by Salk

Gambler7

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Honestly all it has done is reminded me just how bad this show was. All these "celebrity" callers calling in, brutal. Nice of them to let "Joey" stay on and read a poem to Ordway after his blatant racism to Holley, just sweep that under the rug.
 

scottyno

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I like the nostalgia clips and old stories because they remind me of how I used to love the big show and listen every day after school.  Maybe it was as bad then as I think it got now but I just never realized it, but I thought the show was great back then
 

Andy Merchant

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Interesting comment from Chad Finn on his live chat today (link) that I don't recall hearing before:
 

Comment From Chris:

I did not hear the broadcast, but I have a lot of respect for the way Glenn Ordway addressed his termination on-air, based on what I have read. Makes me realize that in some cases, even if I don't like someone's radio personality, I might feel differently about the person. Allow me to stress the "in some cases" part.

Chad Finn:
 
Yeah, he handled it well, though the "mole" nonsense is insulting crap. Worked my butt off for that story over a couple of days, had SIX strong sources before I wrote a word. Those guys really underestimate how many people I know in the business who respect me, and not just in Boston. And he acts like it's fact that someone leaked it and I rubbed my hands together and said, PRINT IT! (Or, I guess, BLOG IT!) . Of course, he's the same guy who, when I found out his salary had been halved, told me over the phone that I'd be humiliated and wrong if I went with it, then tried to find out who my sources were. The serial dishonesty from some people in that business still blows my mind.
 

dirtynine

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Laughable moment just now when Ordway thanked some programmer for putting up with him "moving the commercials all around to fit more content - because I always think content first."  Riiiight, those 25-minute commercial blocks were all about putting content first. 
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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dirtynine said:
Laughable moment just now when Ordway thanked some programmer for putting up with him "moving the commercials all around to fit more content - because I always think content first."  Riiiight, those 25-minute commercial blocks were all about putting content first. 
 
Well, most of the time, those endless commercial blocks were a result of Ordway's (and frankly, all the hosts') inability or unwillingness to stick to a regular break schedule.  He'd constantly run through scheduled breaks and wind up having 25-30+ minute blocks of talk, and they'd have to do 20 minutes of commercials to make up for it.  I'd imagine working as a programmer for the station in those days was a nightmare.
 

dirtynine

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Fair enough, but I remember finding that arrangement content (and listener) unfriendly.  I'd rather get 15 minute chunks with even spacing, than get in the car at the wrong time and know you're in for 20+ minutes of Bobs and Kars for Kids ads.   The one exception was for Belichick days - that I can understand.  
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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That was one of the blessings of the expansion of their network beyond Entercom owned signals and then the addition of real competition in the form of 98.5...they really tightened up the schedule.  Suddenly, they had more than their own programmers and sales people to answer to, and a real concern of people surfing the dial and not coming back.  It's still not ideal, I think they take two 90-second breaks around 15 and 45 after the hour, but longer breaks around the :00 and :30 marks, but it is better than what you describe.
 

steveluck7

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Felger & Mazz (and Gasper) spent the first break of the 5:00 hour discussing Glen.  Mazz talked about how he'll forever feel en-debtted to Ordway for giving him the opportunity.  Mike talked about that a bit as well but then talked about how it's scary to him to see someone who was on the air for 20+ years, #1 for more than half of it, fall to 3rd and then canned. He also said that people think hey need to call and congratulate him but he doesn't see it that way
 
Gasper just said how he and Ordway went to the same high school and he always wanted to be on the air with him
 

Phenom

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I made a longer post earlier in this thread, and Ordway deserves a lot of credit for aiding the careers of a lot of people in this market.  He was a highly influential figure here for 18 years.
 
But today's show is a stark reminder as to why I flipped to "Felger and Mazz" in August of '09 and never looked back ... IT GOT OLD.  Frank from Gloucester, Lenny Clarke, Larry Johnson, the same people calling the "Whiner Line," the interminable commercial breaks, etc.  This show used to drive me crazy.  They replayed the Evan Grant "interview" earlier today, which basically consisted of Ordway and Merloni screaming at Grant for 20 minutes over his MVP ballot.  Not good radio. 
 
I will always respect Ordway, and the contributions he made to this town.  But man, I got so tired of the act.  Today's show reminded me of that.  
 

berniecarbo1

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RIP.....Boy did time pass this show by....it's like taking your dog to vet and putting him down. You remember all the great times you had with him, but you know it is the right thing to do.....boy oh boy is it ever the right thing to do with this show....
 

Andy Merchant

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Chad Finn said:
Yeah, it's because I've never mentioned it before.
 

Well, there is that.  :D  One can only imagine the large volume of fascinating tidbits that haven't made it to print over the years.  I certainly found this particular one pretty interesting and would like to see about ten pages (single spaced/double sided) or so of similar info about John Dennis when his number is finally up.
 

crossfire

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Rich tweeted that Ordway reached out to him about his wife did Glenn say something on the air? I don't think I heard Ordway mention 98.5 once before.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Gambler7 said:
Why would they not dump "The Big Show" name? Start with something fresh?
 
Could be they will do that when Salk gets to town.  In the interim, there's no real harm in letting "The Big Show" title stick around.  Probably easier to take the old Big Show promos and edit out mentions of Ordway than to re-record them as "The Michael Holley Show" or whatever only to re-do them again in a few weeks when the show becomes Salk and Holley or whatever they decide to call it.
 

Granite Sox

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Salk himself may be younger and a Boston native, but I don't see any way this "stirs things up" at EEI or brings in a younger demographic.

Salk is pretty vanilla... He's a fairly regular fill-in on national ESPN radio shows (often times paired with John Kinkade out of Atlanta) and he really doesn't have any extraordinary takes or different POVs that he puts forth. When he substitutes nationally, he's clearly a caretaker... filling the time with nothing particularly interesting or provocative.

I can see the rationale for moving on from Ordway, but don't count on Salk to be edgey or contrarian.
 

mabrowndog

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So I guess nobody outside of EEI's circle knows exactly when D&C's contracts are up. The NESN simulcast deal was inked in October 2010, which is reportedly when EEI extended the Angry Old Men. Fall of 2015 perhaps?
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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jose melendez said:
I like the idea of having a Holley and Michael Smith show, but I have a heard time seeing EEI dare to have 2 black hosts.
 
Smith works for ESPN.  I can't imagine it would be cheap to lure him away from the Worldwide Leader.  Maybe EEI at their zenith could have done it, back when they were handing out mid to high six figure contracts to Ordway and D&C and not thinking twice, they'd have paid him enough to leave ESPN, but no way do they do it now.  Their best bet is to get younger/cheaper/hungrier.  Mutnansky sucks out loud, but he's kind of the archetype of guys they need to find...cheap young talent.  Sports Hub has it with Bertrand and Jones and Flynn and even Amendolara.  No idea if Salk is that, but considering he had his own drivetime show in Seattle and has done fill in work on national networks, I'm thinking no.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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John Marzano Olympic Hero said:
DA left at the beginning of the year. 
 
I'm aware, but he's still a good example of what I'm talking about.  He came to the Hub relatively unknown and built up an audience enough that CBS wanted him for a national show.  He's arguably the ideal end product of the type of talent EEI should be searching for.
 

Marbleheader

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I flipped over to Weei this afternoon to hear Holley say that it's still the Big Show, still having whiner line, etc. They really are a special kind of stupid over there.
 

RorschachsMask

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Marbleheader said:
I flipped over to Weei this afternoon to hear Holley say that it's still the Big Show, still having whiner line, etc. They really are a special kind of stupid over there.
 
Holley said it's only the Big Show until Salk joins, pretty sure he said the same about the whiner line as well, though not positive.
 

TomRicardo

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Smiling Joe Hesketh said:
You forget the part where Callahan's a terrible human being. He completely lacks empathy, like a Blade Runner replicant.
 
I wonder if he was built at the same cheap Mexican factory as JD Drew was by Skynet.
 
 

SoxScout

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“For a kid who grew up rooting for Boston’s sports teams, I can’t wait to get behind that microphone and connect with the most avid sports fans in the country,” said Salk in a statement. “From the best play-by-play in radio to their breakthrough work with the Jimmy Fund, WEEI is still the gold standard in sports talk radio.
 
“I’m especially excited to talk Bruins hockey. I grew up a rabid Bruins fan and have great memories from the old Boston Garden. My wife might not know it yet, but our 1-year old daughter will be wearing a lot of black and gold in the future.”
http://www.boston.com/sports/touching_all_the_bases/2013/02/weei_formally_announces_mike_s.html?camp=twit:tatb&dlvrit=845880
 
I thought this was funny from the official press release. Hockey multiple-minutes.
 

soxfan121

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SoxScout said:
 
I wonder if this is part of their focus-group findings? The "Holley Hockey Minute" was one of their worst, and most damaging, ideas. 
 
Michael Holley is the Andy Sipowicz of WEEI; no partner survives for very long. I dream of the Dennis & Holley program for the inevitable ending. 
 

Granite Sox

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Russo was breaking Torre's stones about this yesterday afternoon.  Apparently there was some legal hold-up to the contract finalization.  It seems to be all cleared up now.
 

Granite Sox

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I heard him yesterday, so I'm not sure he's out (unless you specifically heard differently).
 
I haven't listened to him in several years because I don't live in Mass. any more, but my general impression is that he doesn't have the depth of knowledge across the major 6 sports (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAAF, NCAAB) to carry a national show. 
 
He sounded like he only had a surface-level understanding on any given topic, and was merely repeating things that have been written and said ad nauseum in any number of other places.  Maybe that's good enough for weekend mornings, but there's nothing really "big" about this show besides his wasteline.
 
As a facilitator of "experts" he may be good... as a one-man host, he'll be exposed pretty quickly.
 

Harry Hooper

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Great bit today with Salk & Holley discussing Spikes going on IR. Holley did a simulation of a phone call between BB and Ray Lewis with BB asking Lewis to suit up at LB this weekend for the Pats.