Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Suicide Watch At WEEI As Dale Arnold Gets Axed And Michael Holley Moves To The Big Show


No, that's not Julie Kahn or Jason Wolfe, but it might as well be.  Reports are that the Dale & Holley show has been axed at WEEI with Holley moving to the Big Show alongside Glenn Ordway.  Lou Merloni and Mike Mutnansky (WTF?) will supposedly take over the 10:00AM - 2:00PM slot.  It looks like The Sports Hub has WEEI running scared like Jodie Foster in Panic Room.

Trust me, this won't work.  I've heard Mutnansky.  "The Mutt Man" has been on weekends and he's no compelling personality.  He isn't established in this town and I can't recall a single controversial stance he's taken.  Ever seen him on Comcast or NESN?  Neither have I.  Wanna know why?  Nothin' special.  Just a loud talker with no edge and mainstream opinions.  And Lou Merloni?  Not bad for an ex-jock, but is he really carving out any kind of unique niche in this market?  Nope, he's the same thing he was as a player, a nice complimentary piece - Utility Lou.  There's no way these two can carry a show in a major market like Boston and spark some ratings.  Peanut butter and jelly on white bread without the peanut butter and jelly.

Two more things:

1.  NESN (and WEEI) blew it when they dumped Dale Arnold and replaced him with Jack Edwards on the Bruins telecasts.  If you kept Dale, the Bruins would have had an advocate and a marketing instrument on WEEI, talking about the Bruins all the time and WEEI would have kept lots of the Bruins' fans in their audience even though the games are on 98.5.  Win win win.  Plus, Jack Edwards just sucks.

2.  Why is it that the funniest moments on Boston Sports Talk Radio come from the callers?  No gimmicks, no hilarious routines from any hosts.  All they do is talk about recent games, take some calls, rinse, repeat.  As a matter of fact, the funniest lines I've heard on the radio recently have all come from texters.  Where's the creativity?   Where are the bits?  Where are the funny gags, contests, skits, features, crazy guests, promotions, marketing tie-ins, etc?  Sports radio in Boston is just fat, dumb and happy.  They're all making too much money just by showing up.  We already got J.D. Drew and John Lackey doing that.  I wanna see some real talent and passion - we deserve it.  Sorry for the rant.  I feel better now.  

Bang.  Bang.  Bang.  Pay the fuck attention!