The Radio Equalizer: Brian Maloney

09 October 2006

Jay Severin, Jimmy Severino, Boston Herald

SEVERIN "RETURNS"

Gets Fluff Piece In Boston Herald







Creepy former MSNBC panelist Jay Severin, fresh off of his failed radio syndication effort, "returned" to Boston today, a city he previously didn't think was worthy of calling home.

Kicking off his first show today, Severin spent several minutes shamelessly brown- nosing nearly everyone at his new / former employer, saving particular praise for his high- powered agent, who engineered an absurd seven- figure deal. Hey, it's great for Severin (real name: Jimmy Severino), but terrible for talk radio's credibility.

While Severin did achieve ratings success in his previous local incarnation, it's not clear whether that can be repeated after a year stuck in radio purgatory. Listeners may have moved on and there are big problems with other parts of WTKK's lineup.


And just in time for the occasion, the Boston Herald kicked in its welcome "back" present, presenting this choice fluff piece, which even claimed that Severin didn't fail in national syndication:


He wasn’t canned and his syndicated radio show didn’t bomb.

Jay Severin says he missed the energy and “IQ” of his Boston audience and yukking it up during the afternoon commute.

Starting tomorrow at 3 p.m., Severin returns solely to Boston radio, back to his afternoon drive-time gig at Greater Media Inc.’s WTKK-FM (96.9), after a near nine-month run in syndication.

The controversial host reportedly inked a seven-year deal worth more than a million a year with Greater Media, making him one of the highest paid - if not the highest - local radio hosts in the country.

In an interview with the Herald, Severin said he left WTKK last year after more than five years because he was lured by the “bright lights, big city” offer of a syndicated gig with CBS Radio-managed Westwood One.

But Severin admitted this week that syndication “wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.”

“I didn’t enjoy evenings. I really missed the idea of belonging to this afternoon audience in New England. That’s when my energies are highest - it’s when I perform best,” said Severin, whose 7-to-10 p.m. syndicated show was picked up by WTKK.

Severin said the night audience wasn’t as engaged as his old afternoon listeners.

“Without a knock at any of those other audiences, they frankly didn’t have the energy, the IQ and the imagination of the Boston audience,” Severin said. “There was a discernable difference. It wasn’t the same.”


None of Severin's many scandals were mentioned in the piece, which read like it was written by the station's PR department. Once again, evil prevails in Boston.


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5 Comments:

  • As Ingraham would say, Lie of the Day:

    >>He wasn’t canned and his syndicated radio show didn’t bomb.

    (song)
    "Why did you lie to me?/Can't be trusted, good for nothin', tell me
    brother/ Everything you tried to be is a lie, lie, lie..."

    By Blogger raccoonradio, at 09 October, 2006 22:30  

  • One could level the same criticisms about Steve Malzberg.

    I won't hold my breath waiting for anything like THAT to happen here...

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 09 October, 2006 23:12  

  • Do you work for, or are you affiliated with WRKO radio in any way?

    By Blogger Truth Is Stranger, at 10 October, 2006 22:05  

  • (btw I don't work for WRKO. I listen to Carr on them and sometimes DePetro and Rush. I listen to Ingraham on 'TKK)
    A post on Free Republic/Mass. board by ThirstyMan said: "Speaking of bloviators, I listened to Severin yesterday. A caller asked him point blank why he was dropped from national syndication. He said he wasn't dropped, his rating numbers were really good but he lacked a home....? and the evening slot didn't suit him very well...? so he decided to move back to Boston...? OK Jay. Hey he's lied so many times in the past that I can't believe a thing he says. Perhaps his critical, cut and run policy on Iraq didn't sell very well across the nation. IMHO, Severin will always be a man without a home --- no matter where he lives."

    My response:
    "I think CBS/W1 dropped Severin (they're cutting corners--took a big hit on Stern)
    and he's trying to put a shine on a sneaker here. While it is true that evening talk shows get lower ratings as a whole, plus some of his affiliates were pre-empting him for sports (WPHT--Phillies), I'd think he really was fired by them..and Greater Media figured they'd give him a good long term deal to have him do afternoons (where he actually did get some good ratings).

    "He may work well in "schweet Boston" but face it, he flopped nationally (one poss. reason, other than the fact that he turns many listeners off: he was up against Savage)"

    By Blogger raccoonradio, at 11 October, 2006 12:26  

  • sorry my question was not directed to you racconradio... it was directed to the obviously biased Brian Maloney who has a vested interest in doing what he can to stemm the blood loss of wrko by J. Severin.

    This guy Maloney is... ah... full of baloney? nah.. he is full of shit...

    "Posted by Kevin on Dec 22, 2005 @ 17:06
    Sorry for the late notice, but Brian Maloney of Radio Equalizer has been doing a great job all week filling in for Scott Allen Miller on WRKO’s Boston This Morning .

    As always, you can stream the show live right here.

    UPDATE: Brian is also guest hosting next week, every morning 5:30-9am.
    ...
    " source

    By Blogger Truth Is Stranger, at 23 October, 2006 18:38  

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