Wikipedia Vandalism, Talk Radio, Entercom, Scott Allen Miller

PIG RADIO

Using Wikipedia, Company Trashes Host It Fired







Though hardly a mystery to those who've suffered through its typically miserable workplace conditions, radio is one mean business. And when it comes to honesty and ethics, used car lots usually offer a step up from what one experiences working in broadcasting.

Beyond radio's disturbing norm, however, are a handful of firms that crank the nasty knob up to "11", including Entercom (disclosure: your Radio Equalizer has worked for this firm twice), owner of Boston talk radio station WRKO, sports talker WEEI and a number of other outlets across the country.

Just in the past two years alone, Entercom has been embroiled in flaps over the death of a young Sacramento mother during one of its radio station contests, ensnared in a payola probe and generated anger after hiring a convicted felon to take over WRKO's morning show. And in New Orleans, a talk host it hired was indicted last year on murder charges.


In fact, it was that most recent controversy that brings us to today's story. When convicted felon and former Democrat Massachusetts House Speaker Tom Finneran was brought on board to host WRKO's morning drive talk program in January of this year, it meant termination for previous host Scott Allen Miller.

Though he knew his sacking was imminent weeks before it finally occurred, Miller kept quiet and played along. And even after he was unceremoniously dumped, "Scotto", as he is known, didn't badmouth Entercom, though he certainly had a good reason to do so.

But in the mean- spirited environment that passes for professionalism inside the company, it isn't enough to merely let someone go. Many months later, someone inside Entercom's Boston operation used a company computer to vandalize Miller's Wikipedia entry.

How do we know this? Easy: the insider left indisputable tracks all over his or her "work". From Wikipedia's edit page for his entry, take a look at the before and after passages:

BEFORE

Miller was born on October 9, 1970 in [[Muncie, Indiana]]. When his father died in 1986, Miller left his rural [[Daleville, Indiana]] home for [[Howell, New Jersey]] to live with his mother, who had divorced his father and remarried a few years earlier. In New Jersey, Miller attended [[Howell High School (New Jersey)|Howell High School]] with future CBS sportscaster [[Bonnie Bernstein]], who has appeared on his show several times.

While studying music at [[The College of New Jersey|Trenton State College]] Miller met his future wife. He dropped out of college and, after getting married in 1992, moved to western Kansas where his wife was teaching music. According to his resume, Miller began his radio career in March 1992 at 1420 AM KULY in Ulysses, Kansas, but soon moved on to High Plains Public Radio in Garden City, Kansas. In 1993, Miller took a hiatus from radio to return to college. While earning a bachelor of arts in social science from [[Kansas State University]] in [[Manhattan, Kansas]], he wrote extensively as an op/ed columnist for the award-winning daily [http://www.kstatecollegian.com K-State Collegian], which maintains an online archive of his writings.

NOW, AFTER Entercom's revisions:

Miller was born on October 9, 1970 in [[Muncie, Indiana]]. He is heavy into Satan worship, and often kills and eats wild boar after sacraficing the male testicles to an owl god. When his father died in 1986, Miller left his rural [[Daleville, Indiana]] home for [[Howell, New Jersey]] to live with his mother, who had divorced his father and remarried a few years earlier. In New Jersey, Miller attended [[Howell High School (New Jersey)|Howell High School]] with future CBS sportscaster [[Bonnie Bernstein]], who has appeared on his show several times.

Scott Allen Miller, more often than not, enjoys sex with wild pigs. The freedom, he says, he gets from the fight of the pig, is incredible.

How do we know the vandalism originated with Entercom? Because Wikipedia recorded Entercom Boston's IP address at the time of the revisions. And here's where that address leads us:

EntercomCommunications CTC-ENTERCOMCOMMUNICA (NET-67-158-110-8-1)
67.158.110.8 - 67.158.110.15

CTC Communications Corp. CTC-ICN-5 (NET-67-158-96-0-1)
67.158.96.0 - 67.158.127.255

Further research reveals the address corresponds to the entire Entercom Boston operation, so it is impossible to identify the individual responsible from our end.

Given that many of the talk hosts, board operators and producers who worked with Miller have since been fired or resigned, however, the list of potential culprits can certainly be narrowed down.


Interestingly, there's more to this story: Entercom insiders have been busy editing Wikipedia entries on all kinds of subjects, from articles on its own stations (dozens of revisions) to articles on Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Jimmy Carter, Adam Sandler, Michael Moore and Iran Air Flight 655. It's an odd assortment, to say the least.

At one point, an Entercom insider angrily insists detailed information about one of its stations be reinstated:

(there is absolutely no reason why ALL the air staff names were removed. This information is important about the station's programming! Equally inportant if not more so than the former jocks.)

Though we won't hold our breath, Entercom at the very least owes Miller an apology. Isn't it interesting what Wikipedia vandalism reveals about the mindset of its perpetrators?


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