WHAT'S HAPPENING TO MICHAEL GRAHAM?

“...for the labourer is worthy of his hire.”  (from Luke 10:7)

Over the past few days, Boston’s 96.9 FMTalk has been gleefully promoting the news that Jay Severin is returning to his old Mon.-Fri. 3-7 p.m. time slot.  (You can read all about it at www.969fmtalk.com)  I’m “not a happy camper” about this.

I listen to a lot of talk radio.  My wife would say I listen to too much of it.  Frankly, I probably do.  I particularly like 680 AM WRKO and 96.9 FMTalk WTKK.  WRKO has been a talk station since 1981.  In comparison, 96.9  FM Talk is a relatively “new kid on the block” having been around since September of 1999.  (Prior to that the station played “Smooth Jazz” and back in the 1980s it was a popular soft-rock station.)  When Jay Severin went on 96.9 FMTalk in 1999, I was delighted.  I was getting tired of WRKO’s Howie Carr and Severin was a nice alternative.  During 1999, 2000, and 2001, I was a regular listener to Jay Severin.  By 2003, I was getting tired of Jay Severin.  A self-proclaimed “libertine and libertarian” he made Gene Burns sound like Billy Graham, and Jerry Williams sound like Rabbi Howard Kushner!  I got tired of hearing about all the women Severin had relations with, about how “pro-choice” Severin was, and about what a jerk President Bush was.  I also got tired of hearing Severin strongly imply on a number of occasions that anybody who made less than $200,000 a year and who did not graduate from an Ivy League university was a second-rate failure who should be ashamed of himself or herself.

I was glad when Severin left that time slot to pursue a syndicated show which 96.9 FMTalk picked up in the evening.  When Michael Graham went on air in late 2005 I quickly became a huge fan and regular listener.  (I admit that I listen to Howie Carr and Max Robbins discuss TV on Mondays during the 5 p.m. hour, but otherwise I’m pretty regular with Michael Graham.)  I have e-mailed Michael on several occasions, and have received pleasant and thoughtful e-mail replies.  Jay Severin NEVER replied to any of my e-mails.  I met Michael Graham in person on a couple of occasions and found him to be very warm and personable.  I respect that Michael lives here in the MetroWest area with his family, unlike Jay who did the show from his home on Long Island, New York.  

Severin’s syndicated show has gone the way of the Edsel.  I have no problem with 96.9 FMTalk hiring him back as a local host, but I have a BIG problem with giving him the Monday thorough Friday afternoon drive slot.  THAT slot now belongs to Michael Graham.  I think it’s an insult to Michael Graham, and I’m honestly offended for him.

I have no idea if Michael Graham will be continuing on 96.9 FMTalk in another time slot.  I certainly hope he will be.  Even so, I would have given Jay Severin some less desirable time slot and would have left Michael Graham where he was.

I’ve e-mailed Program Director Paula O’Connor at WTKK to tell her pretty much what I’ve said here.  I don’t know if it will do any good, but I think she needs to listen to the listeners!  I wasn’t sure what Paula O’Connor’s e-mail address is so I used both paulao’connor@969fmtalk.com  and  paulaoconnor@969fmtalk.com
I figure one of them will work.

As a kid I wanted to go into broadcasting.  My father talked me out of it because he didn’t want me to go into a field where there is very little job security.  This situation seems to prove Dad was right.