Boston Sports Media Watch

Meterparel is the morning flash guy for the Dennis and Callahan program on WEEI.

He is known for taking purposefully obtuse stances against the local teams for the sake of controversy. He went on a ridiculous run during last year’s Red Sox postseason, picking against the Red Sox for a number of inane reasons on a daily basis, only to come back the next day with a new one.

Boston College is exempt from his antics, as he serves as the play-by-play man for the football team of the school. Last season he infamously missed an important play during a game because he was in the bathroom. In the past he served as the voice of the New England Revolution, and the Triple A Charlotte Knights while working down in Charlotte.

He joined the Dennis and Callahan show in 2000.

———————–

Popularity: 32% [?]

We’re starting the week out with WEEI afternoon flash guy Pete Sheppard.

Sheppard has been with WEEI since 1994, making him one of the longest tenured on-air personalities at the station. He’s been working on The Big Show since 1999, where he is the flash guy and primary fill-in for Glenn Ordway when the latter takes one of his many vacations throughout the course of the year.

Sheppard also hosts The Real Postgame Show following Patriots games alongside Fred Smerlas and Steve DeOssie.

Unlike many of his colleagues at WEEI, Sheppard appears to enjoy and actually follow sports, and is an unabashed fan of the local teams, and his passion often comes through in exchanges with callers or co-hosts.

Sheppard is also known for his hatred of the internet and blogs, but there is a Myspace page dedicated to him.

——————————

Popularity: 28% [?]

WEEI’s John Dennis is today’s feature.

Dennis has a long history in the Boston sports media market, having joined WHDH-TV in 1977 and remaining there until 1997, where he went from weekend sports anchor to sports director during his tenure.

Dennis left WHDH in 1997 and began hosting the Dennis and Callahan show on WEEI alongside Gerry Callahan. The show was originally a two hour program starting at 10:00am, but in 1999, the show moved to 6:00 to 10:00am and became a morning drive fixture on the Boston radio airwaves.

Dennis is very good at keeping the program moving, and guiding it in and out of the many commercial breaks. However, his voicemail run-in with Ryen Russillo, and participation in the infamous Metco incident are not among his high points at the station.

Thanks to the Farrelly brothers, Dennis and Callahan have made cameos in a number of movies as well.

———————

Popularity: 28% [?]

Today we’ll get a chance to opine on someone who isn’t actually a sports media member, but who has a huge influence on the sports media scene here in Boston.

We’re talking about the VP of Programming & Operations for Entercom Boston, Jason Wolfe. He also serves as Vice President AM Programming at SportsRadio 850 WEEI. (That’s all according to his LinkedIn profile.)

As I mentioned, Wolfe isn’t on the air on WEEI, but he determines who is. He took over programming duties of WEEI from Glenn Ordway a few years back. His goals for the WEEI programming as stated to Boston Magazine are as follows:

“Our goal across the board is to push the envelope,” he says. “If we didn’t do it that way, we would be going back to what we used to be, which was reading the box scores.” The station is long past needing the credibility that came with having reporters from New England’s most prestigious newspaper take part in its shows. “We’re much more successful than we were when we had them on,” Wolfe says. It’s also long past needing to say it’s sorry; being number one means not having to even care who you offend.

Wolfe now oversees talk station WRKO as well, which hasn’t yet enjoyed the phenomenal ratings success that sister station WEEI has seen.

———————–

Popularity: 24% [?]

Mondays have become WEEI day on the Boston Sports Media Approval Ratings.

Today we’re rating weekend host Larry Johnson.

LJ co-hosts the “Mustard and Johnson” weekend show for the station, known for talking about the Yankees incessantly and featuring a lineup of New York Yankee fan callers. Johnson is also a regular co-host on The Big Show during the week.

A cartoonist by trade, Johnson worked for the Boston Globe for many years, and now creates cartoons for WEEI.com and The Remy Report website. He was also a regular cartoon contributor to ESPN.com’s Page 2 “Daily Quickie.”

WEEI frequently pokes fun at LJ in Pete Gustin’s skits, including portraying LJ at “The Tracer” a moniker that seems apt as shown by Larry Johnson vs Google Image Search. They also enjoy replaying his voicemail messages to station chief Jason Wolfe. Johnson frequently touts his Christian faith on the air, and has objected to some of the bits played on the station.

You can see more of Johnson’s work on his site: Larry Johnson Art.

——————

Popularity: 21% [?]

WEEI mid-day flash guy Jon Wallach leads off the approval ratings for this week.

Wallach does the sports flashes for the Dale & Holley show, during which he takes a lot of ribbing from Michael Holley, especially when he makes a mistake during a flash. (Triggering the “Everybody drink!” soundbite.) Holley also likes to call him “Jon Wallace” as a joke.

Wallach has also been used as a host at the station, doing weekend shows, and the occasional fill-in during the Dale & Holley show when one of the hosts is out. Oftentimes when Pete Sheppard fills in as host of the Big Show, Wallach will do a double shift, doing the flashes for both shows.

————-

Popularity: 47% [?]

Today we vote on WEEI evening host Mike Adams.

Adams has had a long and colorful career in both radio and television since the 1970’s in the New England and New York areas. in the 1990’s he was best known for his NECN show Mike Adams’ Sport World. He was also working part-time at WEEI during that span. After the NECN show was canceled, Adams bounced around a little bit, including a job in New York, and a forgettable stint as morning drive host at sports radio WWZN in Boston. Interestingly, this part of Adams career is left off of his WEEI Bio.

Adams seems to have at last found the perfect fit and time slot for his unique talents on the evening Planet Mikey show on WEEI.

———-

Popularity: 54% [?]

Starting today, I’m going to try to run a quick noontime opinion question each day regarding a member of the Boston sports media. This idea is ”borrowed” from the great Deadspin.com, so I want to make sure credit is given there…

The concept is simple. Each day I name a Boston sports media member, and you vote - either Approve or Disapprove. You can then add your thoughts on the person in the comments section.

Today’s subject is WEEI’s Michael Holley.

Holley started out in Boston with the Boston Globe, then left for Chicago, only to come back a few months later. He rejoined the Globe, and then left again. He has been the midday co-host on WEEI’s Dale and Holley show for the last several years. He is the author of three books on the Boston sports scene, profiles of Bill Belichick, Tedy Bruschi and Terry Francona.

—————–

Popularity: 46% [?]

Peter King appeared on WEEI’s Dale & Holley show today to discuss his recent USO tour in Afghanistan. He talked about the troops, and how they use football and talking about football as a real escape from what they have to deal with from day to day.

King loves to talk, and to tell stories of the people he talks to and his experiences. Today however, he might’ve gone a little too far when he gave out the number of Special Forces platoons in in Afghanistan.

A later caller to the show, who claimed to be connected to the military, criticized King for revealing this type of information over the airwaves and suggested that someone should pull King aside and advise him that he might need to be a little more careful about the things that he talks about on the radio. Dale and Holley agreed with this counsel, with Arnold saying that he would send King an email about it.

—–
Mike Reiss has this week’s edition of the Patriots Mailbag.

Chris Colston of USA Today looks at how Kevin Garnett has led the Celtics revival.

Bob Ryan’s story of a “scouting” trip that he took with Dave Cowens in 1979 when Cowens was the player-coach of the Celtics is definitely worth a read.

Don Banks says that Spygate might finally be nearing its end.

Bill Simmons plays “What If” with the NBA of the last decade.

Popularity: 65% [?]

Glen Ordway called into the Big Show shortly after 5:00 to update the situation with his family. He reported that they are now “cautiously optimistic” about his newborn daughter Mia’s chances of having a normal life. She is being treated at Children’s Hospital, where she received the same thermal cooling treatment that Bills tight end Kevin Everett received to lessen brain swelling and trauma.

He also reported that his wife Sarah has been discharged from the hospital and is on her way to recovery.

Ordway acknowledged the overwhelming support that has been shown his family over the past week, including the fact that he has heard from people he never would’ve expected. He said he has been humbled by the entire experience.

He hopes to return to the WEEI airwaves in the next week or so.

Popularity: 65% [?]