The best radio managers understand the crucial importance of creating an atmosphere where the talent feels safe, supported and appreciated.  If things have deteriorated to the point where a host is willing to go to court to escape the station, that atmosphere is gone for good. A ruling in management’s favor is a Pyrrhic victory.

Hardly a new lesson: Pharaoh learned it 3,000 years ago.  You can’t keep talented people against their will.  If you try, you risk all sorts of plagues.

Jay's sorry, so sorry...

Suspended WTKK-FM/Boston talker Jay Severin responds to news of his reinstatement with promises to do a less negative, more sensitive show.  But is that what his shrinking core of listeners really wants?  Here is Severin’s interview in the Sunday Boston Herald.

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Jay Severin

According to Marcela Garcia, editor of Boston’s Spanish language El Planeta newspaper, the Hispanic community seems resigned to Severin’s return, and more bashing of Hispanic immigrants.

“It was always a given that he would return and would likely be making those same types of comments, even if he apologized,” Garcia told TalkFrontier.com.

Indeed, Garcia added, most Hispanic observers are surprised at the length of Severin’s on-going suspension.  “No one expected him to be away so long,” she said.

Garcia confirms that there hasn’t been much public expression of outrage at Severin’s comments .  “There was a sense  in the [Hispanic] community that something should be done, but it never came together,” she said.  Plans for an anti-Severin rally fell through for unknown reasons.

Why such resignation?  According to Garcia,  Hispanics understand the way of the media world.  Severin’s remarks were “unfortunate,” she says.  “But we recognize the practicality — the money issue.  He brings in a lot of advertising for the station.”

To quote the great Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park, “Boy, do I hate being right all the time!”

Jay Severin

  Severin, who hosts afternoon drive on Greater Media’s WTKK-FM/Boston, was suspended without pay this past Thursday for some nasty remarks about Hispanics.  Now comes word that Severin’s suspension will last “until further notice.”

This situation gets worse for Severin and WTKK with every passing day.  The on-going coverage of the story is alerting Boston and its opinion leaders to Severin’s often distasteful comments and worldview.  Prior to this flap, only those who listened to Severin were familiar with his style.  No more.  Now every preacher, politician and civil rights leader in The Hub of the liberal universe has been alerted to exactly what’s been going on from 3p to 7p on WTKK.  

So, how would Severin’s possible  return to the airwaves play out?  No way that happens without a ritual humbling of the miscreant, including at least one on-air apology.  But if he apologizes, Severin is mortally wounded.  Listeners will instantly brand him a sell-out and a coward, and slowly drift away.

In the meantime, Greater Media management, which already looks weak for its knee-jerk reaction to complaints about Severin from a New York City Hispanic civil rights group,  now appears indecisive and dithering.  Severin’s smallish but fanatical audience is asking, “Is Jay your guy, or not?  If so, why was he summarily yanked off the air — and why isn’t he back?”  Critics, conversely, are wondering what the hell is talking so long to fire this guy.  After all, Greater Media has already suspended Severin without pay, told the media he had been warned about his edgy remarks, and put a message decrying Severin’s remarks on the WTKK homepage. 

The best possible play at this point is for Severin and WTKK to part ways as quickly and quietly as possible.  Greater Media should pay Severin something to ensure his silence, and/or waive his non-compete.  It’s a sad way to end the relationship, but it allows WTKK to avoid getting stuck with a crippled host, and permits Severin to take his act elsewhere with his credibility intact.

Is Greater Media renouncing its devil(s)?

In December the company terminated outspoken, highly-visible WBT-AM/Charlotte afternoon drive host Jeff Katz for undisclosed reasons.  This past Thursday, Greater Media hit WTKK-FM/Boston afternoon driver Jay Severin  with an unpaid, open-ended suspension for anti-Hispanic remarks – including recent comments tying the spread of Swine Flu to illegal immigrants from Mexico.  A suspension without pay is often a kiss on the cheek on the way to termination.  If Severin does return to the job, it can’t possibly be the same anything-goes show.

Are these moves somehow connected – perhaps as part of a new operating philosophy or new reality at Greater Media?  Both Katz and Severin are strong, edgy personalities.  Severin, for example, referred to Barack Obama throughout the Presidential campaign as a “Half-rican American.”  WBT General Manager Rick Jackson’s only attempt to explain Katz’s ouster was a cryptic,” “People want facts rather than someone spouting an opinion…”   Katz was replaced by WBT late night host  Tara Servatius, a former newspaper reporter who does a very tame show often focused on the inner workings of local government.

So, maybe Greater Media  is trying to tone-down it’s talk programming.  The owners of the privately-held company could be uncomfortable with the image and heartburn that comes with such acerbic personalities.  Or they might concerned about drawing the attention of liberal Democrats, who now control the White House, Congress and the FCC.  Both scenarios have recent precedents. WSB-AM/Atlanta’s  decision to hire talker Herman Cain for evenings is reliably said to have come from parent company Cox Enterprises’  HQ, where there was discomfort with their flagship’s (winning and lucrative) all-white-guy line-up.  As for warding off the feds, see Clear Channel Radio’s recent move to self-impose some of the “localism” rules currently pending at the Commission.

Budget considerations could provide a connection.  Severin reportedly makes more than $1 million per year.  That’s justifiable for a top-rated host, but the former political consultant has plummeted in Boston’s early PPM reports, recently finishing 14th in 25-54.  Firing Severin for cause could save WTKK a ton of dough, and give it a chance to kick-start PM Drive.  No word on Katz’s salary, but as a veteran talker with a record of success at WBT he certainly made more than Servatius will get for the same shift.  Severin and Katz’s reputations as sometimes difficult, uncooperative co-workers might be factors as well. 

Or maybe it’s just a coincidence.  After all, we’re talking about two hosts getting fired five months apart, and  WBT GM Rick Jackson does have a history of jettisoning hosts that make him personally uncomfortable – WTKK personality Michael Graham and Sirius talker Mike Church met Katz-like fates at WBT.   (Disclosure: I was the PD at WBT when Graham and Church got blown out.)  Still, there is enough weirdness here to fuel justified speculation.  Why didn’t WBT offer Katz’s fans an explanation for his dismissal?  And why did Greater Media decide to discipline Severin now, when he’s been making offensive comments for weeks/months/years?   Indeed, WTKK routinely used those comments in promos right up until the day Severin was suspended.

The Katz and  Severin dramas are most probably connected by a mix of the above.  These are turbulent, stressful times for station owners.  Katz and Severin got caught in a powerful riptide of anxiety about ratings, revenue and regulation that might have been survivable a couple years ago.  But not today.