Rumor has it that the three Andelman Bothers are trying to put together an afternoon show to compete with Howie Carr and The Big O. They are working on the format but it will center on Tom Finneran and one or more of the brothers. – They want a very lose Boston version and hipper version of Imus.
Finneran’s contract with RKO is up soon I believe.
The Andelmans are smart and savvy in business and entertaining radio. The sons of a pioneer in radio these kids get it. ( sending fruit basket to another G.M. from Red Sox G.M. Dick O’Connell at the Baseball Meetings to help get a trade going was a classic in 1973)
WRKO appears to be a loss leader for Entercom. Anything that helps WRKO will hurt WEEI. So no support for Finneran, keep Howie boring, and the rest is syndication.
The ridiculous Saturday morning infomercial that plays on RKO against the show pushing the EEI blog is a blatant example.
Finneran’s show is highly non-entertaining. He’s not an entertainer. The radio boss should be giving him talent to work with. Instead they cut his budget.
Now here is where it gets good.
Andelmans want to put together an afternoon drive time show and take the Big O down. He fired one of them before, and their father left EEI in a huff for a number of reasons.
Finneran would love to take Howie Carr down and the Andelman’s can show him how.
And TKK remembers the contract that Howie never told them about and the $$$$ they invested in signing him to a contract he had no right to make.
TKK would like its pound of flesh also and it knows jay Severin ain’t gonna make it happen.
Win Win Win for all three.
Finneran is waiting to get his ticket to practice law back from the BBO. Then he will unleash on Michael Sullivan.
Andelman’s want to own the show and sell it to TTK. They will offer Finneran $$ and a piece of the action.
These kids know how to sell.
They know comedy and entertainment.
They have an institutional memory the city.
They are the tri-fecta of smart opinionated Jewish kids who have read the Boston Globe every day since they were 12. That’s what we need on radio. They have some street smarts with educated cynicism.
And the have Dorchester/Mattapan roots.
Therefore they have the same bloodline as Finneran. In Dorchester speak their old man is OFD.
This is an obvious match.
A show that is local, opinionated, entertaining and credible (not spouting talking points) then Big O and Howie can easily be taken down.
Provided that they don’t stop doing the Phantom Gourmet tv show!
Who you gonna peel away from Big O?
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p>He’s got characters – Clunky Pete, Hostile but smart Deossie, even Belichick opens up on that show – and he knows how to play them. True, he’s saddled with Smerlas and Buckley, but besides that, pretty entertaining.
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p>One thing D&C have right – they roll with the best topic, whether sports or politics, of the day. Any day that is pretty ho-hum in sports, they have a great release valve, which is Callahan going nuts.
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p>Andelmen would have to work that in reverse – when you’ve got Chuck Turner, you run with it, but when you don’t, you need someone smart and opinionated to rail on some sports topic….ie, today someone would argue “We just learned that Brady is overrated….” to light up phone lines.
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p>I’m available.
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p>The Andelmans understand and will provide that.
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p>My God Goldstein, Big O is good at what he does. So ain’t the guy that fixes my toilet. But it doesn’t make them geniuses.
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p>The Andelmans understand and will provide that.
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p>My God Goldstein, Big O is good at what he does. So ain’t the guy that fixes my toilet. But it doesn’t make them geniuses.
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The two of us could do a show together.
There’s definately a big opening for new blood on the radio. Phantom Gourmet is definately amung the best of all local media- so an Andalmen show sounds like an interesting idea. But what does Finneran bring to the table? Are the ratings on his current show not weak?
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p>As long as he continues his insistance on defending and discouraging critisism of all local politicians (from child-swearing Scott Brown to bribe-taing Dianne Wilkerson), he is hopeless.
Big O is the national leader in sports talk, the Andelmans are producers of a Ch. 38 show on a par with “Ask the Manager” and Mini two-on-two between the periods.
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p>Seriously, neither Finneran nor the Andelmans have any edge to them. They’ve spent their whole careers doing versions of the Hot Dog Safari. Finneran can only do an Irish priest act in public, if he could put his private voice on air it would be a different matter.