Here’s a story getting national attention, and probably wouldn’t be, if Donald Trump was not the President. And it’s a great General Manager case study. What would you do if you had to manage Bruce Bond? Can he ever be hired again in radio or has he burned his last bridge?
Local market veteran Bond hosted a talk show on the Rock station WTPA in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, every Saturday morning. Ever since he quit he’s gone on a social media rampage posting and reposting the national media coverage about himself and his burst of fame. He claims he had to quit because his GM asked him to cut out the political talk, mainly about President Trump. GM Tim Michaels repeatedly asked Bond to lay off the political discussion.
Bond used the station as an outlet to talk politics and criticize the President. General Manager Tim Michaels wanted that to stop and even put his request to Bond on paper, which Bond quickly posted to his Facebook page after he quit. Doesn’t the GM or Market Manager have every right to make the rules or even change the rules at any time? Bond didn’t want to follow the rules and because it had to do with Donald Trump, many national media outlets lapped up the story. How many full-time hosts and DJs lose their jobs or quit in radio every day — and never get any attention from the national press?
Here’s what Michaels told Radio Ink on Tuesday. “Bruce Bond was hired at WTPA to host an entertainment-type show. He was cautioned many times about making it a political show. He chose to resign. We have accepted the resignation and wish him well. WTPA is a station that does not promote or endorse any political party or candidate. We have always positioned the station to be welcoming to all, no matter their political affiliation. We do not wish to be offensive to anyone. Bruce crossed acceptable boundaries.”
The note Michaels sent to Bond to get him to back off and stick to the format.
After posting the Michaels letter to social media, Bond then apologized for not including the GM’s e-mail and phone number on the original post. Bond’s claim for quitting was that “there is this really ugly political environment in this country with the current president. Unfortunately,” Bond adds, “Central PA can’t handle someone as liberal and brutally honest as I can be.”
Bond is no stranger to controversy. According to Pennlive.com, in 1998 WNNK had to pay $8,000 in fines for two prank calls made by Bond. In 2008, Bond was indicted on 65 charges including attempted grand larceny, identity theft, and possession of forging materials. Authorities allege he was involved in a $4.3 million forged-check scheme. He is found guilty and sentenced to 2 1/3-7 years of prison. In 2010 he is released on parole.
The big question for our readers: Would you hire Bruce Bond as a talk show host on your radio station?
Here’s where Bond is getting his 15 minutes of national fame:
The Washington Post
Fox News.
The New York Post.
The AP at U.S. News & World Report.
The Blaze.
The Philadelphia Enquirer
Bruce your 15 minutes has been up for a long time…..should have stayed at Rikers Island, there you can get all the attention you want….plus 3 meals a day.
So many people in radio talk about “thinking outside the box” (not everybody!!!). Is sounds like some of you live in boxes. Radio is on the ropes. The big companies couldn’t handle a grocery budget — they’re leveraged to the hilt and in panic mode: which this mag should be admitting in direct language and editorials — e.g from the CEO. It’s a dirty business that has, for the most part, lacked imagination and an ethical base since consolidation — when the rats climbed on the ship.
If nobody ever rebelled, we’d all still be sheep herders. I don’t care if this guy disobeyed his “boss” (what a concept: have you heard the term “wage slavery”?) — he identified a gap in radio and he rebelled. Good for him. Stations are all about money. But back in the day they survived without all the robotic planning and endemic panic. It wasn’t about dividend and maximization of profits and ridiculous salaries for the CEOs etc. Christ, loosen up and play, folks.
And yes, there are too many bleeting, far-right nutjobs in radio who make no sense and refuse to substantiate anything they say with solid sources: e.g. archived documents, congressional notes, verified history, things they actually saw and heard rather than employing hearsay or just plain old BS.
Radio is as boring as a night on the town with your grandmother. And a lot of the people in it are okay with that, no matter how much they talk about thinking outside the box. Bond might be the worst guy in the world, I really don’t know, but at least he did something interesting and colored outside the boring lines.
I don’t know what kind of guy he is. But that’s not at issue. Neither is what he’s been guilty of in the past. He wasn’t fired for larceny, so why smear him with that?
Absolutely not. I’m all for breaking format from time to time and riling up management when they’re stuffy and unwilling to give you a little leeway, but Bruce went WAY over the line by veering entirely out of format and alienating the established listener base. I’m a big believer in creatives being creative and letting jocks, as creatives, inject themselves into their show, and politics can be a part of that, but if your entire intent is to blow up the format entirely and just talk politics the whole time, then you’re not achieving, as the legendary Bill Tanner put it, “predictable unpredictability,” you’re just demonstrating that you want to be Rush Limbaugh and that you don’t belong on a rock station.
That said, given the disrespect for management Bruce showed, I wouldn’t even hire him as a political host, and that has nothing to do with his political views. He demonstrated that he cannot be reigned in because he doesn’t acknowledge even the most reasonable limits, and that’s a deal-breaker.
“Disrespect for management”! Well they’ve got you right where they want you, Dude. There are good answers to everything you’ve said, if you’re willing to have an open mind, but I have no more time for this thread. Let’s just say this: If stations were owned by us, and were run democratically, they’d be fairer and more fun.
He knew the station’s format and broke it. He has to know that pissing off listeners means less people listening=fewer advertisers=less $$$. I Don’t like our President, either, but on an apolitical music station, it’s not appropriate.
Everything is political. You just aren’t seeing it.
No. Why run off half your listeners and advertisers by taking any political position on a music station? Even if we make the assumption that the majority of active rock listeners are liberal, why run off the rest? I cringed every time Enrique Santos gushed over Hillary Clinton or bashed Trump. Not because of my personal beliefs…I could almost hear the buttons being pushed. Not every Spanish speaker is a liberal. Political opinions belong on political talk stations, not music stations where listeners with different political beliefs love the music and the DJs.
Why? Because just maybe saving the planet is a tad more important than pissing off advertisers.
Loose Cannon. No.
Bruce Bond:
You’re an absolute IDIOT, along with you “Millennial” co-host!
FYI: “Radio 101” reaches you:
1. Who is the boss.
2. Radio is a business, and like ANY business, it has a way in which it operates, according to the company owners and management.
3. In radio, just like ANY job, IF you don’t follow instructions, YOU GET FIRED!
4. Radio depends on 2 entities to survive: AUDIENCE and ADVERTISERS; you lose either one, you’re done! Hence, NO competent GM will risk taking that chance!!
So, IF you were given an opportunity to work behind a microphone ESPECIALLY after being a convicted felon, and you STILL believe and support your STUPIDITY, then you’re an IMBECILE! If ANY GM decides to hire you, he’ll be a BIGGER imbecile!
So, enjoy your 15 minutes of fame!
IDIOT!!
This wouldn’t be a story if our industry wasn’t so conservative that it could be described as alt-right. The vast majority of talkshows, mangers and even this publication seem to be extremely conservative. This GM didn’t do anything wrong and Bond is a jerk who probably should’ve been fired, but radio has nobody to blame but itself for the polarization taking place in this country right now.
Well said Tracy
First, it was the station who brought Bruce in with the intent of doing a weekly talk show, which we turned into a podcast. Politics was not the theme of the show and rarely came up, but doing a radio show with special guests each week, and in this current political climate, sometimes it was unavoidable to broach the subject when it came up. The show was not political in nature and never, in my two years as his co-host, did we walk into that studio with any agenda of bashing the President.
A great and factual account of this story can be found on the Washington Post.
As far as looking for national attention-false. Nobody was expecting this story to go viral and Bruce was as surprised by the attention. This is not an attempt to get his “fifteen minutes of fame”.
I am proud to have worked beside him, both as his intern when I was in college and most recently as his co-host. He is the kind of guy who stands up for what he believes in and this was not a decision that he made lightly, but he felt that he would never be able to appease management. It was better for both parties if we went our separate ways.
Hire him or don’t hire him-that’s fine. We have plans for the future of the show and we will go on. It’s also important to point out that our main sponsor of the show poured a lot of money into that station and he was always proud to align himself and his business with our show. We have his support even still.
This was a smear campaign by a few lunatics with nothing better to do than to harass a general manager and I have examples of the types of ridiculous threats he received, for those interested. It may help you understand what drove his decision.
Also, YouTube Pat Garrett and watch his music videos of Trump. That is the station owner then ask yourself again how we ended up in this place.
Better yet, listen to our podcast via iTunes and point out the examples of the horrible things we said about the President. As illustrated in the Washington Post article, the general manager himself could give no specific examples.
Thank you for your time! I just wanted to clarify!
He didn’t follow the rules as laid out by management. This is a job, not a streetcorner. It’s the station’s right to set the rules and his right to quit.
Considering that he can’t follow rules and is a convicted felon, no I wouldn’t touch this guy with someone else’s 10 foot pole.
This individual is typical of the leftist loons that are running amok in our society. He can’t seem to control his mouth and decided to use what is supposed to be an Active Rock station show to air his political views. He’s entitled to any view he wishes, but he doesn’t own or run the radio station. His JOB was to present a rock music show with appropriate content. If he wanted to do a political talk show then he needed to find another station where he could be a left wing pundit. I wouldn’t hire him on a bet!!!
No.
Like it or not, the GM is the one that catches flack from listeners when a personality becomes toxic to the station broadcast model. I’m disgusted with Donald Trump as President of the United States. I am a Progressive Democrat. Would I use a Saturday morning show to talk politics? Only if it were a show to talk politics with balanced views from both sides.
This is a ROCK station! You talk about and play Rock music. There are plenty of other outlets where the, in my opinion, train wreck of a President and his “covfefe” 3:00AM toilet tweets can be discussed.
No, I would not hire Mr. Bond. He costs stations sanctions that do go against their license. Bond dangerously believes that he is above the General Manager of the station once he sits down with a microphone and a keyboard in front of him. Not a good mix for any media company.
Seems the GM and/or owner would have been wiser to allow a talk program to exist, that had a different opinion than his own.
It would have been nice to have a place to hear healthy debate, now there is just the same old conservative veiwpoint as everywhere else. No reason to tune in now.
Free Speech TV during the week, Progressive Voice for Randi Rhodes Show and Amazon Music Prime for free.
It’s the station’s right to ask him to stop the political talk. It’s Bond’s right to quit. Both are fine.
However, it’s poor journalism on the part of the magazine not to point out that when there was discussion — specifically criticism — of the previous president, that the station had no problem with political content, and only required the political discussion to stop when the current administration took over. The article also fails on not pointing out that the owner of the station is a well-known conservative activist who went so far as to create a music video about his plans to vote for the current officeholder. Both facts are germane and to leave them out is a glaring failure on the part of Radio Ink.
So, one of two things are at play here: shoddy reporting, or perpetuating the myth that talent should blindly follow management and never question the word from above, even if it’s a ridiculous decision. Maybe it’s both.
Perhaps Eric Rhoades should investigate how the staff writer fell down on the job and report back to us.
Yet another radio geek trying to cause controversy to hopefully score a bigger job. Times have changed Bruce…you obviously haven’t. By the way…trying to be a rebel, doing what you want on the air, having a big mouth….well, there’s only one Howard Stern (Thank GOD) so give it up…you’re just looking like a big douche. But then again, huge egos don’t really care but someday you will. (maybe) Oh ya, don’t forget to wear your Jock Lanyard whenever you can. Standard jewelry for guys like you. LOL
Why would you even touch this story Radio Ink?
But it’s OK for the opposite viewpoint to spew hate. That being said, sometimes you can push the envelope only so far. Dude I hope you land a gig somewhere.
Thew guy is a saturday morning (get it) saturday morning host of a music station. who cares? get a life you snowflake felon!
What you have wrong is that, although the station plays rock music during the week, Bruce’s show was ALWAYS a talk show. It was always a different format than the rest of their programming.
Thanks for the note Cathy. He worked at a Rock station. He wouldn’t listen to the GM’s instructions on the direction of the station. The only reason he’s getting any attention is because he used the word Trump. The GM sets the rules. He refused to follow them repeatedly. Radio DJ’s quit or get fired every day in this business. Many for no reason and they get zero attention from the national press.
Who says he’s looking for attention? Sounds like he’s been breaking ranks for a while.
Hey radio ink, get ur facts correct if you’re going to print information about me.
Feel free to tell us what’s wrong with the story. You worked at a Rock station and were told to lay off the politics. You didn’t want to follow direction so you quit.
From someone who spent 26 years at the same station…You are a saturday morning cartoon. go bback to jail…do not pass go…LOL…..another liberal felon! LMFAO
Bruce – I second Radio Ink.
Please post your corrections.