Entercom was put in an uncomfortable position by an angry employee who was using social media to complain about his employment and pry his way out of it. In the end, Entersom decided he wasn’t worth all the headaches, and gave him what he wanted.
What happened with Kirk Minihane is something you don’t typically see in the radio business. Hosts will usual honor the deal they sign and take the money a company is paying them until their contract expires or non-compete runs out. Perhaps they have a lawyer working with the company to try to break the deal, but that’s usually done behind closed doors, between two sides that are acting professionally. After all, those hosts know they need their next job, they love the radio business and they do not want to burn bridges. Today radio companies are a lot less likely to hire a host that brings them an abundance of negative attention.
Kirk Minihane has proven he can bring in ratings, at least for WEEI in Boston.
He was also been suspended several times and caused a Boston activist to target advertisers on the station. Then when he didn’t get what he wanted he used social media as a weapon against his employer.
The question for radio Market Managers, General Managers and PD’s today is: Would you hire him or anyone who’s done what he’s done knowing the same thing could happen to you at any moment?
As a manager, I would do the complete opposite of what you did. Why did you leave out that in the time period of most Kirk’s suspensions, he was dealing with both his parents fighting cancer which ultimately they lost their battles. He was on leave dealing with deep depression and thoughts of suicide when you conveniently left him out to hang for MONTHS, promising him a return to radio. Now when he gets tired of waiting for you and goes to social media to explain all this to the people who have been waiting for his show on Radio.com, you print this? Shame on you!
The way you handled this situation was so distasteful that after listening to WEEI for years a good 8-10 hours a day, I shut them off totally and unfortunately went to 98.5 with probably many of the WEEI listeners since they are now topping the ratings. Nice job! Great business move! Time to delete radio.com.
PS…you should fire your proofreader… Entersom? LOL
Did this guy really think that publishing this was a SMART thing to do and that anyone would agree with him? Comical
Well he did get a settlement and ultimately got out of a terrible contract he didn’t want to be in anymore sooooooo……yeah
Also…hows the show/station doing since he left? Simple question…are they doing good or bad? I’d say the answer to that very simple question is the answer to if the manager handled this situation correctly….
the bosses at WEEI made a big mistake getting rid of Kirk. The show is horrible now and unlistenable. Many people listened because with Kirk the show was great. He uncovered or reported great stories. Too bad, watch as Mutt kills another show on WEEI. how many shows will the managment at WEEI allow Mutt to ruin…. sad really sad….
Dog Father sounds like a Kurt follower. Dog wasn’t there…only knows what Kirkie Periscoped.
Your company treaded VERY CLOSE to a couple of labor law issues regarding handling of an employee after they return from medical leave. If not unlawful x certainly on extremely poor taste and reflects poor judgment on all levels of management. And this from the same station who brought back a “talent” twice for making poor decision s on the air. By right this person should have also been asked to leave but again poor decision making
is further exasperated by the fact that the KM who you handled so poorly was actually responsible for most of your stations ratings. Managers, what would you do?
Ing