iHeart Boston morning man Matty Siegel said he quit and walked off his popular morning show Wednesday. The dramatic exit followed a call from management who told him to stop talking about Demi Lovato’s non-binary announcement. The question is, will he be back Thursday morning.
It appears Siegel got the call to end that discussion while still on the air. Something PD’s and GM’s say they rarely do, especially with long-time hosts.
His dramatic departure from the show Wednesday has certainly garnered the station a lot of attention and media press. And, as the day went on, it appeared the Boston papers were reporting that he’d be back on the air Thursday. Siegel has 40 years of success under his belt so he’s probably one of the few hosts that can get away with something like this and survive.
Regarding being told to end the Lovato discussion, Siegel said, “It’s a joke, the whole binary thing. I don’t care what Demi Lovato does. But now we have to worry about ‘you might offend someone. Basically what they want me to do is to be, you know, a lightweight show.”
Siegei told Boston.com that “There’s no ill feeling between me and my boss or me and my company, none. They’re doing their jobs. I get it. They got a lot of heat this morning, people complaining about things I said on the air. He doesn’t want me to be fired. His heart was in the right place.”
Siegel said he was also told back in November not to criticize Donald Trump.
You can listen to a portion of the audio of Siegel’s end of show rant HERE.
Would you allow Siegel back on your station if he walked out and aired the station’s dirty laundry on the show?
Mgt should NEVER try to control the content during the show unless they bring their headphones. Talent can’t function properly after such an interruption.
Reading these comments only underscores for me the majority of people in radio have no idea what we do to make a living.
Attention is the most valuable currency of the 21st Century. It has made a family who created and distributed a sex tape multi-millionaires and a reality show con artist President and any attention outside of pedophilia can be turned into cash.
Yes – OJ’s memorabilia prices went UP.
Wake up; we are in show business.
Bravo to this station for the stunt and the publicity it attracted.
Oh – and I hate to be the one to tell you but the Real Housewives of whatever town don’t overturn tables when there are no cameras around.
Expecting a 60+ year old to understand pop culture is insane. He’s being set-up for failure every morning. The fat lady is singing….I mean “they” are singing…
The guy wants to be a talk show host. That’s fine, his company owns a local talk station. Move him to WRKO, where he can talk for four hours a day non stop. Ultimately Stern, Imus, and all the rest got tired of playing music.
In the meantime, his old station needs to get back to what they do.
The big story is, who issued thus dictate to Siegel to stop making fun of Lovato’s pro “non gender” position? IHeart local market “programmers” and even Market Managers have zero power or decision-making capabilitity; they are gatekeepers. IHeart is a top-down company where Bob Pittman ultimately makes the decisions and drives policy, albeit from behind a wall of corporate suits.
This guy literally called himself the “greatest of all time” … whatever. You can be a superhero in your own mind, but are you? Are you really? Show the listeners some respect.
We don’t need “big mouths” like him in broadcasting! Get rid of him. We have one like him in this area, getting away with topics not good for broadcast.
I smell a stunt. I had to look up this “burning issue” to make sense out of this story. Just another thing to be outraged about that will be forgotten in a few days. File under “who cares?”
It became apparent to me decades ago watching Howard Stern crush his competitors that having a 9 share with 91% of the market hating your guts (in-theory how the media spun him) made you a runaway winner. If you’re on the air saying anything you’ll be offending someone. That’s the game we’re in. Tough to answer the question of whether to take him back not knowing exactly what he said to prompt the management call. Perhaps it was undefendable. But, if this question was just about him walking out on-air and what he said was minor, in a heartbeat I’d have him back. You have to stick up for your air staff for one, and two….if he shows up at a competitor (if it was me I’d be calling him immediately) the station is looking at dropping at least 4-6 million dollars from their revenue this year and probably for the next 3-4 years each. Plus, likely with that goes the jobs of all the people who made the decision to call him on air and prompt him to walk out. You don’t take revenue hits like that and survive.
Too many MBA’S who know the numbers but not the business are in charge. Lawyers and HR run most companies. Big talent is hired to get noticed. Complaints are part of getting noticed. Management should provide air cover not scramble to cover their own butts.
Less compelling content and more commercials doesn’t seem like a good strategy for competing with alternative media, but that seems to be the plan at most of the large companies.
I gave up an eleven year morning talk show when I got tired of management pulling me into the office 2 to 3 mornings a week, right after I got off the air, to chastise me for a comment I made that led to a listener complaint. It is difficult enough to do a Local Talk show these days without having to deal with management that does not support the talent.
Amen
Nope! Send him packing for good! If his only “talent” is badmouthing others then he should be hauling garbage for real. However; it might also be time for a new OM or even GM who has some balls and can control his/her people
This is what radio needs – Good programming is hard to find… I believe in the long run Seigel would draw the ratings like Stern, Leykis, Bubba, etc… Simply because the listeners wanna know what he will say next… He’s not violating any FCC rules… So let him off the leash… It’s his career to rise or burn. Management needs to sell it, promote it and eat their PC egos because (I say again) This is what Radio is Missing and NEEDS. THIS IS ENTERTAINMENT FOLKS! and Millenials need to grow a thicker skin.
Sounds to me like iHeart has a management problem…not a host problem.
Start there.
AMEN!
Best comment in the thread!
Are you kidding?…This is nuts!…
Any corporation that supports this nonsense around shutting down speech is not part of a democracy. And if companies believe they should be shutting down debate, then we have already arrived at a very dangerous point in history!
Free speech is the most important individual right in America!… It must be protected…Period!!
Depends on the numbers.
Of course. Talent is the ONLY thing keeping AM & FM Radio from becoming Obsolete.
Absolutey!
Yes!