John McMullen
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full-protect. Repeated removal of unflattering factual information. WikiInformer 04:35, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
- For the naval architect and marine engineer, see John McMullen (engineer).
John Patrick McMullen III (born September 4, 1963, Fort Eustis, VA, but grew up in Seattle, WA) is an American gay radio personality who co-founded and served as station manager of Sirius Satellite Radio's "OutQ" gay-oriented channel. McMullen also hosted a daily show on OutQ.
[edit] History
John McMullen's broadcast history includes being the first program director at Seattle's KUBE-FM, which he helped build with friend and mentor Michael O'Shea in 1981. He would later be convicted of embezzlement from KUBE-FM and serve a sentence in state prison (Superior Court of Washington No. 86-1-02317-4).
He later went on to create the Northwest Radio Network, a 42-station network of affiliates that carried the syndicated sports and entertainment shows developed by McMullen, which shortly thereafter ceased operations. After migrating through local and network radio positions in Washington, D.C., San Diego, Austin, San Francisco and Honolulu, McMullen transitioned into the high tech industry first with Aldus Corporation (later merged with Adobe Systems), and later, an executive producer and program talent position with Real Networks. In 1997, McMullen was the founder of an online streaming radio station called GayBC Radio Network, under the corporate name of Stellar Networks, which operated for 4.5 years and ceased operation in late 2001. GAYBC, measured by independent auditing firms including Arbitron, had an audience of more than 2.3 million users worldwide. McMullen was then hired by Sirius Satellite Radio in July, 2002, to host Sirius Radio's first 'in-house' talk show on "The Buzz," channel 168. He was hired by Sirius to create the network's first in-house 24/7 original talk station based on the success of GayBC Radio. On April 14, 2003, Sirius OutQ joined the Sirius lineup with on-air personalities including McMullen (who also served as the station's Program Director and Station Manager).
When the John McMullen Show first hit the satellite airwaves on OutQ, Corey Johnson was McMullen's producer. Later, David Guggenheim filled that role for well over a year before moving to Signorile's program. Anthony Veneziano served as McMullen's producer for a few weeks before McMullen moved from New York to Los Angeles in October 2005; at that point, Kathy Sanchez took the reins. McMullen's show was noted for the lively in-studio banter between the host and his producers.
The "John McMullen Show" ran for four years and four months until November 20, 2006, when Sirius terminated McMullen's employment with the company. It is speculated that McMullen had a series conflicts over the direction of the station's programming and advertising sales for more than two and a half years with Sirius Vice President of Talk Programming Jeremy Coleman, who McMullen was responsible for having been hired into the position. Coleman and Sirius Executive Vice President of Programming Jay Clark reassigned McMullen's management duties, making Dave Gorab the Program Director, when McMullen did not take down or reprimand the board operator, Ben Sparks (a personal friend of Coleman's) responsible for putting a poster up in one of the OutQ studios that said, "Fuck Bush! Not Innocent Prisoners" during the Abu Graib scandal in July 2004. McMullen was responsible for bringing more than 80% of Sirius OutQ's ad revenues through endorsement campaigns, including the station's largest-ever account, Subaru. McMullen also had played a significant role in Subaru of America adding Sirius as an OEM option to its vehicle line in the 2006 model year.
[edit] Other features
McMullen took a yearly "Tour of America" (sponsored by Subaru) during which he did his show from various cities all around the United States. This generally occured in the early fall months; the 2005 Tour lasted 5½ weeks and visited 13 cities, some of which were notable for being especially gay-unfriendly in some way.
The John McMullen Show also featured the following recurring segments:
- The Culture Corner with Charlie Dyer, weekly on Mondays 11p ET (8p PT)
- Hot Rods with Todd Bianco, weekly on Tuesdays 11p ET (8p PT)
- Bear Talk with "Big Dog Steve," weekly on Wednesdays 11p ET (8p PT)
- Crap Shoot! with Scott Nevins, weekly on Fridays 10p ET (7p PT)
- Gettin' Fit, weekly on Wednesdays 10p ET (7p PT): a fitness and health segment featuring Samuel Kensinger Francis and Steve Smalley, MD with occasional updates on McMullen's quest to lose 100 pounds during 2006.
[edit] Personal
McMullen lives in the Los Angeles area with his partner, Charlie Dyer, a former full-time OutQ on-air personality who later appeared as a guest on a weekly one-hour McMullen show segment.
