Dennis and Callahan

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Dennis and Callahan is a popular morning radio show on WEEI, a sports radio station in Boston. The show combines talk of sports and politics, along with current or hot-button issues. Gerry Callahan generally argues a conservative view point and, while not himself a liberal or Democrat, John Dennis often serves in the 'Devils Advocate' role to counter Callahan's positions. The show premiered in 1997, and has been getting large ratings since.

Contents

[edit] Bio's

[edit] John Dennis

A native of Pittsburgh, John Dennis is 1974 graduate of Kent State University earning a bachelor's degree in telecommunications and journalism. At age 22, he served as sports director and weekday anchor for WDAF-TV, an NBC affiliate in Kansas City, Missouri. He later became a studio anchorman at WPSL radio. In 1977, he joined WHDH-TV in Boston. Over the next 21 years he covered the Boston sports scene for the station holding the following roles: weekend and weekday sports anchor, sports producer, sports director as well as producing several sports features and investigative reports. John Dennis is involved with several Boston based charities, raising money for the Jimmy Fund, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and he also has served on the board of directors for the Mutual Funds Against Cancer Organization. [1] Dennis has made cameos in many of the Farrelly brothers movies.

[edit] Gerry Callahan

Gerry Callahan is a sports columnist for the Boston Herald. He is a graduate of Chelmsford High School and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He began his career as a sports reporter for The Sun in Lowell in 1983, and moved to the Herald in 1989. From 1994 to 1997, he also wrote for Sports Illustrated. Callahan generally argues a conservative view point and admits he 'fantasizes about' conservative columnist and author Ann Coulter. He is happily married to Tracy and has 2 children, Shannon and Jack. Callahan also appears regularly on Fox Sports New England and makes occasional appearances on ESPN's Sports Writers.

[edit] Regular Guests

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Boston Globe Ban

In 1999, the Boston Globe's executive sports editor, Don Skwar banned Globe sportswriters from appearing on the Dennis & Callahan morning show because of its perceived lowbrow humor. This came two weeks after he had banned Globe sportswriters from appearing on WEEI's afternoon 'The Big Show' after columnist Ron Borges appeared on it and allegedly used a racial slur to describe New York Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu. After this ban, WEEI retaliated by banning Globe sportswriters from all WEEI programs. [2]

[edit] METCO Controversy

On September 29, 2003, during a segment called 'headlines', where they read and comment about current news stories, Callahan and his morning co-host John Dennis made what were taken to be racially insensitive remarks while discussing a story about an escaped gorilla.[3] The gorilla had escaped from the Franklin Park Zoo and had been recaptured at a bus stop. According to newspaper articles, the exchange allegedly was: [4]

Callahan: "They caught him at a bus stop, right -- he was like waiting to catch a bus out of town."
Dennis: "Yeah, yeah -- he's a METCO gorilla."
Callahan: "Heading out to Lexington."
Dennis: "Exactly."

METCO is a state program that buses inner-city Boston students to nearby suburban schools. Many perceived the comments to be comparing poor, mostly African-American children to gorillas. WEEI general manager Tom Baker suspended both hosts for two days, then extended the suspension to two weeks after the Blue Cross-Blue Shield (Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts) pulled $27,000 in ads and in turn donated that money to METCO (another report alleged that Blue Cross increased its advertising by $27,000 one week later [5]). Dunkin' Donuts responded by ceasing all advertising that involved the voices of John Dennis or Gerry Callahan. [6] Both hosts apologized and were sent to sensitivity training. WEEI also agreed to provide free advertising for the METCO program on the radio station. In November 2003, WEEI General Manager Tom Baker was replaced by Julie Kahn. Station executives denied there was a connection between the METCO incident and Baker's replacement. [7]

[edit] Full Metal Jacket Sound Bite Controversy

On January 9, 2004, during a discussion of a sex scandal involving the Chinese national table tennis team [8], the show aired a sound bite from the Stanley Kubrick film Full Metal Jacket in which a Vietnamese prostitute tells a G.I. "me so horny".

The playing of the sound bite led to a protest from a local man whose wife is Chinese-American. The man complained to the station and also contacted various organizations, including Metco. The Boston Herald reported that WEEI general manager Julie Kahn had spoken with the man and said that the matter was now a "non-issue', however when contacted by the press, the man disagreed.[1]

[edit] Kevin Weeks Interview

In March 2006, some listeners of the Dennis and Callahan Show were upset when they conducted an in studio interview with Kevin Weeks, a former member of Whitey Bulger's South Boston based criminal organization. Weeks had admitted to committing armed and unarmed assaults, kidnapings and being an accessory to several murders on behalf of Whitey Bulger and had played a role helping Bulger escape arrest.[9] His appearance on the show was to promote his book, 'Brutal : The Untold Story of My Life Inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob' (ISBN 0-06-112269-6). Some viewers felt that it was wrong for the show to help Weeks promote his book. One listener called in and is quoted as saying 'You bring this scumbag onto the radio and basically give him his 15 minutes of fame and help him sell a book or two'. Gerry Callahan told the Boston Herald that they wrestled with whether to "put this thug on air." but the bottom line, he said, "It's good radio." [10]

[edit] Profane, Threatening Voicemail

In September 2005, a profanity laced, audio file was posted on the website of a local paper (Barstool Sports), purporting to be a voice mail message from John Dennis threatening rival sports radio personality Ryen Russillo of 1510 The Zone. [11] In the audio tape, "Dennis" accuses Russillo of being a drunk and hitting on his daughter. After the incident, the New England Patriots had Russillo removed from WBCN's post-game show with Gary Tanguay & Company. WBCN holds broadcast rights to Patriot games. Dennis denied any responsibility for the Patriots decision. [12]

[edit] Awards and Recognition

  • Placed 93rd on trade journal "Talkers Magazine's" list of the 2007 "Heavy Hundred". The list ranks what the magazine considers the most popular, influential, or entertaining talk-show hosts from around the country.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ January 2004 Archive: 2004-01-11. Radionewsweb.com. Retrieved on January 27, 2007.
  2. ^ Simon, Clea (2007-03-02). Area talk hosts among biz's. Boston Globe. Retrieved on March 26, 2007.

[edit] External links

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