The musical chairs continue to go round ‘n round at Boston’s WEEI all-sports radio, where it competes with 98.5 Sports Hub radio.
Today’s star show, so-to-speak, is the WEEI afternoon drive-time slot at 2 p.m, when ex-98.5 co-host Rich Shirtenlieb comes back to sports radio, after a falling-out with his ex-cohost at 98.5, Fred Toucher.
Shirtenlieb and Toucher were a radio team for 20 years, starting at the old Boston WBCN radio, in 2008, just after ex-WBCN’s shock jocks Opie and Anthony departed with poor ratings, and who a decade earlier, WAAF had sent packing, after they reported (falsely as a joke on April Fool’s Day) that then Mayor Tom Menino (or “Mumbles Menino” as talk show host Howie Carr labelled him) had been killed in a car crash.
Shirtenlieb and Toucher eventually made it over to the then-new 98.5 Sports Hub radio.
Things seemed sweet, sort of, but under the sweet outer cover, Shirtenlieb and Toucher decided they finally despised each other.
Both were up for new contracts.
Toucher signed on the dotted line, but Shirtenlieb balked at the new contract 98.5 offered him, saying it was too low, and departed.
Meanwhile, after Shirtenlieb left, Toucher stepped away from the microphone for a while, claiming a drinking problem, a throat problem and a failing marriage which ended soon after, in a pile of ashes.
When, after several months away from talking sports, Toucher returned to the 98.5 early 6 a.m desk, shooting verbal, almost non-stop vicious darts at Shirtenlieb, stopping just short of saying Shirtenlieb should die.
Toucher prayed for only ill-will towards Shirtenlieb and predicted on-air that Shirtenlieb would never be back on radio again, anywhere.
Not so fast.
After recently bouncing around among a tenuous collection of radio jobs that hit a dead-end, Shirtenlieb just landed the host, afternoon star-studded sports job on the coveted WEEI 2 p.m. afternoon drive-time slot.
It’s not what Toucher asked for in his wishes of the Wizard of Oz because life for Toucher was – he thought – finally perfect, as long as Shirtenlieb was finally silenced.
As they say, be careful what you wish for…
