The cold war between WEEI morning men John Dennis and Gerry Callahan continued yesterday, but their boss expects that they will kiss and make up and he’s not too worried about the long-term fallout for the station’s highest-rated show.
“I think the temporary tension between John and Gerry is an occasional and natural byproduct of two people in any long-term, working relationship, especially when they have to get up every morning at 3:30 a.m.,” Entercom Boston boss Phil Zachary told the Track. “Having worked with morning teams for the better part of 40 years, I’ve seen this play out time and again, so I’m not concerned. The only difference here is the media scrutiny. Everyone loves a good soap opera.”
Well yes, we do.
A former station insider who worked with Dennis and Callahan said he knows there have been tensions over the years between the two but was surprised to see the feud spinning out publicly.
“They always had their little quirks, but nothing ever got out of the office,” our snitch said. “They always closed the door and hashed it out and nobody ever noticed. This is different because they are both on the record talking about the laundry.”
As we told you yesterday, the longtime on-air partners have been sniping back and forth for a couple of weeks now, first Dennis while Callahan was on vacation, and then Gerry firing back while Dino was away this week.
In a nutshell, Dennis is feeling like the odd man out on the morning show and believes Callahan and co-host Kirk Minihane are freezing him out. He also said Callahan was less than supportive during his recent stint in rehab for alcohol addiction and added that he believes Gerry is threatened by his “likeability factor.” Callahan says it’s all a crock.
In any event, the two are under contract through September 2017, so they are going to have to suck it up and make up, or it’s gonna be a loooong two years.
“They’ll probably have to sit down and have a conversation if they haven’t already,” said our source. “They are both obviously very smart guys and know what’s best for the show. They’ll figure it out. They are too good not to.”
Dennis & Callahan will be together for the first time in weeks on Monday so it will be interesting to see how they handle the situation.
“On Monday, John, Gerry and Kirk Minihane will be professional broadcasters who speak their minds as listeners have come to expect,” Zachary said. “I’m certain they will communicate before then because there are frequent conversations regarding show topics and content before each program.”
As always, do stay tuned …
Credit to the Boston Herald who originally published this article
