If only David Brudnoy had lived to see it

One side benefit related to the demise of WBCN Radio (104.1 FM) is that CBS will move Bruins games from WBZ (AM 1030) to the new WBZ-FM (98.5 FM).

The late, legendary WBZ talk-show host David Brudnoy spent years lamenting the frequent Bruins interruptions. Ironically, the beneficiary of the move will be Dan Rea, who, unlike Brudnoy, is a hockey fan.

Talking about inauguration coverage

I'll be on "NightSide with Dan Rea" on WBZ Radio (AM 1030) tonight from 8 to 9 p.m. to talk about media coverage of President Obama's inauguration. I imagine this will come up at some point.

Those WBZ Radio cuts

I've been looking for a point of entry to comment on the recent cutbacks at WBZ Radio (AM 1030), which have claimed talk-show hosts Lovell Dyett, Steve LeVeille and Pat Desmarais, as well as sports reporter Tom Cuddy. It looks like Scott Fybush's blistering commentary ought to do the trick.

Unfortunately, I never got to hear those shows, as they were on during a time when I simply never listen to talk radio. Sorry to give fuel to CBS's fire — no doubt the company's research showed that I was pretty typical.

But live and local ought to be part of any radio station's mandate. As Garrett says, if CBS doesn't want to live up to its responsibilities, let it find a buyer who will. (Via Universal Hub.)

More on that Obama cover

In my latest for the Guardian, I argue that the Obama campaign and its supporters on the left have made way too much of the New Yorker's satirical cover depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as flag-burning, Osama bin Laden-loving terrorists.

Which puts me at odds with Jon Keller, who included me in a piece on the controversy last night on WBZ-TV (Channel 4).

Talking about the New Yorker

I'll be on WBZ-TV (Channel 4) during the 11 p.m. news, talking with Jon Keller about the New Yorker's controversial cover parodying Barack and Michelle Obama.

Howie being Howie

Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr's snide attack on state Sen. Jim Marzilli today is by the numbers, but it's worth reading all the way to the last two lines. No, he hasn't gotten over it. Will Carr get chewed out when he shows up at work this afternoon at WRKO Radio (AM 680), or will this just be waved off as Howie being Howie?

Meanwhile, good Jon Keller commentary on WBZ Radio (AM 1030) this morning on Marzilli's lawyer, who's gone way, way beyond the call of duty. While Marzilli himself has made it clear that he's got some serious problems by checking in to a psychiatric hospital, his lawyer, Terrence Kennedy, has dismissed the charges against Marzilli as "ridiculous."

That's pretty offensive. What ever happened to "my client has pleaded not guilty, and beyond that we have no comment"?

Still more on WBZ

Well, it looks like someone at the Globe thought the Herald was right yesterday to blow out page one on the cutbacks at WBZ-TV (Channels 4 and 38). Because today the Globe comes back with its own front-page story on What It All Means. For what it's worth, I think it's less interesting than the Herald's three story package yesterday.

More on WBZ

How big a story is the downsizing at WBZ-TV (Channels 4 and 38)? Bigger than the Globe plays it — a small story inside City & Region. [Correction: I've been told that it made the front of City & Region in some editions.] But not as big as the Herald seems to think, with a huge front-page package.

With three well-known names — sports anchor Bob Lobel, entertainment reporter Joyce Kulhawik and on-air news guy Scott Wahle — departing the station, the local-newscast glory days of the 1970s and '80s are starting to look more and more like the distant past.

Oddly, though, it may be the most retro of the three, Lobel, who still has a future in local television. As Herald columnist Steve Buckley points out, the newscasts have shrunk their sports segments in recent years because the obsessives have left for NESN, ESPN and the like.

If Lobel wants to keep working and doesn't mind taking a substantial pay cut, he could presumably slide into a prime slot on cable tomorrow. Except when the Red Sox are playing, NESN still resembles a local-access outfit more than it does a professional operation. I like Bob Ryan's show, but Lobel would really help.

By the way — think Dan Rea has had any second thoughts about moving from television to radio? No, I don't think so, either.

Finally, the Outraged Liberal has some worthwhile observations on the WBZ cuts and related media matters.

The bell tolls for WBZ

If any broadcast news operation could avoid cuts, you'd like to think it would be WBZ. With two television stations (Channels 4 and 38), a powerhouse news-and-talk (AM 1030) radio station and an unusually good, video-laden Web site, the CBS-owned operation should have been in a strong position.

Unfortunately, 30 people are being let go, according to this Jessica Heslam piece in the Boston Herald. According to a story by Bill Carter in the New York Times, CBS is cutting back nationally, and Boston is being hit harder than just about anywhere.

Dan Rea's radio days

I've got a profile of Dan Rea in the new issue of CommonWealth Magazine. Rea, a longtime television reporter at WBZ-TV (Channel 4), is now the host of the talk show once helmed by the late David Brudnoy and Paul Sullivan at WBZ Radio (AM 1030). "NightSide with Dan Rea" is an oasis of civility in the talk-radio wars. But can it work in today's caustic environment?

Rea's got some tough things to say about the state of local TV news, telling me, "It was very clear to me that there was a direction of television news that was not going to be reversed, and I wasn't quite sure that I wanted to continue doing television news as I was doing it." He added:

Local television news is one of the great purveyors of racism of our time. They don't understand that. But if you are somebody who lives out in one of the 128 or 495 suburbs, and never have a reason to really interact with people of color, the only time you’re going to see young black males is when they're being arraigned, they're being arrested, or they're dying in the street. We ignore the 99 percent of the kids in that community who are trying to do the right thing, trying to go to school, trying to participate in community programs and athletics.

Rea is probably best known for his years-long efforts on behalf of Joseph Salvati, wrongly convicted of murder because of the false testimony of a government-protected witness.

Crossing the infomercial divide

I watched in slack-jawed amazement last night as WBZ-TV (Channel 4) took up 1:58 of its newscast for this Song of Itself — a gushing tribute to a CBS-branded sports bar to be built at Gillette Stadium. (CBS, of course, is WBZ's corporate owner.) Yes, WBZ disclosed. Then it oozed. The piece was a truly odious use of airtime.

You know that little plug the Boston Globe gave to a Red Sox DVD that its corporate cousin NESN produced and that I poked fun at? I take it back. Not a problem. Not when a network-affiliate newscast broadcasts a two-minute commercial for a bar that its parent company is opening. I'd rather drink alone.

Dan Rea replaces Paul Sullivan

No surprise, but it's good news that veteran journalist Dan Rea has been named to replace the late Paul Sullivan as the evening talk-show host on WBZ Radio (AM 1030). Rea will continue in the tradition of Sullivan and his predecessor, the late David Brudnoy — that is, he'll host a show where the conversation is civil, and where news and interviews take precedence over ideology.

Now, as Brudnoy always said, if we can only get the Bruins off WBZ, we'll be all set.

(Via Universal Hub and the Herald's Messenger Blog.)

Paul Sullivan

Paul Sullivan has died. I heard it on the way to work this morning on WBZ Radio (AM 1030), where he had hosted a talk show until his illness forced him to step down in June. Sullivan was also political editor of the Lowell Sun. Here's a rundown of the coverage:

— "The Sullivan Family and the WBZ family lost a real treasure," says the station's news director, Peter Casey. "Paul Sullivan brightened up every room he ever entered and every life he ever touched. Right now, our thoughts are with Paul's wife and their five children and Paul's extended family." (WBZ Radio)

— "Paul Sullivan, the irrepressible veteran Sun columnist, popular radio talk show host and educator who turned his battle with cancer into an example of the bravery and grace with which such epics can be fought, has died." (Lowell Sun)

— "His handling of his illness was a classic insight into the man," says WBZ-TV (Channel 4) and radio political analyst Jon Keller. "He refused to make a spectacle of it and downplayed it with self-effacing humor." (Boston Globe)

— "God gave us in eight years what most don't have in 80," says Sullivan's wife, Mary Jo Griffin. "Paul came into my life and taught my girls by example how they should be loved by a man. I'm most grateful for that. I think he is at peace." (Boston Herald)

I did not know Sully well, but his demeanor was such that you would think you'd known him your entire life. Every so often he'd call me out of the blue and ask whether I could come on his show to talk about a media topic. It was always a welcome invitation. Sully's style — like that of the late David Brudnoy, whom he replaced in 2004 — was to let you have your say, but at the same time to challenge you if he thought you were laying it on a little thick.

Ironically, and tragically, Sully attained his greatest professional success just as he was beginning what would prove to be a long battle with melanoma. Sullivan learned he had cancer in late 2004, just before Brudnoy himself died of cancer. Sullivan, who'd been a late-night host and frequent Brudnoy fill-in, got the coveted 8 p.m.-to-midnight slot — as Brudnoy had wished — and filled it with distinction during the short time he had left.

Media Nation's thoughts go out to the Sullivan family and to his professional families, WBZ and the Sun.

The latest on Paul Sullivan

Earlier today local media folks received the following statement from Peter Casey, news director at WBZ Radio (AM 1030):

Statement on behalf of the family of Paul Sullivan:

We all want you to know how much Paul has appreciated the cards and calls during the last few months since giving his evening talk show on WBZ Radio. They have been very comforting during these summer months. We also want to express how grateful we are to the terrific medical team at Massachusetts General Hospital for their amazing care and treatment of Paul during the past 33 months.

At this point we have decided to end medical treatments for Paul's cancer and focus on his comfort and quality of life. He will be in the hospital for the foreseeable future receiving hospice care. We feel he will be most comfortable here at Saint's Memorial Medical Center in Lowell, the city where he spent so much of his life. Paul is surrounded by his family and friends and would like everyone to know how important all the thoughts and prayers have been to him.

Very sad news. Sully stepped down in June, but at the time he and the station held out some hope that his health would improve to the point where he could do some radio commentary. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen.

Best wishes to Paul and his family at this difficult time.

Best wishes to Paul Sullivan

WBZ Radio (AM 1030) program director Peter Casey has sent along this letter from talk-show host Paul Sullivan:

To my friends and colleagues at WBZ News Radio 1030:

After a two and one half year personal battle against cancer, including four brain surgeries, it's become clear to me that it's unfair of me to ask my support group, my wife Mary-Jo, my family, my friends, my WBZ colleagues, to continue to bear this burden. The toll my surgeries and treatments have taken on me makes it unlikely that I will ever have the energy to return to a four-hour daily talk radio program. This decision is not based on any one medical fact or the latest update of my condition. The fact is that WBZ deserves the best team on the field and as of this moment with my condition I would not be the best teammate to take the field. However, I'd like to contribute to WBZ in some fashion with either commentaries, or writing for the station's web site, or take part in the station's political coverage.

I will always remain a part of the WBZ family and am honored to have followed David Brudnoy doing a night time talk show on WBZ. But for the time being my health is going to be my focus, my full time job. I will still be keeping any eye on politics, on Beacon Hill, the fifth congressional district in Lowell, and elsewhere.

On a day to day basis I feel fine. I am up and alert and going out for lunches and walks when I can. I don't need constant care but what my illness and treatments have taken from me is the energy needed to do my show five nights a week. I'm not sure if I can let local or national events pass by without some commentary from me. So with that in mind I look forward to doing one last regular show on WBZ next week to get a chance to remark on the world that has been uncommented on by me during the last seven weeks.

My best regards,
Paul H. Sullivan

Casey adds that Sullivan's final program will be broadcast on Thursday, June 28, at 8 p.m., and that the station is not ready to announce its plans for Sullivan's 8 p.m.-to-midnight time slot.

Sullivan's other professional home, the Lowell Sun, reports on his departure here. You can also listen to Sullivan talking about his decision here.

The 50-year-old Sullivan is a class act and a rare voice of civility in Boston talk radio. It would be wonderful if he recovers to the point where he can resume a regular shift. But, regardless, Media Nation sends along its best wishes.