Copyright © 1998 by the Boston Phoenix, Inc. All rights reserved.

This Just In: Getting even

Radio waves and aftershocks follow WBCN-Herald dustup

By Peter Kadzis and Dan Kennedy

Last week the Boston Globe reported that the Boston Herald canceled $200,000 worth of advertising on WBCN promoting the redesigned tabloid after DJ Nik Carter ambushed Herald publisher Pat Purcell with an extremely hostile interview. Purcell, who had been invited on Carter's show to plug his new four-color paper, was taken to task for running what Carter, in effect, said was a paper that was insensitive to gays, lesbians, and people of color.

Industry insiders have told the Phoenix that the attack on Purcell was orchestrated by program director Oedipus, who is reportedly still steaming that the Herald's "Inside Track" gossip columnists, Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa, have favored rival WAAF at the expense of his own station. Both appear as contributors on WAAF's morning drive-time show.

As another radio insider put it: "You don't cost the station 200,000 big ones and still stay on the air. At a minimum you get suspended. Nik is still on the air. He's got a protector. All in all, this was a nasty little piece of business."

WBCN is owned by CBS. A CBS source familiar with the inner workings of the radio conglomerates said that if Carter is being encouraged to be outrageous, then he wouldn't necessarily suffer corporate or station sanctions. He added, however, that it would be highly unusual for station management to stage a set-up like the one aimed at Purcell.

That leaves the question: was Carter a player or a pawn in the controversy? Neither Oedipus nor WBCN general manager Tony Berardini returned calls seeking comment; the station also declined to comment in last week's Globe story. But one source who's been in touch with Oedipus says the program director appeared relaxed in the wake of the controversy and seems to be betting that in the new world of conglomerate radio, no one is going to care too much about a couple of hundred thousand dollars.

Oedipus reportedly mused that CBS top honcho Mel Karmazin -- who negotiated a five-year deal for 'BCN with the New England Patriots that's worth an estimated $20 million, and who earlier this year signed an eight-year, $4 billion agreement with the NFL -- will soon spin WBCN back into a renewed Infinity network.

Though Berardini reportedly fumes every time his station loses a dollar, Oedipus is said to believe that Karmazin has moved beyond such considerations. Besides, given the stranglehold CBS has on the local radio market, it would surprise no one if the balance of Purcell's advertising buy were spread out among other CBS stations.