Boston Radio: WEEI's Dennis & Callahan Remain

Kevin Graham Could Be New PD

WEEI 93.7 FM morning men John Dennis and Gerry Callahan — blindsided by the firing of boss Jason Wolfe yesterday — said they have been assured that station suits want them to be “part of the solution” to the once-dominant sports station’s ratings woes.

Callahan, a Boston Herald sports columnist, said Entercom Boston general manager Jeff Brown told him and Kirk Minihane, who was added to the morning show in February, that “we’re going nowhere.” And Dennis, who is on vacation this week, said Brown called him after Wolfe got the ax to reiterate that the morning show was not in any danger.

“I take him at his word,” Dennis said. “I’m not worried.”

Wolfe, WEEI’s vice president of programming and operations, who oversaw the station during years of Boston radio dominance, was shown the door last week, the victim of spiraling ratings and competition from WBZ-FM 98.5 The Sports Hub, the upstart that stole much of the longtime sports-talker’s audience.

In the most recent ratings period, The Sports Hub’s top-rated morning show, Toucher and Rich, dominated with a 13.4 share. Dennis and Callahan finished fifth with a 6.0. The Sports Hub was No. 1 overall with men age 25-54, both stations’ target audience, while WEEI was fifth, according to Arbitron.

Kevin Graham

However, both Dennis and Callahan have a year remaining on their contracts and the station’s move last February to dump longtime afternoon drive host Glenn Ordway didn’t do anything to improve numbers.

There have been reports that Brown’s choice to replace Wolfe is Kevin Graham, program director at KFAN in Salt Lake City. Brown declined to discuss it other than to say he will make an announcement in the next couple of days.

Wolfe’s successor will have to try to figure out how to increase listeners and decrease station costs — a tough act to pull off especially given the fact that WEEI is saddled with a whopping 10-year, $200 million contract to air Red Sox games that runs for three more years. The station also has the broadcast rights to the Celtics.

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