Boston Radio: Minihane Suspended, FOX Pulls Radio Ads

Kirk Minihane

WEEI 93.7 FM sports radio host Kirk Minihane has been suspended without pay for a week by Entercom Communications for disparaging on-air comments he made about Fox Sports reporter Erin Andrews during two recent programs, according to boston.com.

Minihane’s suspension was announced Friday night by Entercom president and chief executive officer David Field.

His statement came hours after Fox Sports informed him with a terse letter it was pulling all advertising from the company’s more than 100 stations nationwide, including WEEI.

David Field

“Kirk Minihane’s statements regarding Erin Andrews were offensive and deplorable,” said Field. “It is clear by the response from our listeners, advertisers, and employees that Kirk’s efforts to apologize and make this right have been insufficient and ambiguous. We want to make it unequivocally clear that his comments were unacceptable and do not reflect Entercom’s values and standards.”

Minihane, one of three co-hosts of the morning drive “Dennis and Callahan” program, referred to Andrews as a “gutless b----” last Wednesday while discussing the sideline reporter’s awkward interview with Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright during the All-Star Game.

Upon returning from vacation this past Wednesday – his first day on the air since the original comments—he punctuated a verbal apology by suggesting that Andrews’s success is based on looks rather than ability, saying if she “weighed 15 pounds more she would be a waitress at Perkins.”

Entercom’s announcement of Minihane’s suspension came approximately two hours after a letter from Fox Sports president Eric Shanks to Field was obtained by Boston.com. In the letter, Shanks informed Field that all advertising would be pulled and no Fox Sports personalities would be permitted to be guests on WEEI.