According to the Lowell Sun, The Save WBZ Newsradio 1030 campaign comes on the heels of reports that iHeartMedia plans not to honor collective bargaining contracts at 'BZ. CBS Radio and Entercom are merging so 'BZ is becoming an iHM station under a divestment deal announced in conjunction with a U.S. Justice Department settlement.
"People won't stand for this. WBZ is a New England institution, it's as much of a New England institution as Tom Brady or Kelly's Roast Beef," campaign coordinator Benjamin Goodman said Tuesday morning. "I have listened to WBZ all day and all night since I was a little kid, my parents did, their parents did. I'm hearing from friends and complete strangers from all over the country who have similar stories and who know, based on iHeartRadio's history, that they stand to really water down the newsroom."
Goodman, who grew up in southern Maine and is now based in Washington, D.C., said WBZ listeners have a track record of fighting corporate changes, citing successful listener campaigns to bring back David Brudnoy in the 1990s and Steve LeVeille in 2009.
The online petition at www.SaveWBZ1030.com allows station supporters to sign a petition telling iHM decisionmakers and WBZ advertisers they will get their news elsewhere and buy other products if iHM makes changes "watering down" WBZ.
"Let there be no mistake: if iHeartMedia guts the WBZ Newsroom, we will tune out -- and we will actively seek alternatives to products and services offered by WBZ advertisers," the campaign website reads.
The Boston Globe reported last Saturday that an iHeartMedia attorney sent WBZ union officials a letter saying that the collective bargaining agreements between CBS Radio and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists will not be honored and that iHM "will interview and consider for employment the on-air announcers and off-air production staff currently employed by CBS at WBZ-AM."
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