Boston Radio: Tension Continues Between Toucher & Rich At The Hub

According to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation, months of tension between Fred Toucher and Rich Shertenlieb culminated in a meeting Wednesday with management.

At its best, “Toucher and Rich” is the rare show in the Boston sports radio market that seeks to make listeners laugh rather than agitating them.

Cadd Fin at The Boston Globe writes the show is good when just one of the hosts is on the program. When both are there, fully engaged and playing off each other’s strengths, it’s often exceptional.

Right now, it feels like a long time since that has happened. And given the drama around the program over the past few months, which seemingly came to a head this past week, it’s fair to wonder if the show will ever be at its best again.

According to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation, months of tension between Toucher and Shertenlieb culminated in a meeting Wednesday with station and parent company Beasley Media management in which Shertenlieb, among other frustrations, accused Toucher of creating a hostile work environment.

Here’s the condensed version of how it got to this point:

• Over the past several months, Toucher had dealt with a mysterious throat problem that affected his voice so much that at times he struggled to talk without coughing. He missed several shows, with Shertenlieb, Wallach, and a fill-in third host picking up the slack.
• On April 10, Toucher took a leave of absence to receive treatment. On more than one occasion during that absence, Toucher took to Twitter to complain that Shertenlieb and other show personnel hadn’t reached out to see how he was doing. One example: On April 29, he wrote on Twitter, “They don’t need me. Cancer scare and I don’t hear a word for weeks. Then I reach out to them … Nothing back.”
• On May 5, Toucher tweeted that his previous comments were not true and that he actually had heard from Shertenlieb and Wallach, among others. Toucher elaborated when he returned to the show this past Thursday. “[The tweets were] completely unfair,” said Toucher, who revealed that he was being treated for leukoplakia, a condition caused by smoking. “I talked to Jon, I talked to Rich, [he] had offered his connections at Dana Farber [Shertenlieb’s wife, Mary, is a cancer survivor], he had offered these things. In retrospect, it was a stupid thing to do … I was sitting home scared of all this happening, not that this is an excuse.”
• Shertenlieb was not there to hear Toucher’s mea culpa. He had called in sick Wednesday evening, several hours after staffers learned of Toucher’s imminent return. He was not on the show Friday, either. But he is scheduled to be in Monday … when Toucher has a previously scheduled day off.

Perhaps they will work together Tuesday. But it seems to be at least possible that they won’t work together again. According to sources, during Wednesday’s contentious meeting, Shertenlieb asked management what the plan was for the show.

He was told that Toucher was coming back Thursday, they remain cohosts, and the show — which has maintained its massive Nielsen Audio ratings though all the drama and absences — will go on.

As they say in radio..stay tuned