Sirius XM radio announced yesterday that former WEEI host Glenn Ordway will be joining its Mad Dog Sports Radio channel for weekend shows beginning tomorrow. The Big Weekend Show with Glenn Ordway will air every Saturday and Sunday from 8:00 to 11:00 am ET.

Ordway is also the lede subject of Chad Finn’s media column this week – Glenn Ordway is serious about his future role on Boston radio – where the host insists that he will be back on the Boston airwaves in January at an unnamed outlet.

Finn also discusses the contract extensions for Toucher and Rich and mentions the Bob Costas interview with Bobby Orr, which will air next Tuesday on NBC Sports Network following the Rangers/Bruins game.

Ordway’s former employer, WEEI has been mixing things up a little bit, having hosts work different shifts, as John Dennis worked the afternoon show with Michael Holley yesterday, Mike Mutnansky working the morning show with Gerry Callahan and Kirk Minihane this morning, and Holley is also scheduled to work the morning show next for a day.

This may or may not mean changes are coming under new management, it could simply be that they want the various hosts to work with each other as a way of getting to know one another, and perhaps ease tensions that may exist. With Mike Salk off on vacation riding camels, it is as good a time as any to see what might work.

One combination that needs to be made is Salk with Minihane. Dennis with Salk would be interesting as well.

Some might equate this with rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, but I’m willing to give new management a shot here to see if they can actually turn this thing around. Boston sports radio would be a much better place if the stations were more competitive.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

18 thoughts on “Ordway Joining Sirius XM, Says January Return To Boston Radio Still Happening”

  2. It seems as if you are calculating that we as a region are stuck with Salk. I can only hope and pray that is not true. Salk is as under-informed, weaselly, unctuous, and just plain awful a “talent” as has ever been inflicted on Boston. Worse than Ted Sarandis. Worse than Mazz. Filled with more unjustified self-regard than Bob Halloran. More clueless than Butch Stearns. His awareness of opinions other than his is zero. His knee-jerk default to directing any conversation to his likes, dislikes, and “concerns” is downright creepy. The fact that his sponsor GM has now departed town should make it that much easier to eat his contract and send him elsewhere, full-length mirror and all.

    Like

  3. I enjoyed hearing Dale Arnold this week. I know some think he is boring and milquetoast but I like his professionalism and the way he manages a program. He is the exact opposite of Felger – no contrived stories or need to drum up controversy just to be entertaining. I especially liked it earlier this week when he was on with Jackie Mac. She needs to be on with more regularity.

    Like

    1. Said before by myself and many: you know exactly what you get with Dale. Solid, dependable on the “vanilla” stuff, gets this market, but nothing horribly bad. How many hosts can you say this about? (I’m talking fill-in hosts not like when someone such as Bedard or Curran does a 4hr shift when the regulars are on vacation.)

      Like

  4. Everytime I hear Dale on any of the shows it makes me wonder how clueless the suits at WEEI are/were for taking him off the air, he has been great in the mornings and the chemistry between he and Holley the other day with Jackie was fantastic. Now, the best new combo in my opinion would be Salk and Mutt on ANY OTHER STATION. I would certainly love to hear more Jackie and Rob Bradford as well…

    Like

    1. I’m really hoping this post is sarcastic. Dale Arnold? The phony, condescending pant load from Maine? Do ever hear when a reasonable smart caller challenges him? He turns into a five year old screaming little girl. If I never hear that schit-stirrer Jackie Mac speaking another word again I’d be perfectly happy.

      Then you pick two of the worst recent hires by WEEI, Salk and Mutt and want to pair them together? Sure, if you are determined to develop the lowest rated sports radio show since Dakota in the Morning.

      If Rob Bradford has the required surgery to clear the mush out of his mouth then I might be inclined to listen to him talk about the Red Sox for two minutes, otherwise, he’s a buffoon.

      Like

      1. In “nufced ” defense, he said Salk and Mutt on ANY OTHER STATION…get it?..he wants EEI to get rid of both of them…but I agree with you, never been a big Jackie Mac fan, She’s good with NBA basketball but other than that,,, If I had a nickle everytime she’s predicted the demise of the Patriots I’d be rich

        Like

    2. I’d nominate Dale for a workhorse award:

      – Friday morning, Dale did the 6-10 on WEEI for JD.

      – Friday evening, Dale was on NESN doing Bruins.

      – Saturday evening, Dale was doing college hockey on NESN (UVT? I think). That’s a pretty long hike to+from.

      – Sunday morning, Dale was right back on 9-1 doing the best Sunday show (w/ cprice+chatham).

      Can’t hate on him for effort.

      Like

  5. One of Nick Cafardo’s arguments in today’s Globe against full instant reply in baseball starting next year: “It’s not so good for the news business. We used to spend days writing about those controversial calls. Remember Jim Joyce’s blown call that cost Armando Galaragga a perfect game? The story was in the news forever.”
    In other words – no more spoon-fed stories, I actually have to do some work!

    Like

  6. MacMullan, Arnold and Holley was very enjoyable to listen too. It was the first time in awhile I left it on EEI for my entire commute (not that I normally switch over to 98.5 because they have become the new big show when they were on top – insufferable).

    Like

  7. I just don’t see where 98.5 could fit Ordway into their lineup, other than nights/weekends. And if he is in fact planning a Boston come-back, I can’t see Ordway accepting a time slot that’s significantly less high-profile than the one he had at WEEI for any extended period of time, a la Pete Sheppard, unless he’s given some assurances by management that a weekday time slot will be opening up for him, and I don’t anticipate that happening. I also don’t think Ordway is so desperate that he’d stoop to doing Herald.com radio with Meterparel or broadcasting from whatever junior college radio Station Sheppard’s now with.

    The only ritualistically viable outlet I think Ordway has left–barring something completely out of left field, like NBC/FOX/ESPN launching a Boston FM sports station in 2014–is returning to WEEI. There’s something going on over there that just gives me the feeling it might happen – the hosts (ex.-Salk) seem to be much giddier on the air, you have all the hosts trying out new time slots as if they’re preparing for a move, Jeff Brown, the assumed architect of the Salk-for-Ordway move, was essentially fired not long after, and Brown’s replacement Phil Zachary seems open to WEEI “returning to its roots” (paraphrasing).

    The signs are there, IMO, a lot of coincidences with the Ordway announcement and things going on over at WEEI. However, while Zachary might be willing to embrace WEEI’s past, it’s doubtful Entercom brass is very keen on essentially admitting they screwed up royally by letting Ordway go in the first place. But now that Brown’s gone, I can see Ordway mending the fence (and accepting a pay-cut) given his long history at WEEI and some of the allies he still has there.

    Or this might just be me desperately trying to invent ways in which Mike Salk is put out of his misery and sent packing back to Seattle.

    Like

    1. “Mike Salk is put out of his misery…”? Salk is the dispenser of misery, ladling out huge gobs of it for every minute he is on the air. Who cares what his departure would mean to him? It’s what it would mean to US — namely blessed relief.

      Like

  8. The inescapable (and true) conclusion is that sports-radio hacks have no other redeeming skills upon which to fall when their positions are terminated. They usually wallow in their own misery, strike out in rage-filled rants against former employers, and generally cement every negative perception people have of them.

    Like

Comments are closed.