Richard Spires leaves WBT radio

Puhlease. Guys like Spires and Krantz should know that time on tv or radio is fleeting, and to never get too comfortable, because a couple bad ratings books and you're on the street. Just ask John Hancock. Best thing they should do is like anyone... enjoy what they had and look forward to new challenges.

 

They had a pretty good run, but the post 9/11 world has exposed some pretty big divisions between libertarians and conservatives, not only with Iraq but with the other issues (like the Patriot Act).

I wonder too if the "Z-Monster", 960 AM out of Gaston County has cut into their audience at all. Sean Hannity is on from 3-6. I can receive it (barely) in South Mecklenburg.

Packman is an a** for thinking this has anything to do with him. Spires had a great term for FNZ - "beer fart radio".

 

Spires dug his own grave, let him lie in it. You don't bring your personal problems to work and take it out on the audience. He became too rude to callers, sometimes screaming at them on occasion, hanging up when some one challenged him on a point, and having to apologize on air for his rants. The act got old and he got canned. People paying for advertizing just don't want to be associated with that type crap. I saw on another board where his partner said it wasn't a matter of substance that got him canned, it was his style. From the last time I listened to them for a few minutes July 4th, I can agree. I for one won't miss him.

 

Before you praise Spires here is the article. They were very wrong in what they did and how the handled the issue.

2003

TV/RADIO
Talk radio clams up when the tables turn
WBT loves asking questions but doesn't like to answer them
MARK WASHBURN

Talk radio is all about being provocative.

Take strong stands. Make people bubble.

Through much of last fall, WBT's local talk show hosts were afroth over a child neglect case involving Jack and Kathy Stratton.

The Strattons' 10 children had been removed from their home by social workers who said the parents failed to provide adequate food, clothing, medical care and education.

The Strattons said they were persecuted because of their religious and social values, because they home-schooled and followed Scripture about not getting their kids vaccinated.

The alternative weekly Rhinoceros Times took up the Strattons' cause, followed by WBT's Richard Spires and Brad Krantz in the afternoons and mid-morning host Keith Larson. John Hancock continued the inquisition on WBT-AM (1110) at night.

The familiar refrain: How do we know that the Department of Social Services did right by the Strattons? Why can't they have their kids back?

The agency wouldn't discuss the case. WBT hosts pushed the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners to intervene.

After defending the agency and its leadership, Parks Helms, then chairman of the Mecklenburg County commissioners, was belittled -- that's the most charitable word for it -- by WBT's hosts.

In an uncharacteristic burst of anger after losing the chairman's chair in an election held at the apex of the Stratton crusade, Helms struck back at his radio tormentors in an interview with Hancock.

The sound bite rolled the next day on Larson's program in a giddy loop.

It did not matter that DSS is forbidden by law from discussing details of such cases.

It did not matter that Helms is a man of principle who has spent his life in public service.

It did not matter that there was independent oversight in the case, by a district judge.

It did not matter that the selective persecution of the Strattons would have required a fantastic conspiracy of social workers, their supervisors, the judicial system and the county commission.

Didn't matter.

The Stratton case was great talk radio. You could punch and question all day and wrap your rhetoric in the cloak of democratic duty. Sticking up for the little guy. First Amendment. Watchdog of government.

You could put Stratton on the air to say he's the victim of corrupt juvenile courts and social service programs. Then you could beg the DSS to respond. You were guaranteed to get stonewalled at 50,000 watts.

The case has faded from the daily menu of chat on WBT since two state investigations found no wrongdoing by county officials and a second district judge ruled the children were better off in foster care and terminated the Strattons' parental rights.

DSS still hasn't discussed it.

This week, WBT fired talk show host Richard Spires.

WBT says he wasn't fired because he acted like a jerk to callers in recent months as personal burdens -- including a marital separation and financial problems -- weighed on him. It wasn't because the ratings were sliding. It wasn't because he drove off advertisers.

None of those things, the station says.

"A personal issue," says Rick Jackson, WBT's vice president and general manager.

Like DSS, he can't comment further.