Mighty Mighty Bosstones frontman Dicky Barrett was recently fired from his morning show on Los Angeles radio station Indie 103.1. This circumstances
surrounding the demise of the show have given rise to a war of words between Barrett and station general manager Dawn Girocco. The statements,
recently distributed via Barrett's publicist, can be found below.
The station also includes shows hosted by Joe Sib, Henry Rollins, Kung Fu/Vandals' Joe Escalante and Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols.
According to Barrett:
?The station was built to fuck with KROQ (Infinity) by people from KISS-FM (Clear Channel) it was just supposed to be a short lived pain in the ass
that that took away a few ratings points, and talked some shit about KROQ - Inadvertently (and you can credit Steve Jones and the other celebrity
DJ's) it became good, and got a lot of national attention, and credible press ''the coolest station in America'' rolling stone etc. ? At that point
the FCC said Clear Channel who operated Indie 103.1 out of the Entravision offices could no longer do so - All business ties on paper we're severed -
It became a full Entravision property - But the hard right leaning Clear Channel program director and station manager (along with a lot of the behind
the scenes technical employees) were already firmly in place - It is in Clear Channel's best interest that Indie 103.1 exist - the PD, Michael Steele
(who brags about ''breaking Britney Spears'') and the station manager, Dawn Girocco (a long time radio sales women) are believing their own hype and
considering themselves radio geniuses who masterminded the Indie 103.1 phenomenon, so it's now time to implicate their superior ''radio wisdom'' and
conventional ''radio strategy''
#1) Morning shows need to be musically formatted and the music needs to be heavily rotated - #2) All guests must be approved by Michael Steele (Dawn
Girocco really, she's Dick Cheney, Steele's George Bush) ''no guests to controversial soccer moms are listening in the a.m.'' - There were other
things that were more annoying, then actually detrimental to the show ''say the time, and call letters till your blue in the face'' - I reluctantly,
and unhappily against my better judgment went along with all this for about two weeks, hoping they would come to their senses - During this time they
brought in a longtime radio guru, to consult (he also worked at one point for Clear Channel) - His assessment was the show was ''really good'' and I
was a ''legitimate talent and a potential radio star'' - Not the information these people wanted me to have - When I made an on air remark about not
liking the new overplayed Morrissey track I was marched into the President of Entravisions office (Jeff Lieberman, a fan of Mighty Morning show) - In
front of me, Jeff told Dawn he was not prepared to ''strip Dicky of his opinion'' she was obviously and visibly embarrassed - Then he asked her if she
gave me the book about morning radio that he gave her to give to me ''no, it's at home'' she said, ''why the hell, is it there'' he asked, she looked
humiliated - This was the beginning of the end for me, and the writing was most likely on the wall - Two weeks after that I had a substantial,
unauthorized, pro-choice conversation on the air with a South Dakota disc jockey and a few callers, the straw that broke the camels back - This is not
the direction supporters of the current administration want the station going in.
- I was fired that day
-I loved doing the show and loved the people who loved it
Thank you,
Dicky
Indie 103.1 station general manager Dawn Girocco was quoted by HITS Magazine's website:
"We have been working with Dicky for the past five months trying to get the show to the next level.. We invested a lot into not only the show, but in
promoting and coaching him. Unfortunately it takes a lot of work to build and grow a morning show as well as develop interesting, compelling content.
This was not Dicky's priority, as he had other commitments with Jimmy Kimmel Live, which was, in his words, 'his bread and butter.' Everyone at Indie
has a tremendous commitment to the station and to the audience. We need to have a morning show that is able to make Indie their #1 priority"
To which Dicky responded:
Jimmy Kimmel is a great guy who supported the Mighty Morning Show, and loved it, even though he helped to build the Kevin and Bean Show on KROQ and is
the Producer of the Adam Carolla Morning Radio Show.
The man hired to ''coach'' me "trying to get the show to the next level'' Dan Kieley said "Dicky is a true talent and a radio star'' and ''it's a
great Morning Show'' I was fired for being unwilling to be, in Dawn Girocco's words ''more mainstream'' It was a great morning show. It is unfair to
let people think I walked away to put more work into loudly reading twenty to thirty words a night on Jimmy's T.V. show. I worked hard on the Mighty
Morning Show. I along with Stacey, Chuck, and Liz, built and grew it to what it was. You could count on it (for the most part) to provide you with
interesting, compelling content and better music then any other show on the air in the morning.crazyfists28 - 3-27-2006 at 04:34 PM
dicky is the man, cool as shit in person, awsome live band toodefstarsteve - 3-27-2006 at 04:49 PM
fuck the fcc and clear channelDiscipline - 3-27-2006 at 04:53 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by defstarsteve
fuck the fcc and clear channel
crazyfists28 - 3-27-2006 at 05:04 PM
satellite radio....so good to listen toXHonusWagnerX - 3-27-2006 at 05:09 PM
I hope Dickey goes to Sirius!!!crazyfists28 - 3-27-2006 at 05:12 PM
that would be sawwweeeetclevohardcore - 3-27-2006 at 05:14 PM
I listened to this show often. Best of luck to Dicky. He was good on the radio show.Voodoobillyman - 3-27-2006 at 05:15 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by XHonusWagnerX
I hope Dickey goes to Sirius!!!
I wouldnt be surprised as this seems to be the latest trend for disc jockeystireironsaint - 3-27-2006 at 06:10 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by XHonusWagnerX
I hope Dickey goes to Sirius!!!
Alla youse with accounts should petition Sirius to hire him. I'm still
thinkin' about getting Sirius and that would give me yet another incentive to do so. I never heard Dickie's show, but I've never heard one bad thing
about it. He's nice as hell in person, but I got the impression he's a little flighty the times I met him.defstarsteve - 3-27-2006 at 07:27 PM
the only thing I hated about indie was the damn commercials
yo saint if you want to listen to sirius online pm me
you can use up to 10 computers on 1 accountthedog - 3-27-2006 at 08:34 PM
it sucks that he got fired, but maybe this will give him time to reunite the Bosstones.Discipline - 3-27-2006 at 08:55 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by thedog
it sucks that he got fired, but maybe this will give him time to reunite the Bosstones.
That would rule.XHonusWagnerX - 3-27-2006 at 09:43 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by Discipline
Quote:
Originally posted by thedog
it sucks that he got fired, but maybe this will give him time to reunite the Bosstones.
That would rule.
MyOwnWay - 3-27-2006 at 11:40 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by XHonusWagnerX
Quote:
Originally posted by Discipline
Quote:
Originally posted by thedog
it sucks that he got fired, but maybe this will give him time to reunite the Bosstones.
