OTC: Whitlock Does Not Disappoint / The Explanation Targets Star
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Jip
I don’t think Nick Wright was soft on Whitlock. I just think he was too inexperienced to milk this for all it was worth. He killed the momentum that Whitlock spent 70 minutes building.
You think Jim Rome or Dan Patrick or Bob Costas would’ve asked about rap music? Are you kidding me Wright?
He’s young, he will improve over time. But his inexperience was glaring today.
That Guy
I listened on line and it was absolutely fucking fantastic. You’re right, that was the best radio ever in KC, or maybe tied with Game 7 or the ’70 Superbowl. I was a nervous wreck after it was all over, and I don’t personally know anyone involved. Sequel!
Stevo
Unfortunately, it’s not too hard for some of us to imagine how a lot of the Fannin allegations could be true…
I’m sure his bosses at the Star are going to have a long discussion about his continued employment.
Ironic thing is, Posnanski and Whitlock both defended Fannin and his unprofessional emails a few years ago when we had our little dust up…brought them both down a few notches for me at the time.
Fannin needs to hit the bread line…sooner rather than later.
Stevo
^^^^Who the f&*k is this???^^^^
“Stevo” you’re going to have to add a 123 or something to the end of your handle because I’ve wasted WAY TOO MUCH TIME on OTC to be confused with your opinions on here.
There’s only one Stevo and you ain’t it!
Stevo999
Easy does it, bro…no reason to get your thong all twisted…
Jeez…
Rick
Future 610 press release: “We’re very pleased to introduce our new owner and Entercom executive VP, Mr. Mike Fannin.”
MediaJunky
After that BS yesterday, I withdraw my desire to buy JW a radio station. Even though the information was interesting, for JW to blow up a career of his altitude over an interoffice romance doesn’t wash with me. He’s a great writer who I’ll miss, BUT I don’t sense as strong a set of ethics and principles as he’d want us to think he has. I don’t doubt the Fannin/Lawton tale, but somehow it seems something’s still missing from the complete story. I’d bet $ is in there somewhere and wasn’t mentioned.
smartman
Let’s hope the DVD is out soon. Call it The Audacity of Dope. Nick Wright is no Jerry Springer. With just a little button pushing Nick could have had JW on the ropes and then gone in for the kill. He’s lame. Since when did a live audience become a substitute for a Human Resources department? This was the Hoff’s cheeseburger on the floor moment for KC Sports.
jt
I agree with just about everything you wrote Greg. The first 70 minutes of this program were about the best radio I ever heard. I was raw, and opinionated. The rest of the program was awful. No follow-ups no real hard hitting questions. The guy doing the interview had his boss in his ear and he was just tossing up softballs to keep it light. Oh well, this was a great story and it ended leaving me wanting more. What more could you ask for?
Chuck
smartman—‘audacity of dope’ heh heh funny stuff.
SP
I think Nick Wright got put on the ropes when they had to pull the plug. In my opinion, he felt like he couldn’t go back to that area (any major questions about Fannin etc.) without igniting Whitlock again and possibly doing damage to his own career.
JoHawk
Anything that casues Keitzman to squirm is awesome.
Winner
Every thing that Whitlock said about Fannin was true. He is totally unprofessional and must have pictures of the hire ups at the Star doing similar things that he was accused of doing. It was a sad day in KC yesterday.
the birdman
Whitlock is not a “great” writer. He is a good writer that is great at finding subjects that are of interest and writing about them. I do not claim to be a Whitlock fan, but he was a must read in the KC Star.
No offense to the writers on this site, but I can’t remember the last GH or Hearne article that I “had” to read. Whitlock will be greatly missed at the Star. One of the few reasons I still checked it daily.
Chuck
MARK ZIEMAN: *Kicks Mike Fannin’s office door open* “Did you hear that fuckin shit on 610?”
MIKE FANIN: “No, sorry Keitzman had some scintillating news on the KU football coach.”
MARK ZIEMAN: “Are you huffin paint? KU coudn’t penetrate the defensive line of the Morman Tabrnacle Choir this year. We are getting KILLED on 610!!!”
MIKE FANNIN: *Grinning* “You said ‘penetrate'”.
MARK ZIEMAN: “What?”
MIKE FANNIN: “Chill out Z Man, no one takes that crazy Jack Harry seriously.”
MARK ZIEMAN: *Punches wall, destroying one of 38 Holly Lawton employee of the month awards* “Goddamnit this ain’t a fuckin Jack Harry Alsheimer’s Alert, Jason fuckin Whitlock is on 610 with that smarmy little Nicky Wright and he is KILLIN YOU!”
MIKE FANNIN: “He don’t know nothing. He fucks with us, I’ll give him a bad reference.”
MARK ZIEMAN: “Thats a double negative Mr. Editor, and lemme ask ya something.”
MIKE FANNIN: “Shoot my brutha.”
MARK ZIEMAN: “What?”
MIKE FANNIN: “Nothing go ahead.
MARK ZIEMAN: “Whats the heat index out there?”
MIKE FANNIN: “Hot. How the fuck should I know? Its hotter than a fresh fucked fox in a forrest fire, I’ll tell ya that.”
MARK ZIEMAN: *Looking around Fannin’s Department* “Thats right, its 117 Heat Index out there and all the guys in this department have turtle necks on.”
MIKE FANNIN: …
MARK ZIEMAN: …
MIKE FANNIN: “I’ll turn on the radio.”
MARK ZIEMAN: *Stomps out*
MIKE FANNIN: *Picks up cellphone* “Holly, did you hear that?”
HOLLY LAWTON: “Mike, I gotta go, there is something about an elbow test for my next job I gotta work on it.”
MIKE FANNIN: *Closes phone, murmers to self* “No one listens to the radio, fuck it, I’m going to the bar.”
Michael
What is the name of the forum/message board related to media/television here in Kansas City? This topic burnin up the boards over there?
Stevo
There you go Stevo999. got to protect my turf. It’s a jungle on here. Just wait for football season.
Ptolemy
Good coverage GH – glad I missed it.
Anybody else see the hypocrisy in Whitlock draping his bulbous body in a large cape of integrity in describing his exit from the Star over the inability to credit Yahoosports.com in his column and he never mentioned he had a talented ghost writer propping up “the best writing in journalism history” in his first 3 years at the Star?
What business doesn’t have in-office romances, guys getting liquored up after work and doing weird things, promotions based on relationships? Lots of businesses hire and fire based on what awards or recognition their employees earn. This is hardly KK getting a blowjob from a subordinate or GH’s account of his times at 810.
Great radio isn’t made by the monologue of an arrogant, food-addicted sports writer that never learned how to make and keep friends. Great radio occurs when people discussing something get their personal firewalls burned down and end up being real when they never intended to be.
Finally, Whitlock seems to have tried to shine a courageous light on his ample shadow in this situation. Had he stepped up and made these claims while still employed by the Star – and then been fired by them, he would have shown an ounce of courage. This was simply another bridge burning.
John
I agree. The first 70 min were great. THen Nick Wright had to screw it up.
Honestly, does anyone else think if this was on 810 that whoever did the interview lets say KK or SSJ their wouldn’t be more bombs thrown?
If this was on 810 does anyone think the plug wouldn’t be pulled during the neck kissing story?
Wright messed up the last two hours. I would of liked to see how this would of turned out if KK or SSJ did the interview.
hearne
I don’t know, Ptolemy, looks to me like Whitlock did that very thing – stepped right up to the plate, stood his ground and then walked the plank for what he believed in. He paid the ultimate price and then wept on the air for what that had cost him.
This was not your everyday, average in-office romance, boys and girls. This was a very grave situation where the manager of a department had an affair with a married subordinate that reported to him directly. Then as the editor he promoted her to a high-paying, powerful position. The ultimate HR no-no.
Ptolemy
Those things have happened in every place I’ve worked Hearne. Holee crap – the Rhonda Chris Loekman story was way more juicy than this one.
The key to what Whitlock did that made it another of his bridge burnings and not in any way courageous is why didn’t he step up while still employed by the Star and scream foul when Lawton got the job over Samson? Sounds to me like that nepotism would have been OK with him had Lawton been more communicative with Whitlock in his work. But he pretends to be courageous over the Yahoo thing – which just looks pathetic when you consider what we all know about GH.
Hearne, you may just be a little too close to the whole thing given recent experiences. This is nothing new. I’ll bet Joe McGuff and Dick Mackey were walked-in on taking a Roman steam bath somewhere along the way.
________________________
HC: The question isn’t whether this is nothing new or goes on in lots of places. This is a fireable offense, trust me. I’ve spoken to past Star executives and this is not allowed. Does it happen, have others gotten away with it? of course. People also resign and lose their jobs on a regular basis for doing this. Not a matter of being close. Being close would make me, perhaps, more forgiving. Talk to the HR person at your office and pose the situation for them if you’re looking for a neutral perspective. Think you’ll find I’m right.
Ptolemy
Nobody is saying it’s ethical to bang the help. It’s just not that big of a story when EVERYBODY has seen it.
And I’m right about Whitlock not being the least bit courageous for waiting until he was snuggled comfortably under Uncle Rupert’s Foxy blanket to light this “fuse.”
All-in-all, Bill Shakespeare covered all this long ago in “Much Ado About Nothing.”
________________________
HC: Not “everybody” has seen it, P. I have spoken with high level Star editors and the consensus is Lawton would/should never have been promoted if Z, for example, had known of the relationship. And don’t be so sure W is all that well snuggled in with Fox. There is a school of thought that at present he has little more than he already had and whatever unfolds for him in the future is yet to be determined. Nick W flubbed the $2.1 million digit topics big time, as Lisec quickly demonstrated. Trouble is, Lisec’s question and W’s answer refuting Wright’s bogus salary figure were on cable TV only, leaving radio listeners with an “exaggerated” impression. To the average sports fan, yeah, no big deal perhaps. As an internal matter at the Star, very big deal. But if it’s all such a snooze why were people listening and are you commenting here?
smartman
STRANGE BUT TRUE:Some major corporations allow inner office romances which includes Senior Level execs banging their inferiors or reports so long as the relationship is disclosed to HR and other higher ups. All we know about who knew what about Fannin and Lawton is what we don’t know.
Fannin was Jason’s superior and it was his perogative to hire and fire as he pleases. Just ’cause Jason didn’t like what Fannin did does not automatically make it WRONG. Seems like a pattern with Jdub. When he can’t fit in or get along it’s never his fault. Poor, poor tortured soul that no one “gets”. He thinks he’s Vincent Van Gogh, or Jim Morrison or Hunter Thompson. He was a token hire, or since he got high with Mike Fanninn that might make him the Tokin’ Token, not to be confused with the Bettin’ Tibetan from Arliss. If his skin color didn’t get him hired it surely saved him from getting fired a number of times. I’m sure if Carl Peterson was looking for dirt on him he could have found it. Jason was very wreckless in his purchases of drugs, sex and illegal gambling. He thought and maybe still thinks he’s bulletproof; a sign of both arrogance and stupidity.
I’m with PT. He should have waged this war internally with memos and emails documenting everything. Instead of following the message of Sun Tzu and entering the water without making a ripple to alert the enemy he chose to make a BIG SPLASH. Way to follow your BIG gut instincts BIG SEXY.
_____________________
HC: Barstool logic is fine, but not applicable here. Saying “all we know” in comment land is an admission of having no knowledge of the situation. These matters are very well-deined at the Kansas City Star and most large corporations. Do things like this go on elsewhere? of course. And people get major called on the carpet or fired elsewhere as well.
Jip
I heard probably 3 years ago that Fannin was banging Lawton.
When Lawton got promoted, I didn’t connect the dots because I didn’t think that Fannin actually got to hire his own replacement.
Now that it comes out that he was the one who hired the subordinate that he happened to be banging, he’s got some explaining to do.
I will say this about Mike Fannin–for a guy who worked his way to the top of the stuffy, purist, old-school newspaper industry, he has a very strange and odd personal life.
He’s a fucking weirdo.
smartman
Had a conversation with one of KC’s top employment attorney’s. He equates Whitlock’s behavior with Pearl Harbor and 911. He see’s nothing close to “bravery” in his actions.
If the relationship between Fannin and Lawton was grounds for termination as has been stated, all Jason had to do was provide EVIDENCE of such to Human Resources. If that didn’t get the job done then you go up the McClatchy totem pole. If that doesn’t get it done you can resort to outside counsel.
It was clear from Jdubs rant that he felt EVERYONE in the sports department KNEW about the relationship and that Fannin openly BRAGGED about it.
Now,if the accusations are true and Holly was intimidated by Mike during her tenure,perhaps to the point she felt obligated to have a sexual relationship to keep her job, the financial liability to The Star is INCREDIBLY HUGE. If her promotion(s) were the direct result of her relationship with her boss it also opens up actionable causes for those who should have been promoted on merit. It’s a plaintiffs attorney’s WET DREAM.
While I’m sure Fannin and Zieman are self important, arrogant sons of bitches it seems hard to fathom they were not aware of the potential liability of Mike’s pen in Holly’s ink.
Evidence of this sort is not hard to obtain. This is basic stuff for any PI. For less than three grand Whitlock could have gotten all the goods he probably would have needed to make Mike and Holly disappear.
I think the Star/McClatchy legal group are gonna come down on JW like a bar-b-que sauce tsunami. Unless JW can provide HARD evidence of the accusations he made. He’s looking at some nasty litigation that will make him be not wealthy.
Stevo
non-issue. move on
Ptolemy
Yeah – I can’t believe the turmoil that this city has been in this weekend over this Whitlock bomb. The city has been turned over. Every media outlet is enflamed. It’s unbelievable.
Whitlock offends more people when he farts.
R.H.
Chuck, that was beautiful!
Back to Fannin for a moment. If the allegations Whitlock waged against Fannin having an affair with Lawton are true, he’s in hot water. Plain and simple.
MoCrash
Ptolemy, the “turmoil” over Whitlock is the product of a sports community which has little other reason for excitement. The Royals are playing out the string, the Chiefs look feeble in preseason and the colleges haven’t begun play yet. This and Big Sexy’s prominence as once-lead sports columnist at The Star makes The Whitlock Saga KC’s most compelling serial. A year from now, few will recall these days, even among the minority of the community who even knew Whitlock existed.
nick
Sadly, (and mostly because of Nick Wright) we didn’t get to hear Whitlock take on many local stories and characters in his send off. But Jason DID talk about the Lew Perkins “story”, and it reminded me why I’m gonna miss him.
Mellinger reported on Perkins’ lavish traveling, and there was a near firestorm in the KC media. On the surface, it DID seem bad for KU and Perkins.
But Whitlock took a fresh angle. Perkins is old, has bad knees and back, has raised an obscene amount of money for KU, and is considered one of the best AD’s in the country. Is it really THAT big a deal? Maybe yes, maybe no.
It’s that perspective I’ll miss. He WAS kind of the local sports coverage watchdog. Knowing that Jack Harry, Soren Petro, Sam Mellinger and KK will be the lone carriers of that banner TOTALLY bums me out.
kctacomonday
From the sports radio perspective, I thought this was a major, major missed opportunity for 610. Here they had a chance to show the entire city why people should listen to their station and it was a complete clusterfuck as soon as they returned after JW got cut off in midsentence. Wright’s line of questioning was sporadic and awkward, the technical problems with phone calls was downright embarrassing (I imagine there was a rather large audience listening nationally, as well) and then the “special” guest of Jeff George (not to mention whatever that was with Kaye Barnes calling in) was just laughable.
In the short term, I’m sure it was a major ratings boost for 610, but I think in the long term “The Explanation” will likely help 810 as much as it hurts 610.
And while not a fan of KK in particular, I think he would have nailed this interview.
PucKChaser
This whole thing was sad to watch.
Many workplaces have subpar management. Maybe moreso in the media since many middle management-types are promoted from within without any real management experience or business training. They J-school majors, not business/management majors.
Every workplace has inappropriate office romances. Every workplace has disgruntled employees.
If you don’t like it, leave. So what that Jason may need to move to another city and leave his “adopted” home. It happens.
Watching Whitock take others down because he can’t come to grips with his own behavior was really sad.
JimmyD
Jason was very wreckless in his purchases of drugs, sex and illegal gambling. Where did this come from Smartman?
Bob Sacamano
After listening to Wright botch that interview, I am going to have to go back over and listen to 810. Questioning Whitlock on rap music? WTF? Sorry 610, but you lost more listeners than you’ll gain after that pathetic interview. I think Nick Wright has now taken the trophy from Bukaty, as to who is the worst interviewer in KC radio.
smartman
Jimmy D: With permission, my “source”, was involved in brokering certain entertainment, relaxation and lifestyle services to a number of local “celebrities” and from ’99 to ’05.
Vic Chestnutt
If any of you have ever heard Wright interview Frank White, you already know how bad he is when he has to ask somebody questions. You get reminded real quick that you’re listening to a 24 or whatever year old kid who hasn’t quite become a man yet.
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King Kirby
George Michael looks as though he night go down (lol!) because of driving around stoned. Hey, is this a threat or a promise? It’d be like shutting in most men in a harem! Lol!
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