For the second time in less than five years Entercom has axed veteran radio personality Tanna Guthrie…
The longtime KY102 and 99.7 KY personality has parted company with The Point 99.7 FM – reportedly on “good terms” – after a little over a year on the hot AC station and three on KUDL FM before that.
“They didn’t get rid of her because she did anything wrong,” says Stanford’s Craig Glazer, a frequent flyer at Entercom. “They just didn’t want to have to pay her.”
If you recall, the former 99.7 KY personality was let go by Entercom in January 2008 when the classic rock station switched music formats. Kicked to the curb at that time were Guthrie and fellow KY stationalities Max Floyd, Traci Wilde and Slacker.
Guthrie then lodged a high profile, age discrimination complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission against Entercom. That culminated in a trip to New York to cut an age discrimination segment for ABC’s 20/20.
However, prior to the airing, Guthrie cut a deal with Entercom to host the afternoon drive on KUDL and the lawsuit more-or-less went away.
At the time of her rehiring by Entercom, the then 51 year-old Guthrie confirmed that she, Floyd and their attorney had flown to New York to be interviewed for the yet to broadcast 20/20 story.
“I’m sure I said horrible things,” Guthrie said at the time.
That was then.
Entercom head Dave Alpert declined to comment for this story noting that it was a personnel matter.
However sources close to Guthrie say she may have had issues with new Point program director Tony Lorino.
“Here’s my guess,” says one source. “Since Lorino took over this past year Tanna was never allowed to do do hardly any talking, and compared to other stations here, The Point was salary heavy. She always thought that she was on thin ice – every time I talked to her I got that impression.”
Insiders say that Guthrie may have been taking down a low six-figure salary doing mornings at KY but was probably making between $50,000 and $60,000 for afternoons at The Point.
Another reason some were puzzled by the timing of Guthrie’s departure is The Point has been kicking butt and taking names in recent ratings.
In the July Arbitron ratings between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, The Point ranked 6th in adults 25-54 with a 5.6 share, 4th in women with a 7.5 share (KUDL was 14th when The Point replaced it just over a year ago) and 3rd in women 25-54, the station’s core target audience, with an 8.3 share.”
So why did Entercom pull the plug?
“She probably had a four year Johnny Dare type contract that they gave her to get out of the lawsuit and now it’s up,” says one radio insider. “I thought she was a bad hire in the first place because she can’t relate well to women – she’s a biker chick and it’s a soccer mom radio station. So she was obviously a bad hire for Entercom because she didn’t fit with KUDL I mean, Tanna appeals to males, guys loved her. I would put Tanna on KCFX is what I’d do.”
Well, I guess she can always fall back on her advertising career with Car Star or whatever the heck company it is she’s been promoting on the Idiot Box. People in cars keep meeting “by accident”. Business is steady. The “hits” just keep on coming.
Oh yes Glazer the man who knows it all. Damn Hearne you need to find better contacts for your stories before someone does a Louie Wright on you.
Easy, Super Dave. Did you miss the fact that I made contact and verification with 1) the head of Entercom, 2) a pair of radio associates 3) a former Entercom exec and 4) Your buddy Craig.
I also verified that her name was removed from the station Web site and reported in no small detail the circumstances of her previous falling out with Entercom.
Now, what was it you said again?
Less than Super dave….really and again, what have you ever done again? Nobody knows you or ever cared about you or what you thought, except that bum at Quick Trip on Westport, guess cause you gave him 50 cents twice…otherwise you have been a no show in life my not a friend…love your humor though…stick to open mic night.
HA HA your lack of knowledge shines each and every day. Just because you don’t know who someone is or what they do does not mean others do not. In fact was just talking about your last story (Glazer: Scribe Gives Kansas City Passing, Improving Grade) with someone a bit ago and they made this comment about your comment saying how people like you with a “Getting pissed on is a compliment to Glazer.” Some day when I am bored I might swing by the store and teach you a thing or two about life but doubt you would listen even Stan has told me you won’t.
“Getting pissed on is a compliment to Glazer.”
Ha … so true. Dare pisses on him regularly and Glazer rubs it in like sun tan oil.
Radio, tough business to be in now. Biting the hand that potentially feeds is a bad way to go about getting a job and gets you blacklisted. Those kinds of lawsuits tend to follow you around like herpes and old luggage.
But don’t worry, she’ll be selling insurance or some crap nobody wants in no time flat.
Tanna looks like Sweet Dee from Always Sunny in Philadelphia
With about 250,ooo more miles and a lazy eye.
OUCH! But true.
Guthrie’s only 55 y/o? Day-ummm. She looks 20 years older than that. She makes Glazer look like he’s in his (early) 40s.
great woman…tons of talent…and still one of the best female on air
personalities in kc…maybe she got a raw deal…
she’ll do well in the future!
Well, the way it looks to me is she got anything but a raw deal. She EEOC’d her way into getting Entercom to rehire her and now that the deal is done she’s free to look around for something else.
She does the auctioneer thing too, remember and seems to me she might have gotten a real estate license four years ago when she took the first hit.
Or was it the second?
In the eye?
I don’t think she looks older than her age at all. The main problem she has is that the radio business is changing. The days of the big money local disc jockeys are fading away. Johnny Dare is one of the last and he is really more of a talk show host than a disc jockey.
Whoever approved the photo of her for that banner ad for the Late Afternoon Show should be fired. That’s a terrible photo of her. She doesn’t really have a lazy eye, does she? And the smile that’s not a smile in that photo is not flattering at all.
No, it’s not a lazy eye! But, she has to yell at it two or three times before it will get up and do anything.
Itz just sleepy, not lazy.
Good one!