It’s the end of an era for sports radio in Boston.
Longtime morning drive host Gerry Callahan announced Friday his 20-plus-year run at WEEI is over.
“Well, that was fun. After 20 years in morning drive, I did my last show on WEEI this morning,” he said in a tweet. “Thanks to all who listened. Unfortunately, this ain’t a movie. Sometimes the bad guys win. Much more to come.”
Callahan had been a staple of the WEEI weekday morning programming, experiencing incredible success at points throughout his career. The former Boston Herald and Sports Illustrated writer originally was paired with John Dennis in 1997 to form the rating giant “Dennis and Callahan Show.” Ratings eventually started to lag, and Dennis left the show in 2016, which is when Callahan was paired full time with Kirk Minihane. That pairing ultimately had its own share of success before Minihane’s controversial exit that eventually landed him at Barstool Sports.
That led to a third change in as many years, with Mike Mutnansky moving into the full-time role on “Mut and Callahan” on the WEEI morning airwaves.
Callahan’s announcement comes a day after The Boston Globe reported another decisive ratings win for Boston’s other sports radio station, 98.5 The Sports Hub. According to the Globe, 98.5’s morning show “Toucher and Rich” bludgeoned “Mut and Callahan” in the recent ratings book. “Toucher and Rich” finished first in the market with a 9.1 rating, and “Mut and Callahan” lagged behind in fifth with a 6.5 rating.
Callahan’s contract reportedly was up at the end of the August, so the timing of the decision and announcement is seemingly odd. It likely won’t be long before we hear the rest of Callahan’s story.
UPDATE (12:57 p.m. ET): According to The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn, WAAF morning show host Greg Hill will replace Callahan on WEEI.
According to sources with knowledge of Entercom's thinking, the plan is to move @greghillWAAF to take over the WEEI morning show in three weeks.
— Chad Finn (@GlobeChadFinn) July 12, 2019
UPDATE (1:53 p.m. ET): WEEI has made it official. “The Greg Hill Morning Show” begins July 29 on WEEI. Mike Mutnansky, who was on the morning show, is heading back to nights.
