Henson on 950 Shakeup: I Sooo Called This and Deserve All the Credit

News of the lineup and schedule changes at 950 WPEN/ESPN have been met with mixed reviews so far, which is about as good as anyone can hope for when it comes to the sports talk radio business. One person who's never shy about voicing his opinion is Gregg Henson, 950's former former morning show host and PD. In a recent blog post, Henson states that he'd suggested these changes when he was with the station, and that they may even be why he was canned. (Having only experienced Triple-G on the airwaves, we have a different opinion, but that's neither here nor there.)

This week WPEN picked up ESPN, moved Jody MacDonald to Midday and hired a Philly sports talk veteran, Mike Missnelli to host afternoon drive. Odd, these were exactly the changes I outlined and fought for while I was the PD and in the end it cost me my job.  When I went to my bosses with this exact plan, I was seen as a malcontent who wasn't willing to work with the staff I had inherited.  I was told to shut up and give the current station a "positive spin."

After the jump, Henson takes aim at his former bosses, throwing gasoline and lit cigs all over any bridge that might have been in place.

Here's the kicker, the guy responsible for all the various mistakes at the station is still unbelievably calling the shots at WPEN even though it continues to stagger to gain audience.

In hindsight my biggest mistake was letting this guy communicate my ideas to the GM, he made sure that everything I said was filtered through him which I am sure wasn't good news for me.  He was the master at perpetuating his own job.

If the General Manager had just listened to me and allowed me to put a product on the air that would work, the radio station may have been making inroads by now.

I've previously aired my opinions about Henson, and I'm not one to beat a dead horse. Just thought I'd pass this along because it gave me a good laugh.

Comments

[Chris]

Your post fails to note that in the year since he was run out at WPEN, Henson has already managed to get fired again.

[Steve Jeltz]

I think it's important to note that the ratings are also LOWER (if that's possible) than when Henson was fired last year.

[Bryan]

Any chance we can get some actual sports coverage like the Flyers beating the Rangers last night?

[Kevin McGuire]

I agree with the above comment! The Flyers pulled out an exciting one last night!

[theKrisheim]

in hindsight his biggest mistake will be actually writing something like this for everyone to see.

[Matt P]

@Bryan: I hear Tim Panaccio is pretty good at that.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/flyers/20080326_Richards_saves_the_best_for_last.html

Sadly, we're not always able to cover every game for every team. My busy social life (read: fantasy baseball draft) precluded my viewing said hockey contest, so I don't have much more to add to what our very talented Inqy beat writer put together.

[Kulp]

Fantasy baseball...

Well that's it, that's the joke. Doesn't get a lot more insulting than admitting you're into such a thing.

[Matt P]

Kulp, I'm still waiting for FBB to show up at

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/

[Adam]

610 WIP all day

[isaac]

give 950 a chance people did not give espn a chace in ny now they are beating the fan in rating so watch out wip. thats why they shaking thing up over there people want more than local news

[Matt K]

Both stations have their plus and minuses, though 950s biggest plus is being a place to listen to sports and not have to listen to eskin

[Richard Spininya]

What's Foley going to do now? Go back to selling cars? That's perfect for him.

[Hirsh]

I just hope they keep simulcasting 1050 ESPN NY on 1040. The Max Kellerman and Brian Kenney show is hilarious and Steven A. is pretty good to. As far as 950 goes, Tirico is OK, but I'm not sure about Mike Miss. I absoultely hate Eskin and hope they replace him with Glenn M. Jodi's voice was a little irritating at times, but he was someone I liked and respected.