Dennis and Callahan
Genre | Sports, current events, politics, talk |
---|---|
Running time | 4 hours (previously 3-hour simulcast on television) |
Country of origin | United States |
Home station | WEEI-FM |
Starring | John Dennis Gerry Callahan Kirk Minihane John Meterparel |
Executive producer(s) | Ken Laird Chris Curtis Sausage Iggy |
Original release | 1997 – 2016 |
Dennis and Callahan was an American morning radio show on
On February 21, 2013, it was reported WEEI.com columnist
Program suspension
On August 13, 2007,
On August 16, 2007, the Boston Globe reported that Dennis and Callahan were in negotiations to move their show to
The show continued to air daily as the Dennis and Callahan Show with rotating guest hosts including Steve DeOssie, Dan Patrick, Bob Lobel, Jon Meterparel, Bob Halloran, Ron Borges, Greg Dickerson, John Rooke, Steve Burton, Butch Stearns, Craig Mustard, Ted Johnson and Larry Johnson.
On September 10, 2007, the two returned to the air full-time informing their listeners that they had agreed to 5-year deals. According to local news reports, the contract impasse was resolved after the direct intervention of Entercom President and CEO David Field who reportedly offered the two a substantial increase, reportly in the eight-figure range.[7][8][9]
Regular guests
Most recent
- Patriots quarterback Tom Brady every Monday during football season.
- ESPN's Tim Hasselbeck appears every Monday during football season.
Past
- Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling appeared every Tuesday during baseball season. Schilling donated his appearance fee to the ALS Association. He currently is a regular guest on The Big Show.
- an Ex-Con named Rabbit often calls about Aaron Hernandez and other criminals
- Former Boston College Eagles football coach Jeff Jagodzinski appeared frequently during the college football season on a segment they called the Coach Jags Show.
- Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel appeared every Monday during the 2008 football season.
- David "El Presidente" Portnoy, publisher of Barstool Sports, appeared on the show each Friday during the summer of 2011. The station dropped his appearances on August 12 after Barstool published a nude photograph of Patriot quarterback Tom Brady's two-year-old son with accompanying commentary on the size of the child's genitalia.[10][11][12] However, he was welcomed back to the show as a guest in May 2015 to discuss Brady in the wake of his Deflategate suspension and the "Free Brady" rally at Gilette Stadium (though there is no word on whether he will return as a regular guest.)
- Celtics head coach Doc Rivers every Thursday during basketball season.
Controversies and issues
Boston Globe Ban
In 1999, the
METCO controversy
On September 29, 2003, during a segment called 'headlines', where they read and comment about current news stories, Callahan and his morning co-host John Dennis made racist comments while discussing a story about an escaped gorilla.[15] The gorilla had escaped from the Franklin Park Zoo and had been recaptured at a bus stop. According to newspaper articles, the exchange allegedly was:[16]
- Callahan: "They caught him at a bus stop, right -- he was like waiting to catch a bus out of town."
- Dennis: "Yeah, yeah -- he's a METCO gorilla."
- Callahan: "Heading out to Lexington."
- Dennis: "Exactly."
METCO is a state program that buses inner-city
Queer Eye
On June 2, 2005 Callahan, who has been accused of making homophobic comments on the air,[
Dennis' irate voicemail to Ryen Russillo
In September 2005, a profanity-laced audio file was posted on
Kevin Weeks interview
In March 2006, some listeners of the Dennis and Callahan Show were upset when they conducted an in studio interview with
Doyle family apology
In June 2007, Dennis apologized on-air to the Doyle family of
Doyle was present when a 9-year-old girl was repeatedly raped by two other men in the bed next to him while he had sex with two women, one of whom is the girl's mother. Doyle comes from a family that includes a serving District Court Judge, a retired District Court Judge and an Essex County Assistant District Attorney. While discussing the sentence which they believed was far too lenient, Dennis and Callahan accused members of the Doyle family of interceding on behalf of Doyle and suggested that "the fix was in".[26]Comments on Opie & Anthony April fools prank
On an April 1 show in 2008, both Dennis and Callahan during a top ten April fools prank list made mention to a prank done by the radio show duo
During the segment where they revisited the incident, Dennis openly wondered what had happened to “those guys”, to which Callahan responded by saying that they were “working at McDonald’s with a pedophile.” The comment did not sit well with Hughes and Cumia, who were airing at the time on
Election joke
In November 2008, the duo drew criticism from the office of
Receiving threatening phone calls
In January 2009, a man from
Dennis' alcohol rehab
In April 2015, Dennis wrote in the Boston Herald that he was taking an indefinite leave of absence from WEEI in order to enter rehab and address his alcoholism. Callahan and Minihane stated their support on the air, and after a successful stay of roughly a month, Dennis returned to the show sober.[citation needed]
Other topics
- The show also enjoys talking about the world of entertainment and are fans of the Farrelly Brothers. Not only did they interview them ahead of the releases of Dumb and Dumber To and the Three Stooges 2012 film, but they joined them on the Three Stooges set and Dennis even had a part as an ESPN broadcaster in Kingpin.
- Other frequent entertainers who join the show include Boston-area natives Mike O'Malley and Lenny Clarke. Dennis and Callahan also appeared in the episode of O'Malley's show Survivor's Remorse entitled "Homebound" as themselves as Cam Calloway (Jessie T. Usher) joins them on air at the start of the episode.
- The hosts also allow themselves to comment on the attractiveness of women they have seen or know, including Kathryn Tappen, Heidi Watney and Debbie DiMasi.[citation needed]
- Since Minihane's arrival, the show has revived one of their old segments, "Headlines, Headlines, Headlines", led by Minihane, in which the hosts talk about news topics that are not necessarily sports-related and can be either serious or trivial.
- The show now also hosts a weekly uncensored podcast called Breaking Balls after Breaking Bad where the hosts can discuss topics without a filter.
- As part of the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio Telethon, Dennis and Callahan met Avalanna Routh, the same girl with a rare brain cancer known as AT/RT who got to "marry" Justin Bieber and became great admirers of hers. When she died in September 2012, they mourned her death on air.[32] One time during a Jimmy Fund visit, Routh had painted Callahan's nails - and he keeps one of them painted in Routh's memory.
- When Glenn Ordway, the former longtime host of The Big Show, WEEI's afternoon program, filled in for Dennis one morning, D&C brought back a long-running Big Show segment, "The Whiner Line", in which callers get to leave voice mails about anything and everything, whether it be praise, blame or something outlandish.[33]
Awards and recognition
- Placed 93rd on the trade journal Talkers Magazine list of the 2007 "Heavy Hundred". The list ranks what the magazine considers the most popular, influential, or entertaining talk-show hosts from around the country.[34]
References
- ^ Jessica Heslam (January 27, 2008). "Sports radio also scores". Boston Herald. Retrieved February 5, 2008.
- Boston Globe. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
- ^ "Entercom shocks jocks with sports network deal". Boston Herald. August 17, 2007. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
- ^ Jessica Heslam; Laurel J. Sweet (August 13, 2007). "WEEI sports hosts 'locked out': Station says Dennis, Callahan given time to 'reflect'". Boston Herald. Archived from the original on August 15, 2007. Retrieved August 18, 2007.
- Boston Globe. Retrieved August 21, 2007.
- Boston Globe. Retrieved August 21, 2007.
- ^ Susan Bickelhaupt (September 10, 2007). "Dennis, Callahan return to WEEI". Boston Globe. Retrieved September 10, 2007.
- ^ Jessica Heslam (September 10, 2007). "New deal sends Dennis & Callahan back to airwaves". Boston Herald. Retrieved September 10, 2007.
- ^ Carol Beggy; Mark Shanahan (September 10, 2007). "Back behind the mikes". Boston Globe. Retrieved September 10, 2007.
- ^ Michael Hurley (August 12, 2011). "WEEI's Jason Wolfe Says Barstool Sports' David Portnoy No Longer on 'Dennis and Callahan". NESN. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- ^ "Blogger's Brady Baby Photo Ignites Firestorm". WCVB-TV. August 12, 2011. Archived from the original on September 21, 2011. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- ^ Josh Segal (August 12, 2011). "Boston Barstool Sports Posts Naked Photos of Tom Brady's Son". Sports of Boston. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- Bostonphoenix. Archived from the originalon December 25, 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-22.
- ^ Dennis and Callahan - July 7th, 2011 - Jackie MacMullan's Whitey Bulger Story with Bob Ryan & Kathryn Tappen WEEI.com
- ^ Brian MacQuarrie; Douglas Belkin (September 29, 2003). "Franklin Park gorilla escapes, attacks 2". Boston.com. Retrieved November 22, 2007.
- ^ Sasha Talcott (October 27, 2003). "Hosts off air for two weeks, Station suspends 2 for Metco remarks". Boston.com. Retrieved November 22, 2007.
- WCVB. October 7, 2003. Archived from the originalon September 30, 2007. Retrieved November 22, 2007.
- ^ Bailey, Steve (November 21, 2003). "Shake-up at WEEI". Boston.com. Retrieved November 22, 2007.
- Boston Globe. June 3, 2005. Retrieved May 8, 2007.
- The Boston Phoenix. June 6, 2005. Archived from the originalon September 29, 2007. Retrieved May 8, 2007.
- ^ "John Dennis Voicemail for Ryen Russillo". Barstool Sports. September 7, 2005. Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-22.
- ^ "Profile:Kevin Weeks". Boston.com. Retrieved November 22, 2007.
- ^ Jessica Heslam (March 26, 2006). "Victims' relatives fume as Weeks talks up book". Boston Herald. Retrieved March 26, 2006.
- Salem News. Retrieved July 10, 2007.
- WCVB. Archived from the originalon September 27, 2007. Retrieved July 10, 2007.
- Boston Globe. Retrieved July 10, 2007.
- ^ O&A, R&F, TESD and Scorch Archive (December 26, 2012). "Opie & Anthony: Vs Dennis & Callahan of WEEI in Boston (04/01-04/04/08)". Archived from the original on December 14, 2021. Retrieved October 23, 2016 – via YouTube.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Jessica Heslam (November 5, 2008). "Sports duo's joke goes over the head of some Dems". Boston Herald. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
- ^ Jessica Heslam (January 8, 2009). "Accused in WEEI call threats is a 'regular guy'". Boston Herald. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
- ^ Jessica Heslam (January 7, 2009). "Cambridge man charged for obscene calls to WEEI". Boston Herald. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
- ^ Jessica Heslam (February 20, 2009). "WEEI heckler takes blame: Agitator pleads guilty to death threats". Boston Herald. Retrieved February 20, 2009.
- ^ Dennis and Callahan - September 26th, 2012 - Remembering Avalanna Routh WEEI.com
- ^ Dennis & Callahan - March 13th, 2015 - The Whiner Line returns on D&C (with Glenn Ordway), WEEI.com
- ^ Simon, Clea (March 2, 2007). "Area talk hosts among biz's". Boston Globe. Retrieved March 26, 2007.