On the eve of what was supposed to be a “major announcement” regarding a scheduling overhaul for Good Karma sports WKNR/850 “ESPN 850”, that station has lost one of its star players.
LeCharles Bentley abruptly resigned from WKNR Thursday night… just as “Xs and Os with the Pros,” the show he co-hosted alongside Je’Rod Cherry, was set to begin. (It was so sudden that liners featuring LeCharles’ name still played at the end of commercial breaks, but Je’Rod and show producer Emmett Golden had to conduct the show as if he never had existed on Planet Earth.)
While the normally outspoken LeCharles himself is keeping VERY quiet about this matter, we have learned the source of his dispute with the station.
Sources close to the situation are telling us that it was a dispute over pay for Golden – $8 per hour for a two-hour show – and Golden was set to be removed from “Xs and Os”, effective next week, due to pay issues.
(Note that there was no “Xs and Os” scheduled for Friday night, due to pre-existing high school football coverage.)
Objecting to how WKNR handled the situation, the former St. Ignatius and Ohio State star simply walked out – but, we hear, not before offering to cover Golden’s pay for the show.
And to prove this wasn’t a stunt, any and all mention of LeCharles has already been eliminated from WKNR’s website in yet another “Soviet-style purge.”
We will have much more on this developing story as details warrant…
The spin, that is now WKNR circling the drain, just got faster. Lose LeCharles like this? Why??? MAkes no sense… So much of the BS they have been doing for YEARS, they got away with, as 92.3FM was not there breathing down their neck. Brinda exclaiming “if you don’t like it, turn us off” means something different as there is somewhere to go now!
If rumors are true and Brinda, Hooley & Fedor have a PMD show startting Monday…that alone shows that WKNR mgt. has completely lost it. Unless, the dollars and sense of it are a big issue and Brinda is basically doing the show for free…LOL. Whenever I am unfortunate enough to hear Brinda on the air, it is obvious ZERO time went into show prep and what usually ends up happening is a long discussion on bacon or music from the 60’s (back when Brinda is rumored to have had hair) ensues. It is a microcsm of a station in FULL fledge denial & decay. Buh-bye…thankfully 92.3FM The Fan is doing great and is the 1st choice now for many. Karma indeed…
Well, I think it is pretty clear by this point that ‘Good Karma Broadcasting’ has become a pathetic, bumbling bunch of idiots. I have listened to the way they have continued to switch things up and destroy any type of continuity that they have. They have also gone waaaay out of their way to continue to protect certain on-air personalities positions on broadcasts. It is clear that at least one of these ‘personalities’ are extremely disliked and are truly dampening ratings because of their presence on any show they appear on.
That’s a shocker! I I wouldn’t be surprised itf LeCharles ended up on 92.3 The Fan. The fact that Emmett Golden was was only making $8 an hour is terrible, (even people at McDonald’s are paid more than that). Plus I think Emmett Golden was also covering Ohio State games.
Yes LeCharles can be over the top sometimes, but you can’t nickel and dime your talent, where prasing others, when they seem to turn your listeners off (Hello Goldhammer and Fedore). Its not like 92.3 The Fan is all that great, but from the people I talk to, people are less annoyed by them versus the talent on WKNR.
To many, The Really Big Show’s peak years was when Jeff Thomas was on-board, but once management started tweeaking it, most will admit that’s when the station started going downhill.
When Craig Karmazin first came to Cleveland, he was a breathe of fresh air and I was glad that he finally hired some African American talent with the X’s and O’s guys as well as Vic Carruci’s Browns Daily show.
However outisde of those moves, everything else has changed my feelings on Karmazin.
In a lot of ways, Craig is starting to run WKNR like his dad Merl is running Sirius XM; a really good product with questionable management and programming know-how, which only leads to disgruntled talent (i.e Howard Stern, R&R, LeCharles Bentley).
http://www.kevinlockett.com
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Sounds like a great place to work. Bentley should be applauded for standing up for what he felt was right.
(EDITORIAL NOTE: This comment has been edited due to over-use of a strong expletive. It otherwise appears intact.– The Management)
Worst station.
Stale topics geared toward 40+ year old unemployed white dudes, brought to you by stale 50+ year old white dudes.
The best part about the station is when a certain hosts acts like he is breaking news when in reality he is just reading an article word for word directly from PFT, the Plain Dealer or twitter.
X’s and O’s with the Pro’s was a serious breath of fresh air mixing looked over topics, the socio-economical side of sports and comedy all in one.
The now employ that hack Bruce Hooley then put him with Greg Brinda and Chris Fedor. Talk about making my ears bleed.
Anyway, (bleep) this station, (bleep) 95 percent of their hosts, I hope all their sponsors read this and drop them.
he is on the fan at 5 today
LeCharles will be joining ‘The Bull and The Fox’ live in studio, today, Friday Sept. 30th, at 5:00.
LeCharles I seen this coming! You are right on. I’m so glad you are taking a stand! I will support you anyway I can.
8 dollars an hour is extravagant at KNR. It seems “interns” are everywhere and why else would boring no-talents like Chris Fedor get his own show unless he was working for minimum wage and free eats like it seems everyone at the station is after. Bruce Hooley was run out of Columbus and he is another hater. Its OK to have a criticism if its legit but these guys do it because they think its what people want. Well SeriusXM and FM here I come
Bentley will be appearing on 92.3 today. Don’t know if it’s as a host or a guest, but he’s supposed to be on.
$8 bucks an hour?? Really KNR. If this is true, the station is done.
I got in the car on Friday afternoon and was shocked when I heard LeCharles. It didn’t take long to figure that something had happened. I’ve always liked LeCharles and he was great on that extended segment. At the end, you could tell he was angling for a FT gig. Personally, I hope he gets it. He, Rizz and Cherry were the only voices on that station that I could stand.
Hate to tell you folks, but minimum wage is typical for entry-level radio, no matter what market you’re in. When I started in tv after college, I was only making $5/hour barely above minimum wage at the time. Granted, it was in a much smaller market at a weak fox station, but still. I’m now making more than 10x that, but that’s 17 years of paying my dues.
I just caught up on all the comments. The beat down just continues for WKNR – that old saying “what comes around, goes around” really fits the tools at that station. It is no wonder they don’t subscribe to Arbritron as their already weak ratings are going to continue to plummet as they are being exposed. What a great bunch of comments…
Finally, kudos to LeCharles – stand up guy who has handled this situation with class.
Le Charles Bentley and Je’Rod Cherry were the only two personalities I listened to on AM 850. Now that Le Charles is no longer there, they have one less listener. I’m sick of listening to Brinda. However, I do like Je’Rod Cherry….he’ll be the next to leave (and I know he’ll be picked up by another radio station). I really like Je’Rod on TV too.
Joyce, you get it! The WORLD should be done listening to Brinda…