L’Affaire Rover

So, it’s been a season for local media personalities to get into trouble with the law.

Just below this item, we shared news of OVI charges against two of them – sportscaster Chuck Galeti, still off SportsTime Ohio, and reporter Kenny Crumpton, seen this past week back once again “Kickin’ It With Kenny” on Local TV LLC Fox affiliate WJW/8’s “Fox 8 News in the Morning”.

(Oh, and as a brief mention, WJW and the other Local TV LLC stations are being sold to Tribune. More on that, some other time.)

And then came Rover. Boy, then came Rover.

The radio host known off-air as Shane French, ringmaster of “Rover’s Morning Glory” on Clear Channel rock/talk WMMS/100.7 (and at least one other station in Rochester NY), comes along to make us say “Chuck did what? Kenny had a huh?”.

A late night session with homemade fireworks at Whiskey Island early Friday morning, and yes, fueled with alcohol, got Rover in major trouble with the law.

Here’s the basics from a Friday Plain Dealer/Cleveland.com article by Michael Sangiacomo:

(French and another man) are accused of shooting fireworks at an off-duty police officer, shoving him and running away when he tried to arrest them, according to the Cleveland Police report on the incident.

The article says the two men were “highly intoxicated”, according to the off-duty officer, Steven Kinas, making it an alcohol-fueled Trouble Trifecta for recent news about local media personalities.

(Well, possibly involving four media personalities, assuming the other man involved is a cast member of the “RMG” variety.)

As we update this, very early Saturday, the PD article says French is still in jail. Cleveland court records say he’s due for arraignment on a felonious assault charge in just a few hours from now.

Wow. We’re going to need some time to digest this one.

And we’re going to need even more time to even start to speculate on what this means for Rover and his career.

This would certainly be a test for Clear Channel, which sent Chad Zumock packing from WMMS’ afternoon drive powerhouse, “The Alan Cox Show”, after an OVI case.

Then again, there’s sidekick/co-host Chad Zumock and then there’s Shane “Rover” French, the station’s most prominent personality.

For now, we’ll watch the case make its way through the legal system…