Archive for "Phil Rosenthal"

Harvey Comments on Joyner Situation

April 16th, 2009

 

Comedian Steve Harvey, whose syndicated morning show recently bumped his longtime friend, Tom Joyner, from Chicago’s airwaves, says that Joyner’s friends are missing the point by calling for a boycott of his program.  “I’m the fall guy,” he told the Chicago Tribune’s Phil Rosenthal. “I’m not the reason you don’t have your beloved Tom. I just want people to know. …I’m just a hired gun. It’s unfair when people think the radio guys have a say-so. We don’t own the stations. … Somebody should explain to the people that while you’re boycotting, Tom Joyner is going to resurface in Chicago radio. If somebody would tell that to people, it would be better for people. But nobody’s telling them.” Last month, Clear Channel, which has been broadcasting Joyner’s morning show for the past 13 years on WVAZ-FM 102.7 (V103), moved Harvey’s syndicated show to V103 from Chicago’s WGCI-FM 107.5, thus kicking Joyner to the proverbial curb. The whole idea of a boycott, according to Rosenthal, was an off-handed comment Harvey allegedly made to Joyner’s longtime supporters. Harvey denied he has ever disparaged Joyner’s fans.   “It doesn’t make any sense for me to say something like that,” Harvey said. “I’m trying to win and endear myself to people and not aggravate people and drive a wedge between me and the audience. I do respect and love Tom Joyner. He and I have been friends a long time. And we’ve talked since he’s been off the air [in Chicago]. But the move to V103, Steve Harvey has absolutely no control over. That’s what’s alarming to me. …”My success is not hinged on Tom’s demise,” Harvey said. “I’ve never built my career on something bad happening to someone else. What God has for me, he has for me—and he’s always given me what I have coming. … What I did not expect is to be the heavy in all of this and be the guy who caused this to happen, because I’m not.”

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