Sat down with Mike Rhyner a while back for my upcoming (no, really, I swear it is) piece on former partner Greg Williams and stuff. As most of you know, he’s the world’s most stubborn 57-year-old curmudgeon. But when our confab turned to his controversial comments of last winter, the Hardliner with the soft underbelly offered …
An apology? No …
A modification? Eh …
A clarification? Yahtzee!
In addressing Williams’ departure back on Dec. 21, Rhyner pissed off and at least temporarily alienated a whole gaggle of P1s. Surely you remember the declaration that went something like this:
“We owe you? No, we don’t owe you anything. Nothing. You’ve got free will to listen to whatever you want. All we owe is giving our bosses good radio.”
If I had a nickel for every email I’ve received chastising and denouncing Rhyner for that hottest of non-sports opinions, I’d have like, um, a shitload of nickels. Basically, the old grayish wolf shoved Birkenstock in mouth.
“I didn’t think it was a big deal at the time,” he said recently. “But it became somewhat of a verbal haymaker.”
Not that he’d ever admit complete fault, but Rhyner did spend some of our quality time amending his crass comment.
“I don’t regret what I said, but I realize now it was a poor choice of words,” he said. “Owe isn’t the applicable word to use in our covenant with listeners. It’s that we want to give them great radio. We want them to have that. It’s more our desire than some obligation.”
Apology – for lack of a better term – accepted?
In news from The Ticket’s rival, what does this ESPN Radio pairing do for ya:
Greg Williams and Chuck Cooperstein? -- Richie Whitt
