The downside of Twitter is its immediacy yet at least it was announced by Bob instead of me finding out by other means. At this time, the NPR affiliate fired him because he violated their “anti-bullying” policy, whatever the hell that is since we know CEOs and other members of the executive caste are immune from this. It was also the conclusion via an outside consulting group, wow, nice to know pledge money is put to good use to employing some asshole’s friends.
Bob admitted to yelling on five occasions over the 20 years. I don’t know him personally but if he’s anything similar to his on-air personality, I’m guessing it was through his passion regarding a subject and/or calling out bullshit on someone. Also given today’s thin-skinned, lawsuit-averse and hypocritical HR departments, I wouldn’t be surprised it was retaliation from someone who had it out for him. It smells suspicious too as WNYC has been cleaning house of its veterans. Why not? Even NPR stations are suffering from declining audiences as streaming and podcasts solve the issue while the amount of time they spend playing commercials…sorry, mentioning underwriters and sponsors has increased. Hey NPR, it’s still advertising you tote-bag-coffee-mug-giving tools. Even if the other men, yes, oddly it’s only been men, are guilty of these offenses, it’s rather suspicious that it continued for 30 years. All the while some women were in command. The problem is really the power of connections, not always generation nor gender. I saw it firsthand as an intern at WQFM while I was in college and I readily admit, I was a party to the toxic culture. Something I regret and have strived to have never repeated elsewhere in and out of work.
I do hope Bob sues the crap out of WNYC for wrongful termination. Again, I smell a purge not a culture correction.
Meanwhile, this Saturday’s upcoming episode of On the Media will probably be my last after being an avid listener for 16-17 years when it joined KUT. The elephant in the room will be Brooke Gladstone either addressing Bob’s unceremonious farewell or acting as if he never existed, something Five Thirty-Eight did when poor Claire Malone was fired from ABC through downsizing to preserve the executive caste’s bloated salaries. I have been thinking of dropping the show anyway. Its original mission to cover the Media (aka all forms of mass communication) has been hijacked all too often for pet project stories eating up the whole show: Puerto Rico getting screwed, outrageous rents in the backwoods of the US, how this group gets screwed by another yet it has little to do with media coverage, etc. These need to be covered and given attention but OTM isn’t the show for them. It’s like ESPN doing pieces on which laundry detergent works best on grass stains for kid clothes or the current problem, the History Channel airing programs involving White Trash under pressure at their pawn shop.
Thanks for everything Bob! We may have had some differing views over the years which is how it should be between intelligent people. I will miss your propensity to call out bullshit through your voice getting skeptical when an interviewee starts lying or bending the truth; namely the porn-revenge peddler. Good luck to your future endeavors and may you get a big chunk of money from WNYC for their petty bullshit.