91NEXT!

Well did Mr. Esparza slime Mr. Capone on air or did he not? Did other people like Scott Kaplan get fired for saying less abusive things than Esparza said or not? This is news, my friend. Hey you know what's funny about this is that after this came out Esparza said nothing on the air about this (and, I'm told, nothing on his blog). He normally lashes out against anybody he thinks is trouble to him. I am very sure he was told to say nothing because of the potential liability of his over the top tirade. Hey who is picking on who? Am I the bad guy because I pointed this out? Is the UT or North County Times sportswriters at fault because they reported about Kaplan getting fired. Hate to break it to but it wasn't me who did this. Mikey made his own bed. Now he gets to lie in it.
— March 16, 2012 1:30 p.m.

Take a Hikey, Mikey

I was only referring to (in this blog, not in the article) that he would spend the last 15 minutes of his show each Friday with his "testimony." Of course he was coming from a good place but I think it drove people from the station, My point is, why not just walk he walk...lead by example....let your good works do the testifying. He in fact did do good works. But there people of other faiths out there, or people who are not connected to a faith. This 15 minutes, although well intentioned, did more harm than good in my opinion. He could have shortened it to one minute and say..."If you want to connect with me on this, here, read this on line", or whatever. And since he wanted to be known as a man of faith, what did it say, for instance, when he lashed out at Garrett Capone in that fashion. I think hat sent quite a contradictory message. Because I stand for this, it does not mean I am anti-Christian. I'm just saying that Mike was counterproductive to what he was trying to get done. Does this make sense?
— March 16, 2012 12:39 p.m.

Take a Hikey, Mikey

Dear climbergirl- It is clear you are pure and decent person. But please let me explain my point of view: anytime you drape yourself in self-righteousness, not only do you immediately hold yourself up to a higher standard, but the very preachiness makes you a target (I AM ONLY SPEAKING FOR MYSELF AS A CONTRIBUTING WRITER TO THE READER). Mikey's slur against Garrett Capone was vile and slanderous and actionable in a court of law. I don't think he has a carte blanche because he says he frequently reminds us he is a Christian. But you say he just made a mistake. Let's not fight. Let's just move ahead. We just disagree. Mikey has done good things. Let's all know that and accept that. Let us hope Mikey is safe and well and good. He has three kids for goodness sakes. He has a wife. I would never pile on if he were struggling. Let's all help this very talented man get to to the better place he needs to be.
— March 15, 2012 10:06 p.m.

Take a Hikey, Mikey

Look...where is the bias? Mikey show ratings were awful. The rest of station went way low after Mikey came on board. What are you talking about bias? Mikey Show numbers suck and this station is about to go under because of it or at least partly because of it. There is no bias against talk radio. There IS bias against a once great radio station that is tanking because it has been overwhelmed by the Mikey brand and it now appears to be losing if you look at Arbitron ratings over the last year. Did Swami quit 94/9 because it became the Mikey station? Hmmmmm.... Bookworm: Garrett Capone specifically told me Mikey never apologized. I asked him. Plus, if anybody wants to find out what kind of guy Mikey is, why don't you speak with the 4 people he worked with for five years at Rock 105. I didn't go there in this article because it was not relevant, but for all of you folks who are holding Mikey up as this great religious icon with great moral underpinnings, I would say character counts and that you should ask his longtime teammates about it. Anyway, so Garrett says on air he is leaving mornings and going back to afternoons. His temporary involvement in the morning show has no bearing on anything. After he leaves will the new name of the morning show be Mikey Show Remnants? It seems like the bar keeps going lower and lower. And even if 94/9 still did support local bands(which I assume they do) if people aren't tuning in to the station for whatever reason, what good does it do those local bands? By the way, I am happy to be part of this huge discussion even if it means anonymous bloggers who fawn over Mikey are taking shots at me. I am glad there were a few reasonable people out there who suggested that M1's now should start thinking about getting a life. Amen.
— March 15, 2012 8:57 p.m.

Take a Hikey, Mikey

To demon - I don't think everyone saw this as an overall negative. There are many who see this as a step in the right direction. A correction that may stop 949's downward slide. Regarding your contention that there are some contributors who are always negative, I'd like to know who they are. In the last 2 months I've done stories on Alas de Mosca, a new open mic in OB, and Makeda Dread's saving of an annual reggae event. I would love to know exactly who you are referring to or was this just an empty, anonymous whine. And I would also like to know what was not correct in this article. Sure, there are some juicy parts to this story but that's how Mikey rolled. And to bookworm....you said that aside from from what Mikey said about Capone....are you kidding? That's like saying aside from Scott Kaplan calling that lady a Saquatch or a monster, what did Scott Kaplan do wrong? Aside from Rush Limbaugh calling that student a slut, tell me one thing he did wrong. Come on!!! To M1-12gage...The "inside information" was unconfirmed and will not be repeated by me in any way. If it is true it may come out. If it wasn't, it didn't bare repeating. I think this story was newsworthy. But now maybe we should back off and let it play itself out as the man said. And let's let 94/9 come back! I have no specific inside info, but I think the talk fans should know that there may be no talk in 94/9's future. That makes some people happy and some people not. 94/9 used to be about the Shins and Arcade Fire and local bands.
— March 15, 2012 6:12 p.m.

Take a Hikey, Mikey

Dan...If you mattered I would react.
— March 15, 2012 4:53 p.m.

Take a Hikey, Mikey

M1 - The general manager said Esparza's contract was terminated. Do you understand what that means? He is no longer employed by Lincoln Financial Media. His contract was deemed no longer in effect with almost a year to go on it. That is what I said. I repeated that fact. I also said the specific reason for the termination was not disclosed, (even though I have been told, I did not repeat because that WOULD have been unverifiable speculation). I think you are particularly sensitive because we brought up his on-air attacks he made against a competing station employee. We had just written about that about 2 months ago. And with the recent Scott Kaplan firing and the Limbaugh episode, I think it was germane and timely to this story. Hey, when Kaplan was fired that was sure talked about in the media. And what Esparza said was way worse. So it is a question that needed to be asked. Let me explain something. Careers and lawsuits are on the line here. Including careers of people who are still at 94/9. If I said anything that misrepresented what Mr. Jackson said, I guarantee he would demand a retraction or correction or whatever. I hate to break it to you, but although you may not like what you are reading, this is reality. Yes, it may be painful for a Mikey disciple to read that his hero is out of radio, and that his ratings sucked, and that he fired off a completely unacceptable series of personal slurs on the air, but that's what happened. We asked if there was any cause and effect, and the boss said no. But I will agree he sure does well on the internet what with his huge Facebook fan base and that R Factor thing. And he seems to get more bumper stickers on cars than anyone else. And by the way what does M1- 12gage mean? Does that mean Mikey is your radio savior but that you also like guns? Just wondering. And here's one question....why has Mikey said nothing? Maybe he should speak for himself.
— March 15, 2012 3:19 p.m.

Take a Hikey, Mikey

I did have my friend call in to speak to you. Glad you could help us clear this up. The information was helpful.
— March 15, 2012 2:23 p.m.

Take a Hikey, Mikey

Hey guys, if you want to read another article that came out today about this please read http://www.nctimes.com/entertainment/columnists/d… Writer's name is Randy Dotinga. Are you now going to spend your daytime hours calling him an idiot? He pretty much says the same thing as we did. Also, regarding the R Factor, the thing was set up by brackets over several weeks, like March Madness. Anyway, you could vote once a week online per email address, but if you bothered to create 50 email addresses you could vote 50 times per week per person. And if you got the other four members of the team to do the same thing, you got yourself a nice pool of votes. It was a great way for Fox 5 to get radio stations to get their listeners to connect with Fox 5. Good work Fox 5! Mikey won nothing for winning that "contest." It certainly didn't help him keep on the air.
— March 15, 2012 1:43 p.m.

Take a Hikey, Mikey

Dear M1 First, how about you tell us who you are. You know who I am. Second I did find out if he was fired or not. Let's leave it at that out of respect. I'm not sure that 949 necessarily wanted to get music back in mornings. I don't think they know exactly what they want to do. Chris Cantore is telling people that 94/9 called him up last week and asked him to do mornings but he turned them down. If you did not hear Mikey's rant against Capone you should. It is awfully foul. Completely unacceptable. Also, I don't dislike Mikey. It's just that there are different types of radio. There is hip radio (949 before Mikey and NPR) and there is hack radio (DSC, Mikey and Stern, 1090). Mikey is hack. And that is fine. But mixing ultra hack and ultra hip proved to be a marriage made in hell. It was weak that 949 brass thought they could mix water with oil and end up with gold. They ended up with another substance. I stand corrected on R Factor. And by the way. I will absolutely will be the first to admit that even though the Mikey/949 marriage was all wrong, it is clear the Mikey show had much more listeners than Arbitron gave him credit for. And that is too bad. I mean that. I never brought up his testimony. But since you did, I happen to think he would have done a lot more Christian good if he just walked the walk and did not ram his 15-minute testimony down our throats. If I am wrong on this, please explain. Hey and guess what? "Personal family issues" did not cause this separation. Are you kidding? LFM is an insurance company. Do you think they could get away with severing his contract if he was consumed by struggles with his kids or his parents ? Ummmm...don't think so. It is 2012. I think your ongoing support of Mikey is commendable. He connected with you deeply. That represents good radio. And I know, based on what you said and what I have learned, that you are not Mikey. But I'd sure like it if everybody else would step up. If I had an agenda it was that Mikey (a proven ratings winner with his old crew) would not come to 94/9 and bring that station down to a point where it would change format. In my solo opinion, it appears that could happen now. For god's sake, Swami left 94/9 for internet radio! That is a bloody crime against nature.
— March 14, 2012 8:38 p.m.