Monday, October 12, 2009

Matt Patrick out from Akron Parade .. and other odds and ends

A holiday tradition is coming to an end. Matt Patrick will no longer be the host of the City of Akron's "Welcome Santa" Parade.

Patrick talked at length about the decision during his Monday talk show on WHLO (AM-640) saying that the City of Akron was dumping him because he had taken city hall to task over last month's proposed layoffs.

Patrick said that "it's their parade, they can do what they want," and "I don't care." He also mentioned that he wasn't paid for the event, but rather gave his time to support the event.

On his Facebook page, Patrick penned: "I got gassed from my 25 year, non-paying job of hosting The City Of Akron Holiday Parade! Why? I spoke to the Police and Firefighters last month. Well...that's a GOOD reason!!"

He later ranted a youtube video to remove all doubt:



Rumors began to circulate late last week that the city was considering ousting MP.

Matt told me this afternoon that he actually found out from an employee at competing local radio station, so he's accepting that it's true. No one has told him he's wrong.

Got to admit .. as an Akron father who takes his sons to the parade, it won't sound the same with MP ... 4th of July fireworks either, if MP is gone from that event as well.

I have a request in to city hall for its side of the story .. and I'm told that a press release will be sent out. Not sure when, but when it comes, I'll post the info here.

Odds and Ends ..

Got quite a few emails from folks wondering what happened to NewsNight Akron from Oct. 2nd. The broadcast aired at 10 p.m., an hour later than its usual time slot, to allow for a special on the National Parks. If you missed the broadcast, you can watch it on-line here. I wasn't aware that the show was being pushed back, but in the future, I'll try to make sure I confirm the air time. As for this specific episode, I was a bit surprised that the panel jumped on the fire union the way that they did, but they raised some specific points.

I was surprised that Saturday's Infocision Stadium crowd was only 16,000+ .. a little more than half full. This was the first MAC game in the new stadium, and while I know the team is struggling, I thought the crowds would continue to be closer to capacity. It really is a great place to watch a game, so I hope fans get a chance to get to a game. I'm sure the seats will be full for the Zips matchup with Kent State.

A friend tells me that her nephew, who is attending Ohio University, got sick and went to the doctor, who told him that he had swine flu .. and sent him back to the dorm to get better. A day or so later, he was near death in a hospital in Columbus with bacterial meningitis -- not swine flu. I share this not to take aim at a doctor's misdiagnosis, but rather to highlight that swine flu is becoming so common that the symptoms could be mistaken.

Since we don't have a 7 p.m. newscast on Mondays due to "The Point After" Browns show, I'm trying to use my Mondays to catch up on my writing . .and to get additional interviews for future stories. Some days I make more progress than others.

Loving the Big Bang Theory on CBS on Monday nights. If you haven't discovered this comedy yet, give it a try. And don't give up after one episode; some of the humor cuts back to previous episdoes so stay with it. One of the stars, Kaley Cuoco, was on the Morning Show today .. and she was great. Watch it here:



And finally .. I guess I need to check my attire a little closer. Wearing a white shirt and solid red tie, I recently went to a supermarket with a photographer to do a story on the economy. I let the photographer wander around the store to get some shots, and I waited near the cash registers. Not once .. but three times .. someone asked me if products were on sale or where to find certain items. Each time I had to smile and say "I don't work here."

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

You’ve been “had,”Eric.

And soon, so will your buddies at the ABJ and NewsLite Akron, too.

Boo-Hoo, Matt Patrick lost his non-paying gig of 25 years. Boo-hoo.

Where was this man’s outrage last November when his partner (and supposed “pal”) Angela Bellios was let go by Clearchannel suddenly and unceremoniously? He barely made a peep!

Where are the YouTube videos of all the ex-Channel 3 reporters ,editors and videographers who have been let go for budget reasons over the last 18 months?

The only place you’ll see more whining than Matt Patrick’s YouTube debut is at a 5th grade soccer game at Our Lady of Constant Sorrows.

I’ve carefully checked the city’s website - where Plusquellic’s newshores, er, uh, newshounds report every time he passes gas - and there’s not one word about this year’s parade - which suggests that as of yesterday, no decision actually had been made to keep or not keep Matt Patrick on as parade host.

But after this act of juvenile - no, infantile delinquency - the city would be crazy to keep Matt Patrick on as their most visible spokesman. (Give us Billy Soul!)

I understand how tough it must be to be an aging disc jockey - it takes longer to get your vocal cords in gear in the morning, your once-handsome chin is now a sagging jowl, your previously full head of hair is thinning - so what must you do? Become serious. Become a Rush Limbaugh wannabe, but without the highly paid research staff or native intelligence Rush is famous for.

And pull stunts like this to boost your puny ratings.

When Matt Patrick was quoted in the front page article in the Beacon Journal recently, essentially calling the Mayor a liar - he made a choice - the consequences of which he was obviously unprepared for.

Speaking of age – does anybody remember when the parade started in Akron? And who the first host was? Because radio personalities didn’t whine so much back then - you won’t find the answer in the BJ archives. The city chose a young, handsome, glib, funny DJ named Matt Patrick and booted WAKR! If the city were wise — I’d get WAKR back in the saddle again.

Call me -

SICK OF MEDIA DIVAS

Eric Mansfield said...

Sick .. glad to see I touched a nerve ... but in short, this is different than the other firings/layoffs because it appears to be payback for comments made about the city .. none of the others -- my co-workers at Channel 3 or elsewhere -- were let go for the reasons like that ..so that makes what happened to MP "unusual" .. and that makes it noteworthy ...

you'll notice from my blog that I really didn't take sides on the issue . but rather, was giving some insight into what was rumored, what's been said, and where it all goes from here ..

although, I'll certainly give my opinion when I feel the tale warrants it ..

i'll post the city's announcement on the parade when it comes out ..

stay in touch .. Eric

Anonymous said...

Eric...Clean up in aisle 3. Eric, clean up in aisle 3...

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