The Boston Herald’s Jessica Heslam reported Monday that WEEI had inked “The Big Show” host Glenn Ordway to a 5 year extension “worth more than $1 million per year” and planned to bring Ordway’s afternoon yackfest to a “a sports cable network, possibly Comcast SportsNet or NESN”, ala Mike Francesca’s “Mike’d Up”. Longtime Ordway detractor David Scott of Scott’s Shots takes exception to the alleged size of the pact (“there is no way a sane-thinking business person could ever suggest that Ordway didn™t have to take some kind of ‘hometown discount’ because of the current fiscal crisis facing the nation”), and scoffs at Ordway’s small screen potential.
The only saving grace may be that since Entercom opened the purse strings for Ordway that they may be cash-poor to retain the collection of meatheads that populate the WEEI studio during afternoon drive time. But even that is a longshot because the Pete Sheppards, Fred Smerlases, Steve DeOssies, Butchie Stearns and Brian Daubachs of the world know better than to bite the hand that feeds them, lest they be exposed as the frauds they are. Those elephants would work for peanuts because no other circus would be foolish enough to pay them.
Well-placed Entercom and media sources that the reported $1 million per year is more of a œmax-obtainable figure than what Ordway™s base pay will be. While he will continue to hit ratings incentives, the insiders say, it will be difficult for Ordway to reach other performance-based thresholds, especially any that pertain to TV and/or the Web.
Still, whatever the lofty six-figure amount of money Ordway will be paid, it will, without question, make him the country™s highest-paid babysitter. If Ordway were ever able to silence his peanut gallery for good, then – and only then – would he achieve the œlegendary status of which Entercom’s Jason Wolfe gushed about.
As for the TV component, we™re just not seeing how four hours of watching feeding time at the zoo is going to play for Comcast SportsNet or anyone else. The WFAN simulcast that is so often cited worked because Mike and the Mad Dog were intelligent, entertaining and informative. None of those words come to mind when thinking of Ordway™s posse. A couple of options that may work would be a one-hour live-simulcast (maybe in the 5 to 6 hour) when the day™s premier guests could be featured and/or a one hour œBest of re-cap later in the evening. (Heaven help the producer who has to mine for 50 minutes of gold from that show on a daily basis).