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The meeting was relatively unremarkable. Andy Gresh was brought into a room where he was informed by WEEI management that he was being fired from his position as a host and subsequently conversed with those in human resources. Ahead of the concise conversation officially curtailing his tenure with the outlet though, Gresh recognized a heightened sense of awareness gleaned through his longevity in the business. Knowledge and expertise of how to navigate adjustments helped him adopt a principle of not saying or signing anything in these difficult moments before turning the page.
Gresh was not the only person who received similar news since his dismissal was part of sweeping changes at the sports talk radio station. Christian Fauria, his co-host in the daypart, was also let go, and the station revamped its midday and afternoon drive shows that debuted in late August.
“I think it’s the hardest thing that everyone chases in the business – consistency – whether it’s ratings, revenue, buzz for your brand, whatever it is,” Gresh said. “It’s not a white whale – it is attainable – but boy oh boy, it’s hard to create momentum, let alone doing it with change, and there’s every brand that is going through that.”
Over the last several years, there have been changes in leadership at Audacy Boston and WEEI. Mike Thomas, who formerly programmed 98.5 The Sports Hub, joined the staff as the senior vice president and market manager, while Ken Laird was elevated to WEEI brand manager. Working under both executives “was fine,” according to Gresh, and he understood the extensive responsibilities associated with the roles in trying to cultivate a positive growth trajectory with an unwavering commitment to the craft.
Earlier in the year, there were rumors that longtime 98.5 The Sports Hub morning host Rich Shertenlieb would join WEEI to host afternoon drive. Former WEEI host Kirk Minihane stated that he had heard Shertenlieb would work with Gresh, a prospective pairing he declared would be awful in a show they would seek to ruin. A few months later, Shertenlieb announced that he was joining classic rock station WZLX to host an eponymous morning drive show. Gresh is happy for his former colleague whom he considers a friend and keeps in touch. The rumor of working together, however, was entirely false.
“It would have been nice if someone just would have been like, ‘No, no, no, that’s not happening,’ but instead, it just kind of hung out there, so again, it is what it is,” Gresh said. “Some people will get upset because they think things are getting out, and some people will be upset because it’s like, ‘Wait a minute. We’re not doing this, so why are you letting that hang out there?’”
Operating within one of the largest designated market areas in the United States, WEEI faces stiff competition from terrestrial radio stations, television networks and digital outlets alike. As a result, it is more incumbent on these verticals to inform, entertain and engage its audience to secure coveted shares of attention that subsequently assist in bolstering reach and revenue. The traditional quantitative ratings scorecard entrenched in the sports talk format, however, fails to encompass the complete spectrum of optionality, thus causing leaders to call its viability into question.
“The system is so messed up, and the fact that it’s been really slow to kind of develop and take on a next phase of audience measurement is really frustrating,” Gresh said. “I think that’s why so many companies and so many people are now looking at digital as the way to go, only because the metrics are right there in front of you and they’re much easier to understand if you’re someone like me or others who start to do more in the digital realm, and you have ad agencies who can poke holes in all of the ratings that are out there.”
In recent years, 98.5 The Sports Hub has been at the summit in this purported battle, dominating its opponents with double-digit shares in weekday prime hours. Outside of morning drive, no daypart on WEEI last year finished strong among Men 25-54, and Gresh recognized the challenges while observing other statistics on the rise. Nonetheless, his proficiency and business wherewithal reveal the array of factors contributing to overall measurement, and he has safeguarded against associating his self-worth with these conventional data.
“The numbers can say whatever, but at the end of the day for some general managers and companies, it’s just the number that you’re making, and that’s it, and that’s the one that matters,” Gresh said. “….I don’t want to sound bitter about the business, but I’m honest about it to know that if somebody’s going to do something, they’re just going to do it, and it doesn’t matter what the other metrics or whatever says. If the decision’s been made, then that’s it.”
Gresh views companies in the media business as employing management structures that take advantage of people who will produce the highest output of work for the least compensation. When he landed his first job in Providence, R.I. working behind the scenes at WPRO under broadcaster Ron St. Pierre, he experienced a “starter kit” of what he would deal with in radio. Gresh also made lifelong friends and worked alongside skilled professionals, including legendary engineer Duffy Egan.
“He said to me the most profound thing that still exists to this day: ‘Communication is our business, it’s not our policy,’ and that now rings true more than ever in big corporate radio,” Gresh explained. “It’s hard as a talent to wrap your head around exactly in some companies who are making decisions.”
When Gresh was in Providence, he started hosting with Scott Zolak, forming a duo that connected based on their similar backgrounds and built strong rapport. In fact, Gresh was the person who implored station executive David Bernstein to hire Zolak, and the show gained momentum until 790 The Score discontinued its sports talk format in 2008. After working at the national level for ESPN Radio and SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio over two years, Gresh reunited with Zolak on 98.5 The Sports Hub where the pairing became a formidable presence in middays.
“He’ll be one of my lifelong friends and lifelong people, but it just clicked, and you have people like that that when you sit down on the radio, it just clicks,” Gresh said of Zolak. “The fact that we did it in Providence helped us before we got to Boston, but in reality, nothing changed other than just polishing the product a little bit because he and I, you could put us in a car and turn on a recording device, camera or audio, and you’re still going to get the same thing from he and I there that you would’ve on the air.”
After leaving the station in 2015, Gresh spent time outside of Boston and hosted a sports talk show on 1080 WTIC News Talk in Hartford, Conn. with Joe D’Ambrosio. Upon joining WEEI amid the global pandemic, he participated in a Zoom call where he introduced himself to staff members and built chemistry with midday co-host Rich Keefe.
Three years later, Keefe finds himself back in middays working with former afternoon co-host Adam Jones. The program is in the midst of its first full quarterly ratings book as WEEI airs its reconstructed lineup. When Fauria moved to the midday show in 2022, Keefe was assigned to nighttime broadcasts and hosting pregame coverage for Boston Red Sox baseball. While Gresh hopes Keefe does well in the timeslot, he is more focused on new opportunities and maintaining an awareness of setting and audience.
“I’ve been really lucky to have a lot of different experiences to kind of draw upon, and I’m going to be much more of keeping a lot of that stuff in my back pocket because I know that, for me, that’s an advantage that I’m going to have over others where a trained ear will be able to pick up on some of the subtle nuances of how to keep momentum going in a show, how to keep going, not getting bogged down with something stupid that’s minutiae, when to kind of go off on a caller or that kind of stuff,” Gresh said. “I think that’s all just reps.”
Since being let go from the station, Gresh has been exploring options to resume hosting concentrated on national outlets. In reviewing the space, he feels there are gaps that he and other experienced professionals can help fill. Gresh expects to start hosting part time again on SiriusXM and potentially in Providence as well. At the same time, Gresh is thinking beyond these platforms and intends to become more involved in sports betting to resolve what he refers to as “an identity crisis” in how to reach the average person.
“There are companies now, I think, in the gambling space that are coming around to trying to figure out a different way to kind of break through with some of their content,” Gresh emphasized, “or just have someone who can help them present it, organize it in a better way, produce it up a little bit better, or at least with a digital producer say, ‘Hey, can you give me this? Can you give me that?’”
Throughout his career in the business, Gresh has built a network of professionals and followed a subsequent plan upon losing his job. Amid this interim period, he has been contacting people indexed across three lists to try and make something happen and has yet to reach the final stage of this contingency. In previous meetings, he has stressed his ability to adapt to any day and time, marketing himself as a “plug-and-play guy” willing to work hard.
“I love the medium, but I hate the business because of where the business is going,” Gresh said, “but at the end of the day, there’s still people that make those decisions within it, so for me, if I’m going to harbor any resentment, it would be more towards people than, say, the overall structure.”
Gresh believes that part of the reason young people are not gravitating towards radio is due to the people within the business. In his lectures, he asks his audience to consider whether a general manager is primarily focused on either the station(s) they are running or themselves. Gresh affirms that he has attained both types of experiences, a disconcerting reality that complicates business matters and threatens to alienate the next generation.
“It’s a harsh realization you have to come to that you’re going to deal with people in this business on both the talent and the management side who are dealmakers and who are people who just want to win the deal, and that’s where the business gets tough because you have to get to a certain point before you can even start to negotiate or talk about some of that stuff,” Gresh said.
“If you’re just entry level breaking into the business, it’s, ‘Here you go, take it or leave it,’ and unfortunately, that’s driven a lot of the youngs to say, ‘Okay, I’ve looked under the hood. Maybe I’ll leave it,’ and to me, overall, the industry will say, ‘Boy, we’ve got to fix this,’ but do nothing to do so.”
Despite not holding a favorable view of the business, Gresh is enamored by radio and hopes to work with good people and have happiness in what he is doing. As he moves forward, he hopes to find people who are straightforward, communicative and able to work through problems, avowing it as a priority. Fulfillment and collaborating with those he can trust is a difficult set of standards towards which to adhere, but he takes solace in knowing that they are ultimately subject to his adjudication.
“I’m not motivated by proving others wrong,” Gresh said. “I’m motivated by proving myself right, and you do that by challenging yourself and do different things, and sometimes you have to take on different roles or different stuff. Not every place I’ve left I’ve wanted to leave,” Gresh emphasized. “Some places I have left with the whole, ‘Hey, let me rip out the rearview mirror so I don’t have to see it in my rearview,’ but yeah man, it’s the business. What are you going to do?’”
Derek Futterman is a contributing editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, find him on X @derekfutterman.
