Update #2, 2:57 p.m. Friday: 97.1's Mike Valenti speaks out on his station's loss of local NFL broadcasts:
“It’s absolutely true, 100 percent of it,” Mike Valenti said about allegations the Lions severed their relationship with 97.1 The Ticket because they didn’t like his criticism of the team, CBS Detroit reports:
Valenti went on to say Bill Keenist, communications VP with the Lions, used to try to reach him during every segment of his show to control the messages he was sending out about the team. “If he somehow had the ability to get a hold of me, I would hang up,” Valenti said.
They didn’t like the things he was saying, Valenti said about the Lions and their PR team, so they eventually retaliated against the station.
“This is an organization that has consistently made our lives miserable at this station,” Valenti said, adding “This is a petty, juvenile, nasty organization. . . . There are people in this organization that are bad people."
Update #1, 12:50 p.m. Friday:- The Detroit Lions try some damage control, telling The Detroit News' Tony Paul that WJR made a better financial deal than WXYT with the team.
"I know there's a bit of narrative out there regarding the notion that, somehow the Lions are practicing some sort of censorship," Elizabeth Parkinson, senior vice president of marketing and corporate sponsorships for the Lions, tells the sportswriter "If we were trying to practice any sort of censorship, we certainly would've done it (the switch) much sooner."
Mort Meisner, agent for Mike Valenti, the station's headliner talent, tells the News that the Lions demanded Valenti be fired before a new contract could be reached with the Lions and WXYT, known as 97.1.
Parkinson denies the switch to WJR is over Valenti or any host, but doesn't deny the Lions have contacted the station over content, The News says.
"Anytime that our media is either not factual or misrepresenting the content that they're sharing, those calls are made," she says. "Our media team is working with all the media to correct inaccuracies. Absolutely, they were working with CBS to correct inaccuracies, you name any media outlet, and they've worked closely with our media teammates. If there are inaccuracies, somebody's going to get a call."
At his Twitter feed this afternoon, Valenti posts:
— Mike Valenti (@MikeValenti971) November 20, 2015
Original article, Friday morning
Any station that broadcasts the Lions would be remiss not to criticize the team and give the audience honest feedback.
Personalities at 97.1, a CBS radio property, have done just that and frequently take shots at the Lions, a team that has sucked far more than not.
Well, 97.1, which has been the Lions' flagship station for 12 years, is getting the boot after this year because it refuses to censor comment. WJR takes over in 2016.
Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press reports:
When the Detroit Lions stink — which can be often — the WXYT-FM (97.1) personalities never hesitate to talk about it.
And apparently, that cost WXYT its 12-year status as the team's flagship station — the Lions today announced a new five-year broadcast partnership with WJR-AM (760) — according to CBS Detroit's senior vice president and market manager Debbie Kenyon, who said in a released statement that control of Lions content was the sticking point in negotiations.
"CBS Radio and the Detroit Lions are parting ways," Kenyon said. "97.1 The Ticket has served as the flagship station for the Lions for more than a decade. CBS Radio says it has been negotiating with the Lions a long time.
"It is sad to say goodbye, but in the end it came down to the integrity of CBS — the refusal to be censored in talking about the team and making honest assessments on the air about this team."
-- Allan Lengel
