Radio_bruno

Lots happened today, in bits and pieces. Pure chaos. Finger-pointing. Back-stabbing. Sources-sourcing. Radio silence. On-air awkwardness. So for those just tuning in, here is how it came to be that Tony Bruno left his show with Josh Innes and retired from radio.

 

Friday morning

On Friday morning, I received the following text from Robin Austin, Tony Bruno’s better half, with whom I have a relationship thanks to our podcasting efforts [posted with permission]:

Voila_Capture 2015-07-08_02-54-14_PM

I saw the text when it came in, read it, and ignored it, both because it seemed like a non-story and because I was headed to the Shore. However, when Innes sent out the following Tweets this weekend, it became clear that the message – that the RTs from Bruno’s account about Innes getting fired were an accident – wasn’t received by Innes, or, depending on your view, was ignored by Innes:

Voila_Capture 2015-07-07_11-05-39_AM Voila_Capture 2015-07-07_11-04-15_AM

 

Monday

I saw Josh’s Tweets from over the weekend and asked Robin about them. She declined to talk about it any further, I’m assuming due to the escalating speculation early this week over the Tweets and then over Bruno’s absence from the show on Monday.

So, I dug around.

 

Tuesday

I was told by well-placed sources that WIP had been informed that Bruno was displeased with his current role, with Innes’ reaction over the weekend, and his on-air antics over the past four months– which didn’t mesh well with Tony’s friendly style. Bruno was no longer interested in being Innes’ partner, is the word Bloom and WIP received, according to multiple sources. The Tweet thing seems to have been just the final straw in an undesirable working relationship for Bruno. There wasn’t a blowup, or a fight. It’s just the way things were. Who’s at fault, if anyone, is for your interpretation.

WIP’s plan, as reported by Philly.com, was to bring the two sides together to see if they could find common ground and keep the show going. In fact, though Bloom and Innes spent all afternoon on Wednesday prattling on about the inaccuracies of reports, just yesterday WIP all but acknowledged there were indeed differences between the two hosts. From Rob Tornoe’s reporting at Philly.com:

Sources indicate the absence is a cooling-off period following raising tensions between the two over the way Innes mocked a caller under the influence of drugs. Crossing Broad was the first to report about a rift forming between the two co-hosts.

Officials at WIP are hoping to meet with both hosts this week, with the goal of getting them back on the air together as quickly as possible.

 

Late Tuesday night

A source informed me that Bruno was all but done at WIP. His decision.

 

Wednesday morning

Two sources said that Bruno was done at WIP and that discussions had moved onto the particulars of his departure and determining his accrued vacation time. I wrote, “The focus, as of now, seems to be on managing the fallout – for all involved – rather than saving the show.”

 

Wednesday at 1 p.m.

Innes takes to the air, says he can’t talk about what’s happening because of the “suits,” says it’s embarrassing, threatens to play music until he’s allowed to talk about it, cuts to an extended break, the show comes back to music, goes back to break, an awkward update with Sue Schilling. Sports talk.

 

Wednesday at 2:20 p.m.

Innes tells listeners that he’ll address the situation after the next break. At 2:30, when the show returns from break, Joe Giglio is hosting in place of Innes, who’s nowhere to be found.

 

Wednesday at 3 p.m.

Innes returns and announces Bruno’s departure from the show and his “retirement from radio.” Innes says he has nothing against Bruno and didn’t believe there was a real problem, but acknowledges that they may not have always seen eye-to-eye. More niceties about Tony. Andy Bloom joins Innes in a figurative rendition of Kumbaya, this after two days of awkwardness and two hours of absolutely ridiculous radio. Everything’s fine, nothing to see here.

 

Wednesday at 3:40 p.m.

Tony Bruno, too, takes the high road with regard to WIP and releases his statement, which blames the modern world of social media for taking the fun out of radio and inciting “wars.”

 

Wednesday 4 p.m.

Innes spends the remainder of his show discrediting reports. He acknowledges that he’d like to have Bruno call in but says Bruno declined the request.

 

So yeah, this whole thing, though probably an inevitability, may have been hastened by a misunderstanding over a couple of RTs. We’re all adults here. PLAY IT: