Ad Disclosure
Following Kathy Romano Departure, Former WMMR DJ Paul Jaxon Shares Story of Beasley Media “Rednecks” Reportedly Targeting Preston and Steve Show for Cost Cutting Years Ago
Published:
Over the weekend, someone posted on YouTube audio from a new podcast co-hosted by former WMMR anchor Paul Jaxon, who was laid off in 2022 after almost 20 years on the Philly airwaves. It’s called Jaxon and the Pharmacist, and after some Googling we found the full show, which is part of the Utah-based “Ground Control Radio Network.”
Show description: “Weekdays at 3PM EST Jaxon cracks the mic and a bourbon in Philly while the Pharmacist (Brian) broadcasts deep in the woods somewhere between Providence and Boston. Together they solve the worlds problems with a whiskey chaser.“
On the May 8th episode, the pair spent a long time going in-depth on Beasley’s decision not to renew Kathy Romano’s contract. It’s basically Jaxon unfiltered, with a lot of interesting information about WMMR and Beasley Media put on the record.
Listening through, there’s quite a bit to digest, but the thing that jumped out to me was a story about how Beasley executives came to Philly shortly after purchasing the cluster from Greater Media, assuring the staff that everything would be fine moving forward. Afterward, an eavesdropping Uber driver told Jaxon about early plans to cut into the Preston and Steve show:
So the rednecks come into town, and when I tell you they’re backwards-ass rednecks, I’m not kidding. They come into town with their mullets and Converse trying to be cool…
They come in and give their pep talk and everything. I used to have this Uber driver, god I can’t remember his name, but he was a guy that one of my neighbors started using. And then word spread that he had also a taxi license. So basically what he would do is he would be like, ‘don’t call Uber, call me, call me dude and I’ll charge you whatever the Uber rate is.’ But it was an Uber Black, like he’d have beers sitting in the back for you. He’d pick us up and take us to concerts. He was fantastic, you could get him on a moment’s notice, just a great guy.
I’m riding to the MMRBQ with him one year and I say we’re going to be doing some drinking, could use a ride over and back… we’re on the way over there and he says to me, ‘hey what company is it that owns you guys now?’ And I’m like, ‘ah yeah it’s another company that purchased us (after Greater Media), don’t know much about them yet but they’re the Beasleys. He’s like, ‘yeah I don’t know if I should be saying this, but I gave them a ride (after the staff meeting). He says, ‘I gave them a ride to the airport, to leave town, and eavesdropped.’ I go, ‘oh you gotta tell me!’
Then he says, ‘well, the first thing they brought up was how are they going to go about firing that morning show.’ Preston and Steve was just far too much money for their company, and for a morning show. He’s like, ‘so they debated, all the way to the airport, in the back of my car, who they could cut from the show, or could they get rid of the show and start over.’
When I heard from this guy that the new owners were thinking of shit canning the most successful morning show in the country, I just went ‘oh my God, we’re screwed.’ I had to sit with that for a little bit.
Jaxon went on to say that he had two remaining contract years, and “made out pretty well” despite losing his job. He said he was offered a 45% pay cut to stay with the company, calling it a “horrific” deal that no one would sign. At that point, he says Beasley found a loophole in the union contract to remove overnight programming entirely, which meant morale “went to shit” and the circling of the drain began. Throughout, he gives a lot of credit to former WMMR and WMGK program director Bill Weston for essentially fighting Beasley cost cutting for as long as possible. Jaxon later admits that everyone knows terrestrial radio is struggling, but explains that he and others felt like MMR was one of the few entrenched stations that was special and could survive with proper support in a world of podcasts, satellite radio, and streaming audio.
It was a really good show, totally in-depth stuff on WMMR and the Beasley takeover. The back episodes are paywalled and the network itself is for subscribers only, so if you want to listen to the whole thing you click here and go down to the red button that says “subscribe on demand.”
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com