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Today in Random Beef: More than the Curve vs. 1210 WPHT on the Topic of Parade Cancellations
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Today in random beef, we have regional news site More than the Curve, which covers the Conshohocken area, and conservative Talk Radio 1210 WPHT.
For background, we begin with a story titled Talk Radio Philadelphia 1210 AM should be embarrassed by its Whitemarsh 4th of July Parade coverage.
Writes Kevin Tierney:
The controversy about the Whitemarsh Township Board of Supervisors canceling the annual 4th of July Parade landed on the airwaves of WPHT – Talk Radio Philadelphia 1210 AM and the coverage was bad to troubling.
To recap, the supervisors canceled the parade based on a security study that was supported by the chief of police, who cited the township’s inability to protect the parade from vehicle attacks, similar to those in New Orleans and Vancouver. It was acknowledged there was no active threat specific to the parade in Whitemarsh.
WPHT’s Dom Giordano took to the air and discussed decisions being made in “Plymouth Whitemarsh,” inquiring whether the parade is held on Bethlehem Pike or Stenton Avenue. At one point, when someone was comparing the security of the Truist Championship to the parade, he said Flourtown is near Whitemarsh (half of the Flourtown community is within Whitemarsh). He also encouraged everyone listening to sign the petition (meaning people outside Whitemarsh Township), which is exactly the thing those concerned about the parade’s cancellation should want. It is a Whitemarsh issue.
On the troubling side, the Kayal & Company show in the morning hosted by Nick Kayal tied the cancellation of the parade to anti-Semitic protests that have occurred across the nation since Hamas’ October 7th attack in Israel and the war that followed. The station has been running promos for the show for at least two days, making that connection. No one involved has made that connection, and there is zero evidence that this issue was part of the consideration.
WPHT should take down the promo as quickly as possible and issue a statement that it was a mistake to use that statement from the show in what was essentially a commercial.
On Thursday’s show, Kayal, joined by Dawn Stensland and Greg Stocker, read Tierney’s article live on the air, then said this, in part:
“Kevin, I know you write 275 words once a week for $13.82, but when I talk about a story and I read a statement and say ‘hmm i wonder what’s at play here,’ that’s called talk radio and having opinions.’ I think I have two years of evidence in this region to say it might be fair to possibly assume that maybe those threats came down the pike to Whitemarsh Township. Maybe they didn’t! But it’s possible.”
To summarize, Tierney found it irresponsible that WPHT hosts were 1) getting non-residents worked up about the issue and 2) speculating that antisemitism had something to do with this, while Kayal says in response that the speculation is fair because of the current Israel and Gaza Zeitgeist.
I don’t have this WPHT promo mentioned in the article, nor do I have Giordano’s comments, but the night after Kayal’s show there was a special meeting at Colonial Elementary School in which only two of the five township supervisors were on hand. One apologized for the lack of transparency when the decision was made to cancel the parade, and in a follow-up article, Tierney wrote this:
That led to short presentations by the heads of the township’s parks and recreation and finance departments and (Chief of Police Christopher Ward). What was outlined was a process that was an ongoing concern for Chief Ward about the parade based on information he received from various state and federal agencies. His thinking on the issue solidified when he attended a presentation by first responders from Highland Park, IL, which saw its parade attacked in 2022.
From this, research was done on what was needed to protect the parade, which included the potential to rent or purchase needed safety equipment. However, it was discovered that even if it was ordered, no vendor could deliver it on time for the parade.
Tierney writes that residents in attendance demanded that the parade be held this year, and the decision reversed, which could happen with a future vote. They didn’t have enough township people on hand to take that vote. It was also noted by the police chief that barricades and fencing for the parade would amount to $200,000, which isn’t in the budget.
What’s key is that the police chief cites information from “various state and federal agencies” as the reason for concern, but no specific threat. It’s written that Highland Park influenced his thinking on the issue, Highland Park being the mass shooting that killed seven people and injured 50 at a Fourth of July parade in a Jewish neighborhood several years ago. The shooter, Robert Crimo III, was sentenced to life in prison, and while five of the seven deceased were Jewish, authorities weren’t certain that antisemitism was the main motivator in the attack, because Crimo was discovered to have a history full of red flags that saw racist posts also targeted at the Asian and Black community.
Anyway, point being, the people of the Plymouth-Whitemarsh area are super annoyed that the parade was cancelled for generic safety reasons. They want to know why other townships didn’t cancel their parades, and they weren’t given an explanation other than the police chief saying “trust me, bro.” And when you don’t give people a specific reason for why a long-standing tradition has suddenly just ended, the void is filled with speculation, be it fair or unfair, accurate or inaccurate.
The whole reason for this admittedly-minor spat between 1210 WPHT and More than the Curve stems from a lack of transparency at the decision-maker level.
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