Talk about kicking an ex-partner while he’s in trouble.
A delighted Fred Toucher took a victory lap a day later his former co-host Rich Shertenlieb – who called Toucher a “backstabber” – lost his job.
Boston radio listeners had a feeling that Toucher would leave the following Tuesday Shertenlieb’s 100.7 WZLX show was canceled, and Toucher certainly didn’t hold back.
“Very exciting news,” Toucher said on his morning show “Toucher and Hardy” on 98.5 The Sports Hub.
“I’ll be very honest with you, I’m very glad that’s over,” Toucher said of Shertenlieb’s canceled show. “I’m not surprised, and I’m very happy because I feel like he’s a conniving person and not telling the truth, and certainly not liked by his colleagues here.”
After less than six months, the Rich Shertenlieb Show on 100.7 WZLX has already been canceled. Shertenlieb made the announcement Monday as iHeartMedia makes cuts across the board.
Shertenlieb, who was on 98.5 for many years before parting ways with Toucher, launched the sports show on the classic rock station in May — along with co-hosts Michael Hurley, Ted Johnson and others.
The ratings for Shertenlieb’s new show on WZLX were ultimately brutal.
“After five months, The Rich Shertenlieb Show will no longer air on WZLX,” Shertenlieb wrote on Monday. “To say I am disappointed is an understatement.”
“… Just over two months after the show, management decided to change the format,” he added. “They wanted music, I didn’t. But even though I didn’t agree with the decision, I agreed to move forward and music was added… Thanks to iHeart for the opportunity. Just because we didn’t have the same vision doesn’t mean I don’t thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me the opportunity to build the team I’ve always wanted to work with.”
Rob “Hardy” Poole joined Toucher in the mornings after Shertenlieb left last year. Hardy said on the show Tuesday that he doesn’t want anyone to be out of a job, “so I can’t say I’m happy about it.”
Toucher then responded, “From what I understand, he (Shertenlieb) tried to maneuver it to get me out of my job.”
Hardy replied: “Exactly, so that’s why I say you have a different history and a different mindset when it comes to that.”
Toucher claimed he would not have said anything about Shertenlieb on Tuesday if his statement showed he had learned “some humility.”
“Like he learned something from this experience,” Toucher said. “Like, don’t stab your friends in the back, don’t be a snake, talk to people to their faces, don’t lie about how you got into a situation. But there was no transparency, and it’s still the same crap. It’s everyone’s fault… lies, lies, lies. Like it’s just nonsense. And you know what, I can’t imagine him getting another job, so I’ll never talk about him again.
Shertenlieb’s show on the classic rock station was the third sports-talk morning show on the market — trying to compete with 98.5’s “Toucher and Hardy” and WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.”
“The whole concept behind it (the show) was terrible,” Toucher said, adding: “It alienated, according to the ratings, their entire existing audience and didn’t bring any of the old audience with it, which is to say, you know this ego and lack of humility to acknowledge your weaknesses.”