Sports News
In line with sources with data of the scenario, the shakeup had been within the works for some time.
WEEI has as soon as once more shaken up its ratings-challenged afternoon drive program.
Co-hosts Andy Hart and Nick “Fitzy” Stevens had been knowledgeable Wednesday morning that they had been being let go. Third host Ted Johnson will stay with the station in a yet-undefined function.
Johnson, a former Patriots linebacker, may stay with the 2-6 p.m. program. The brand new lineup can be revealed Monday morning at 9 on the station’s “The Greg Hill Present.”
Hart and Stevens had been with WEEI since 2019, and joined the afternoon program in considered one of its many current iterations in August 2024, with Johnson coming aboard in January 2025.
The present had been routed within the Nielsen Audio rankings towards rival sports activities station 98.5 The Sports activities Hub’s “Felger and Mazz” program. Within the fall, “Felger and Mazz” completed in its common No. 1 spot with a 16.7 share, whereas “WEEI Afternoons” — that was the identify of Hart, Stevens, and Johnson’s present — tied for 14th with a 2.0.
It didn’t get a lot better within the winter rankings, which had been introduced this week. “Felger and Mazz” had a first-place 15.3 share within the interval from Jan. 8-April 1, whereas “WEEI Afternoons” was 14th with a 2.7.
Radio station lineup modifications usually instantly comply with ratings-book revelations. In line with sources with data of the scenario, the shakeup had been within the works for some time.
Final week, a clip went viral of Stevens vehemently disagreeing with Johnson in regards to the scenario involving Patriots coach Mike Vrabel and reporter Dianna Russini, then of The Athletic. Hart and Stevens had been vital of Vrabel, prompting social-media hypothesis that the Patriots had some function in getting the 2 faraway from the present. In line with one supply concerned within the course of, the hypothesis “is a few Grade A [expletive].”
Whereas “Felger and Mazz” has dominated afternoon drive for the higher a part of 20 years, WEEI has cycled by means of hosts in that daypart. In July 2018, Glenn Ordway — the longtime host of “The Huge Present” throughout a earlier extremely profitable stint at WEEI — moved from middays to afternoon drive, together with Lou Merloni and Christian Fauria. When Ordway retired in August 2021, Merloni and Fauria hosted in tandem, with Meghan Ottolini coming aboard in April 2022.
Fauria moved to middays and Merloni’s contract was not renewed in December 2022. A month later, Adam Jones joined Ottolini in afternoons, with Christian Arcand the third voice. That lasted till August 2024, when Jones moved to middays, Ottolini went to a writing and fill-in function, and Hart was paired with Arcand on the afternoon present. That model was revamped in January 2025, when Johnson got here aboard, Stevens’s function expanded, and Arcand moved to nights.
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