Thursday, 4:30 PM
Statement from WRKO about the firing of talk host John DePetro
Statement from Jason Wolfe, Entercom Boston
After learning last night of the remarks about Grace Ross made by morning talk host John DePetro, WRKO terminated his employment.
Jason Wolfe, Vice President of AM programming and Operations, Entercom Boston commented:
"In the context of what he said and the tone with which he said it, the comments were completely inappropriate, derogatory and will not be tolerated. I met with our corporate staff last night after listening to the tapes, and we decided to terminate John at that meeting. I informed him of that decision this morning.
"I had told John after his suspension in July for describing then Massachusetts Turnpike Chairman Matthew J. Amorello with a homosexual slur that any further comments of this kind would be dealt with in a severe way."
"I have no doubt that terminating John's employment was the right action to take."
WRKO believes that talk radio is an informative media that benefits all of us by providing a forum for public discussion. However, there is no place at WRKO for the use of such inappropriate references as made by John.
WRKO regrets the reference to Grace Ross.
