John Dennis (talk show host)

John Dennis (born March 7, 1952 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American radio talk show host for WEEI, known for the Dennis and Callahan show.

Biography

Dennis earned a bachelor's degree in telecommunications and journalism, magna cum laude, at Kent State University in 1974. At age 22, he served as sports director and weekday anchor for WDAF-TV, an NBC affiliate in Kansas City, Missouri. He later became a studio anchorman at WPSL radio. In 1977, he joined WNAC-TV Channel 7 (later WNEV and now WHDH-TV) in Boston. Over the next 21 years he covered the Boston sports scene for the station holding the following roles: weekend and weekday sports anchor, sports producer, sports director as well as producing several sports features and investigative reports. John Dennis is involved with several Boston based charities, raising money for the Jimmy Fund, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and he is on the board of directors for the Mutual Funds Against Cancer Organization. Dennis has made cameos in many of the Farrelly brothers' films. In April 2015 Dennis entered an inpatient rehab facility to receive treatment for alcohol abuse.

Controversies

Boston Globe Ban

In 1999, the Boston Globe's executive sports editor, Don Skwar banned its sportswriters from the Globe from appearing on the Dennis & Callahan morning show because of its perceived lowbrow humor. This came two weeks after he banned Globe sportswriters from appearing on WEEI's afternoon The Big Show after columnist Ron Borges appeared on the show and used a racial slur to describe New York Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu. After the ban, WEEI retaliated by banning Globe sportswriters from all WEEI programs.

METCO controversy

On September 29, 2003, during a segment called 'headlines', where they read and comment about current news stories, Callahan and his morning co-host John Dennis made racially insensitive remarks while discussing a story about an escaped gorilla. The gorilla had escaped from the Franklin Park Zoo and had been recaptured at a bus stop. Their on the air banter included these lines:

Callahan: "They caught him at a bus stop, right -- he was like waiting to catch a bus out of town."

Dennis: "Yeah, yeah -- he's a METCO gorilla."
Callahan: "Heading out to Lexington."

Dennis: "Exactly."

METCO is a state program that buses inner-city Boston students to nearby suburban schools. Many perceived the comments to be comparing poor, mostly African-American children to gorillas.

WEEI general manager Tom Baker suspended both hosts for two days, then extended the suspension to two weeks after the Blue Cross-Blue Shield (Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts) pulled $27,000 in ads and in turn donated that money to METCO. Dunkin' Donuts responded by ceasing all advertising that involved the voices of John Dennis or Gerry Callahan. Both hosts apologized, though in a way many thought was sarcastic and insincere, and were sent to sensitivity training. WEEI also agreed to provide free advertising for the METCO program on the radio station. In November 2003, WEEI General Manager Tom Baker was replaced by Julie Kahn. Station executives denied there was a connection between the METCO incident and Baker's replacement.

Ryen Russillo voicemail

Mr. Dennis had a personal conflict with Ryen Russillo, who at the time was a New England Patriot commentator at WBCN, during which he left Rusillo a voicemail following a conversation between John Dennis's daughter and Mr Rusillo at a local Boston bar. Subsequently, and perhaps from Dennis's intervention and close relationship with Patriot's owner Robert Kraft, Russillo lost that job. Russillo currently works for ESPN, which is heard in part on WEEI. The Russillo- Dennis feud continued in February 2012, when they encountered each other at an ESPN Super Bowl Party.

Comments on Opie & Anthony April fools prank

On an April 1st show in 2008, both Dennis and Callahan during a top ten April fools prank list made mention to a prank that caused Opie and Anthony to be fired from a Boston radio station. The "prank" which they referred to was a result from Opie & Anthony prank they did because of their hatred of April fools pranks feeling they are hack. They then declared the Mayor had died after flipping a car over a bridge into the oncoming traffic lane while a hooker of African American descent was in the passenger seat. During the Dennis & Callahan segment Denis asked "what ever happen to those guys." Callahan then said that they were working at McDonalds with a pedophile. At the time Opie & Anthony had taken over Howard Stern's syndicated spot, and was also broadcasting at the same time on Satellite radio. This caused more attention to the Ryen Russillo situation and also caused WEEI to take very few calls during their shows, as a result of Opie & Anthony fans calling in for weeks.

Personal awards and recognition

• 1978 Nominated for Regional Emmy for his feature, "Cowboys, Creole and Orange Crush."
• 1978 & 1981 Regional Emmy for specialized reporting.
• 1983 & 1984 Associated Press (AP) Best Sports Coverage award.
• 1983, 1984 & 1985 National Association of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) Boston/New England Chapter Emmy award for "Best Sports Coverage within a Newscast.
• 1983, 1984 & 1985 UPI Best Sports Coverage awards.
• 1986 As part of the WHDH-TV sports team, was awarded the United Press International (UPI) National Broadcast Award in the "Division One Sports Reporting" category.
• 1987 Emmy Award for "Outstanding Sports Program within a Newscast."