By David Scott
Boston Sports Media Watch

From the same seedy sports media saga that brought us George Regan’s “Walkin’ in the Sand” riff, we are now treated with the “Three-Headed John Dennis” ad which appeared in Tuesday’s Boston Herald on page 18. An altered version of the normal Dennis, Jon Meterparel and Gerry Callahan salutation ad (in front of Old Glory and the Green Monster) made its way into the tabloid. It is supposedly part of a regular string of spoofs with alternating famous heads super-imposed over the trio’s.

While neither side in the D&C/Entercom talks has been squawking this week about the stalled negotiations to bring the duo back to the morning drive, the ad alteration does suggest that Entercom and ‘EEI are prepared to milk the thing for all its worth.

Shots has been told by Someone Who Knows that the 3-headed Dennis Monster is part of an overall rotation that sees various faces added in on various bodies of Dean-o, Meter and Gerry. “In the past, they have had Paris Hilton and Rosie O’Donnell heads on the trio’s bodies,” said our insider.

If that’s true - and we tend to believe it is - the next legitimate question is why would this week’s iteration, of all weeks, include the Dennis Trio?

Could Entercom be tweaking the duo and suggesting that they would only need one of them to continue on? Or are the evil Entercom overlords suggesting they could clone any old schmo and still have a successful morning show (as the most recent rating book may have proved)? Perhaps the ad is meant as some harbinger of a new Dennis-Only morning offering where Dennis plays the foil for Dennis while Dennis provides intermezzos with his own sports flashes.

In all seriousness though, you have to wonder what the Entercom folks are doing. Why on earth is an ad campaign featuring two hosts who have not been on-air together in four months still in rotation? If Best Buy we’re advertising TVs that have been out of stock for 16 weeks, don’t you think the better business bureau would be investigating? Doesn’t truth in advertising mean anything to media entities like Entercom and the Herald?

. . . The prevailing wisdom around town is that the duo will miraculously re-appear on Sept 4th after the Labor Day holiday (the very week when both gentleman’s contracts expire) and a new contract will be announced. However, there are several Entercom insiders who are insisting that D&C may never return and that the suits are enjoying watching the pair squirm a bit as the media giant basks in the glow of their Nassau deal from late last week. Still, it is believed that Jason Wolfe’s preference is to bring back his lightning rod duo and be done with the very public haggling that has, in alternating doses, made Entercom, D&C and all of the listeners, look like fools.

. . . The lone winner in the whole imbroglio remains Nassau and its boss, Chairman and CEO Louis Mercatanti, who splayed everyone like a fiddle and is getting $10 million for its coffers.

. . . Dennis’s head seems to fit fine on Callahan’s body, but appears to be weighing down the slight Meterparel.

Shots will have updates on D&C should events warrant such reporting. Otherwise, we’ll be back with our regularly scheduled Friday post.