By David Scott
Boston Sports Media Watch

Today’s earlier post regarding Dennis & Callahan’s future at WEEI 850 AM spurred more than a few emails and phone calls to the Seaside Shanty and brought a bit of clarity to how things are going to play out for Entercom’s sports leader as they try to retain their valuable morning duo of John Dennis and Gerry Callahan.

First off, Dennis’s vacation this week was actually planned, according to several people with knowledge of his vacation schedule.

Second, Callahan is still recovering from multiple surgeries to his throat, but is at a point where he would be able to return to the airwaves - albeit with a gravelly voice. Some have speculated that he was actually due to return on Monday, August 13.

The rest is where it gets interesting and where a great deal of negotiating, posturing and spinning is being undertaken by both sides (D&C vs K&W, Entercom’s Julie Kahn and Jason Wolfe).

Both Dennis and Callahan are working under existing contracts that expire in the first week of September. Because of that pending expiration of their deals and the on-going back-and-forth between the duo’s representatives and the Entercom negotiators, it is believed by many industry insiders who have contacted Shots that Entercom would prefer to not have D&C on-air until (and if) a new deal is in place.

This would seem like nothing more than a negotiating tactic by Entercom, but could also be an indication of how serious Kahn and Wolfe are about moving forward without their popular morning drive hosts who have told friends and associates that they are a “package deal, undoubtedly.”

Adding to all the speculation and rumors that are swirling is the fact that WEEI is touting the annual Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon that begins next Thursday, August 16 and will be carried into a second day on Friday “as Dennis and Callahan starts things off at 6 a.m.”

If a new, multi-year deal is not in place by that point, it’s highly unlikely that either Dennis or Callahan will be involved in the station’s marquee fundraiser and it is further unlikely that either will be back on the air come Monday.

The final bit of intrigue in this whole complicated mess is the multiple reports we are receiving that D&C are being coveted by a completely separate broadcasting entity that would use the pair as its cornerstone to build a New England regional sports talk network. While some industry insiders are telling us that is a real, viable possibility others are more skeptical and assume it is a ploy on behalf of D&C’s representatives to drive up their clients value on the open market.

Shots can confirm that a regional player fitting the description does have the infrastructure in place to build such a network, but whether or not the group would be able to guarantee the kind of money that Dennis and Callahan are looking for is open to debate. For starting points on what the duo may be thinking they are worth (individually), you can go north from what “indentured servant” Howie Carr is reportedly pulling in at Entercom from WRKO.

If all of this seems to “inside baseball,” for most of you, we’d agree, it probably is. We’re big on results and end-games, so we’d prefer to have everyone involved show us the baby when, and if, it is born. But the bungling of recent WRKO decisions by Wolfe and the importance that advertisers seem to put in D&C does make the coming decision on the duo’s future at WEEI quite intriguing for all parties, including the (blindly) loyal WEEI listeners.