SUPPORT LOVELL DYETT
WBZ PROGRAM DIRECTOR PETER CASEY
SAID NO TO LOVELL DYETT COMING BACK
TO HIS REGULAR BROADCAST TIME SLOT ON WBZ.
PASTOR BRUCE WALL SAID, “PETER CASEY IS SAYING, BY HIS ACTIONS, THAT HE DOES NOT CARE WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY AND THAT HE WILL DO WHAT HE WANTS TO DO. IT IS TIME THAT WE TAKE A STAND AND FIGHT FOR A MAN WHO HAS FOUGHT FOR US.”
JOIN THE MARCH AROUND
THE WBZ RADIO STUDIO.
WHERE WE WILL MEET
1170 SOLDIERS FIELD ROAD
BOSTON, MA 02134
DATE
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2009
TIME
6:00 PM
(SPONSORED BY THE FRIENDS OF LOVELL DYETT)
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL 617-282-7794 OR
E-MAIL PASTORBRUCEWALL@AOL.COM
Send Your E-mail to Peter Casey
News Director / Program Director
TELL HIM THAT:
"We want Lovell Dyett back behind his microphone
on Saturday's From 9:00 PM to 12:00 AM.
Black leaders: Bring back Lovell Dyett
Ouster of ’BZ host raises ire
By Jessica Heslam
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 - Updated 5d 19h ago
Church in Dorchester wants to meet with WBZ radio news director Peter Casey to “negotiate” Dyett’s return to the CBS-owned station.
Wall is gathering signatures for a letter he plans to send Casey and he’s urging listeners to “jam” WBZ’s phone lines. In his letter, the pastor mentions late WBZ talk-show hosts David Brudnoy and Paul Sullivan.
“As you may know, Lovell has some health challenges,” Wall wrote. “We were hoping you were going to afford Lovell the same courtesy, dignity and respect that you offered David Brudnoy and Paul Sullivan.”
The letter also says, “The decision to terminate Lovell Dyett was not a wise or a prudent business decision.”
Wall said yesterday Dyett has been a voice of “reason and hope” in Boston and that he helped to calm residents during the city’s busing crisis. “You don’t let an institution like that go,” Wall said. “This is not a black thing. He transcends the whole color barrier.”
Louise Carcione, past president of the Codman Square Neighborhood Council and a member of Wall’s church, said Dyett has the ability to reach a “diverse listening audience.”
WBZ didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1143347
DIAL UP OUTRAGE ON LOVELL DYETT’S OUSTER
By Joe Fitzgerald
Saturday, January 10, 2009 - Updated 1d 3h ago
+ Recent Articles
Boston Herald Columnist
The saddest thing about the sacking of Lovell Dyett is what it says about those bloodless bottom-liners who cut him loose.
After 37 years of endearing himself to the WBZ audience, he was told by corporate bean counters that, in their eyes, he was now expendable.
Though consigned to a veritable weekend ghetto, which was eventually slashed to Saturdays only, Dyett nevertheless established himself as a masterful conversationalist, innately understanding a good interviewer must be a good listener, too, a truth clearly lost on shallow, ego-driven charlatans whose boorish drivel dominates the airwaves today.
Although different in background and approach, Dyett was cut from the same cloth as Larry Glick, who filled the wee hours with rollicking warmth, and the late Norm Nathan, who wonderfully succeeded in his oft-stated goal to “leave the world a little bit sillier.”
Like those giants who once graced the WBZ studios, Dyett took his work seriously, not himself, which is what made listening to him so addictive, informative and pleasurable.
The black community is reportedly irate over his unmerited ouster. Fine. It ought to be.
But Dyett, 73, was more than just a black host; he was a magnificent host who happened to be black, meaning anyone with half a brain ought to be offended by his dismissal.
This was a very decent man who brought civility, insight, grace and perspective to some of the most contentious issues of our day, providing common ground for meaningful discussion.
In a voice that sounded like James Earl Jones, he brought compassion and reason to a city so urgently in need of both.
But now WBZ has decided he is a luxury it can no longer afford.
Dyett was still in the Air Force, stationed in Texas, when he discovered his signature line.
“I was promoting concerts,” he once recalled. “Duke Ellington invited me to take a trip with his band on its bus. I noticed at the end of every concert, just before he walked off stage, he would turn to the crowd and say, ‘I love you! I love you madly.’
“It touched me so much that I ended every one of my own shows with it.”
He ought to be ending one with it again tonight.
Shame on WBZ, not just for what it’s done to him, but for what it’s done to all of us who loved him madly, too.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1144315
LETTER TO SUPPORTERS
Good Morning,
I am praying and fighting for my friend and mentor.
Can you sign on to this letter today?
Can you get me some other folk in the city and across the nation who will say yes to having their names listed on this letter.
This will be sent to WBZ today.
Please do not feel pressured to get involved and allow me to list your name. I believe that a couple thousand will support this effort. I will get you on the next crusade.
Blessings and have a great day.
Thanks
THIS LETTER WILL BE SENT TO PETER CASEY.
Peter Casey, Program Manager
WBZ News Radio 1030
1170 Soldiers Field Road
Boston, MA 02134
Dear Mr. Casey:
Many of us in the City, New England and across the nation were shocked to learn that Lovell Dyett was taken off the air. We recognize that you manage the station and you carry out the decisions of your corporate executives. However, the decision to terminate Lovell Dyett was not wise or a prudent business decision.
Lovell has been a WBZ loyalist for years and he has been good for the station. As you may know, Lovell has some health challenges. We were hoping you were going to afford Lovell the same courtesy, dignity and respect that you offered David Brudnoy and Paul Sullivan.
We were disappointed that you let him go when the station could have continued to keep him as a valued broadcasts and given Lovell the right to leave the station when and if you both agreed that it was right time.
Your station needs Lovell and Lovell needs WBZ. The City of Boston, New England and nation need him on the air. We are asking that you reinstate him and that the Lovell Dyett Program continue on WBZ Radio.
Would you please consider giving him what he deserves? He deserves your professional respect of his 38-years of loyalty and commitment to your station and his thousands of listeners throughout the country.
We will schedule a meeting with you for this week.
Sincerely,
Pastor Bruce Wall
Global Ministries Christian Church
COMPUTER FAX & E-MAIL NEWS SERVICE™
“News From Boston”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: DATE 1/11/2009 7:43 PM
CONTACT:
Pastor Bruce H. Wall
Senior Pastor,
Global Ministries Christian Church &
Radio and Television Broadcaster
617-283-9561
LOVELL DYETT'S TERMINATION ANGERS BOSTON RESIDENTS
Boston, MA. Lovell Dyett, after 38 years with WBZ Radio, was, along with a few other broadcasters from WBZ radio, let go last week.
A VOICE OF REASON
Lovell Dyett has been the "voice of reason and hope" for Boston during the turbulent times in our City and nation.
HE CALMED RESIDENTS
During the busing days in Boston his radio and television broadcast helped to calm residents in both the Black and White neighborhoods of Boston. He has served in the past as an advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. , Coretta Scott King and a few presidents.
WE NEED LOVELL DYETT ON THE AIR
He does not deserve to be "let go" even if it was a corporate decision. Boston and New England needs a Lovell Dyett to speak to the needs and concerns of our City and nation during these troubled times.
We will need Lovell Dyett and his ability to speak to many trouble people in Boston who are looking for a venue to vent their concerns or anger about the issues of the day.
A CALM MEDIA PERSONALITY
The Black and White communities in Boston needs a calm media personality to help to guide us through turbulent times in Boston. With people loosing their jobs, homes and crime on the rise in Boston we need Lovell Dyett to help people to make sense out of all that is going on in their lives.
PEOPLE ARE UPSET AND ANGRY
Many Bostonians have expresses anger and disappointment that Lovell Dyett was just let go.
Pastor Bruce Wall stated, "I, along with other leaders in the city, will speak with Peter Casey, Program Manager, WBZ AM Radio to negotiate his return to the airwaves."
He continues to say, "We cannot standby and do nothing while Lovell is pushed out of his broadcast chair."
Louise Carcione, former president of the Codman Square Neighborhood Council said, "I am outraged that WBZ would terminate Lovell's contract." She continued, "We all wait for his broadcast on Saturday. Now, what will we do without his leadership and guidance over the radio?"
WE WILL JAM THE LINES
Pastor Wall said, "We will jam the WBZ phone lines as a way of letting the station management know that their actions have hurt and disappointed many of us in Boston and across the county."
A number of city leaders, executive directors of agencies, and some elected officials will call WBZ and demand that the Lovell Dyett show be placed back on the air.
###
Computer Fax & E-Mail News Service™
"News From Boston"
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 1/12/2009 1:05 PM
CONTACT:
Pastor Bruce H. Wall
Senior Pastor,
Global Ministries Christian Church &
Radio and Television Broadcaster
617-283-9561
PASTOR TO SPEAK TO THE CITY ABOUT THE STATUS OF THE NEGOTIATIONS TO BRING LOVELL DYETT BACK TO THE AIRWAVES.
Boston, MA - Pastor Bruce Wall will speak to the City of Boston about WBZ NewsRadio 1030's "Letting Go" of Lovell Dyett on Monday night, January 12, 2009, 9:00 PM on GMCC Internet radio just before his live broadcast on WEZE radio 590 AM heard at 11:00 PM.
A MOVEMENT HAS STARTED
Thousands of listeners are calling and sending e-mails to WBZ's News Director/Program Director Peter Casey to protest the station's action. Pastor Wall will speak to why the silencing of Lovell Dyett's voice has ignited a movement in Boston.
Reporters are calling from all over Boston because they want to know why the "Letting Go" of one 73-year old broadcaster has created such an uproar among listeners in the City of Boston, throughout New England and now across the country.
Pastor Wall said, "This feels like the atmosphere that was created when Rosa Parks decided not to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama." Her refusal to surrender her seat to a white male passenger on a Montgomery, Alabama bus on December 1, 1955 triggered a wave of protest on December 5, 1955 that reverberated throughout the United States. Her quiet courageous act changed America, its view of black people, and redirected the course of history.
IGNITED A REACTION
The response to WBZ taking Lovell Dyett off the air has ignited a reaction in men and women across racial and ethnic lines to come together and cry foul. Boston and our country cannot lose Lovell Dyett. His voice and positive influence in this City cannot just be thrown away.
Senators, pastors, community activists, senior citizens, Boston and Cambridge City Councilors, doctors, engineers, waiters and just about everyone from all walks of life have said that they are willing to march and pray for Lovell Dyett.
SEEKING A PERMIT
Pastor Wall is seeking a state and city permit to hold a prayer vigil in the front entrance of WBZ NEWS Radio and to "camp out" and sleep in front of the station to bring attention to this injustice done to a man who has given the station 37 years of service. WBZ gave Lovell the door and did not even let him say goodbye to the many colleagues who love and respect him.
The decision is now with the management of WBZ News Radio and CBS.
HOW TO HEAR THE BROADCAST?
People can hear Pastor Wall on GMCC Internet Radio by going to our website: www.globalministriesboston.org
####
Dyett to meet with 'BZ
Supporters of laid-off WBZ-AM host Lovell Dyett are still pushing for his reinstatement, and they may have a glimmer of hope. Dyett is meeting with station management today to discuss returning to the airwaves, a source close to the negotiations said. Dyett could not be reached for comment, and the station's general manager, Ted Jordan, said he can't comment on the matter. Since Dyett was let go in early January - along with talk hosts Steve LeVeille and Pat Desmarais, and sports reporter Tom Cuddy - upset listeners have petitioned WBZ, attempted to jam phone lines with complaints, and threatened to boycott advertisers and picket the station. Fans of LeVeille have launched similar efforts, through websites such as www.bringbacksteve.com. Jordan refused to address the backlash, but admitted, "We've laid off a lot more than that in the past year." Between his two stations, WBZ and WODS-FM, there have been 20 people let go, he said. "Our biggest advertisers have been autos, banks, airlines. . . . It's been a very difficult year." As to whether more cuts are coming, Jordan said, "Gosh, I hope not. I can't imagine there would be more."
February 5, 2009 — vol. 44, no 25
Hub radio host to return, but airtime cut angers fans
For 37 years, Lovell Dyett, shown here in this 1977 file photo, has been one of Boston’s premiere black broadcasters, hosting well-regarded talk shows on both television and radio. After being let go by employer WBZ-AM in a round of budget cuts last month, a rush of support from loyal listeners has brought Dyett back on the air — but on Sunday morning, instead of his long-held Saturday night slot, and for only a half-hour instead of three hours. (Banner file photo)
Frederick Ellis Dashiell Jr.
Weeks after a budget crunch led to his dismissal, one of Boston’s longest-tenured black media voices is coming back to local airwaves, but the supporters who pushed for his homecoming are not pleased with the terms of his return.
Local radio station 1030 WBZ-AM announced last Tuesday that they are bringing back talk show host Lovell Dyett, a decision spurred in part by a slew of calls, e-mails and letters the station received from upset listeners complaining about the host’s ousting in a recent round of budget cuts. Another host who lost his show, Steve LeVeille, who is white, was also brought back.
“It was the right thing to do for the station and New England,” WBZ-AM news and program director Peter Casey told the Boston Herald.
But some of those who called for the hosts’ return are not so sure “the right thing” was done the right way.
LeVeille, 53, has been returned to his old time slot, Mondays at midnight. The 73-year-old Dyett, however — a 37-year WBZ veteran — won’t go back to his familiar stomping grounds of Saturday nights from 9 p.m. to midnight, now occupied by paid programming. Instead, he will host a pre-recorded, half-hour public affairs program, scheduled to run at 4:30 a.m.
After news broke that Dyett’s time slot had shifted and shrunk, the longtime host made terse comments to the Herald: “Steve LeVeille got full restoration. Lovell Dyett did not … It needs to be determined if that’s the proper thing that the station should be doing with me.”
Neither Dyett nor Casey responded to repeated calls from the Banner requesting comment.
The diminished return certainly hasn’t escaped the notice of the Rev. Bruce Wall, the outspoken pastor of Global Ministries Christian Church in Dorchester and one of Dyett’s staunchest supporters.
In a letter dated Feb. 2, 2009, and sent to Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Corp. — the parent company of local radio affiliate WBZ — Wall accused news and program director Casey of creating “ill will” by fully restoring LeVeille’s airtime but refusing to do the same for Dyett.
“Mr. Dyett’s listening base finds this solution not only not satisfactory, but insulting, and more important it is discriminatory,” Wall wrote. “I appeal to you, as the CEO of the corporation, to fully restore Lovell Dyett to his Saturday time slot. As I write this letter, a group of us in Boston are preparing to march on the WBZ News Station in Brighton … Your intervention is needed to right this wrong.”
Boston’s airwaves have seen their fair share of unique personalities over the years, strong characters that have pushed the public discussion with their own opinions and style. But Dyett is one of a relative few who, through years of work, have become city institutions.
In 37 years of broadcasting on Boston radio and television, Dyett has developed a following of loyal listeners who praise his ability to discuss issues fairly and evenly, a quality many listeners appreciated at a time when extreme opinion often dominates the debate.
A graduate of Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Fla., Dyett also holds graduate degrees from Harvard University and Boston University. His career as a Boston media staple started in 1968, when he moderated a series of shows for WNAC-TV (Channel 7) titled “Journey Out of Africa.” At the time, he had been hosting a weekly talk radio show on a smaller local radio station, WILD.
Later, at WBZ, he became an anchor for “Black News,” a weekly television program aimed at Boston’s urban communities. By 1974, Dyett had established himself as one of WBZ’s top television personalities, as well as a popular local radio host with two shows, “Soul Searching” and “The Lovell Dyett Show.”
Hub radio host to return, but airtime cut angers fans
According to statements by Dyett, he came across his signature line while promoting concerts and serving in the Air Force.
“I was promoting concerts, and Duke Ellington invited me to take a trip with his band on its bus,” Dyett said. “I noticed at the end of every concert, just before he walked off stage, he would turn to the crowd and say, ‘I love you! I love you madly.’
“It touched me so much that I ended every one of my own shows with it.”
For nearly 35 years, his Saturday night show has been a WBZ mainstay, a place where host and listeners alike could discuss issues ranging from the local to the national.
In December, however, Dyett was informed that he would no longer have a radio program and was, in fact, no longer employed by WBZ.
Dr. J. Jacques Carter, M.P.H., an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a friend of Dyett since the 1980s, said he spoke to Dyett the day he was terminated. According to Carter, the firing surprised the longtime host.
“Lovell did not receive the proper amount of prep time concerning his termination … There are better ways to retire someone from a radio show,” Carter said.
On that point, Pastor Wall agreed, calling the decision to terminate Dyett “mean-spirited” and “not good business.”
“Lovell is an institution in Boston; he is able to transcend race and culture and speak to everyone,” Wall said.
The pastor even went as far as to liken Dyett’s termination to Rosa Parks’ 1955 arrest for refusing to give up her seat at the front of the Cleveland Avenue bus in Montgomery, Ala. Wall said Dyett’s firing had sparked similar outrage, and subsequent unity, in Boston’s communities.
Others with whom Dyett has worked over the years echoed their surprise at the way the situation has unfolded.
“I thought [Lovell] was a guy who would be [on air] forever,” said James Henry, an aide to state Sen. Anthony Galluccio.
Henry met Dyett in the 1990s when they worked together on a documentary about some of the issues facing minorities in Cambridge. He said he was shocked when he first heard news of Dyett’s firing.
“I’m amazed at the disloyalty they could show him,” Henry said.
Along the same lines, black community activist Sadiki Kambon said he thinks Dyett has been underappreciated and overlooked at WBZ.
“Lovell looks to uplift society, not just build his resume,” said Kambon, director of the Black Community Information Center, who said he has known Dyett for more than 30 years. “… I don’t think WBZ knows what they have in Lovell Dyett.”
For his part, WBZ’s Casey told the Banner that the decision to terminate Dyett was made necessary by the changing economic landscape, saying that the station is not immune to the financial pressures being felt by many media outlets. However, he was quick to note that he agrees with Dyett’s supporters’ characterization of the host’s place in the Boston broadcasting landscape.
“Boston has a great local presence,” Casey said in an interview prior to the host’s reinstatement. “Lovell is a great piece of that.
