From Thomas_A:
Reply from Paul_C (who's obviously Paul Chapman, who was at WJR from 1983 to 1998)I don't care what time of day Paul W. Smith is on. I will not listen to him. He was promoted as J.P. McCarthy v.2 and he never came close. PWS has an ego problem. He injects too much of himself into his broadcast. He is a name dropper. He, and other WJR hosts, try disguising stories and reports as news, but these pieces are nothing more than extended commercials. A good example is the "green energy" promotion effort. Plenty of interviews with DTE and Consumers promoting their green projects. Nothing ever, ever, ever from objective experts who know how fragile the grid really is. EVs are another example. WJR once was the leader by far. Today it is a mediocre shell of its former self.
Well, having worked there myself on air for 15 years in the sports department, JP would often become a corporate shill. He'd just disguise it much better than Paul W. And I agree, Paul W. has an ego problem and always did. When JP died, the station began to make major changes, including sweeping out a lot of us oldtimers because they felt the station's average age demographic needed to go down from 65+ to the upper 40's and low 50's. I was told when I was dropped that at age 52, that they felt I should retire. I was also told they were shocked, shocked I tell you, to find out I'd never gone to college. Well, there were lots of us who were in radio at the time and at 'JR, who had very little if any college education. Many, like me, were broadcast school grads. I put in 17 years in radio before getting to 'JR, in mid sized and small sized markets. I won myself and the WJR many awards. But in 15 years, no one ever discovered I had never gone to college, just broadcast school? Really??
