UMass officials are fuming over Boston Globe columnist Scot Lehigh’s contention that university president Bill Bulger may have put the kibosh on a deal to bring talk-show host Christopher Lydon to the Boston campus’s radio station, WUMB (91.9 FM). Though Lehigh’s October 12 column doesn’t quite connect the dots, he does trace the long history of animosity between Lydon, a veteran journalist, and Bulger, the former president of the Massachusetts Senate. " WUMB? I’d call it simply WMB: William Michael Bulger dominating your dial, " Lehigh wrote. " Meanwhile, one of the best talk radio hosts in the country remains in search of a perch. "

In fact, say UMass officials, Lydon had been talking off and on about coming to WUMB since last November, several months before his highly publicized departure from Boston University’s public-radio powerhouse, WBUR (90.9 FM), where he had hosted The Connection. And though Bulger spokesman Bob Connolly concedes that his boss had been " dimly aware " of those talks, he and other university officials insist Bulger had nothing to do with ’UMB’s decision not to bring Lydon on board. " It was nothing that Bulger even knew about in its latest incarnation until Scot called last Wednesday [October 10], " says Connolly.

WUMB general manager Pat Monteith says that she and Lydon spoke on a number of occasions, but that those talks became more serious last winter, after Lydon and his senior producer, Mary McGrath, were effectively fired by WBUR in the midst of an ugly contract dispute. Ultimately, though, Monteith says she decided against it. For one thing, Lydon’s show would have cost $500,000 to $1 million a year to produce — a huge undertaking, given that the station’s entire budget is only about $1.3 million — and it wasn’t at all clear that Lydon would be able to cover all those costs through sponsorships and underwriting. For another, she says that when listeners were invited to e-mail their comments, the overwhelming sentiment was not to break with the station’s format of round-the-clock folk music. As for Lehigh’s suggestion that Bulger may have been an obstacle to hiring Lydon, Monteith says, " I was flabbergasted, to put it mildly. I don’t even know where that came from. "

After Monteith and Lydon parted company, Lydon, McGrath, and several members of the former Connection crew met with the new UMass chancellor, Jo Ann Gora. Gora referred the Phoenix’s request for comment to university spokeswoman Annemarie Lewis, who says Gora agreed to the breakfast meeting simply as a courtesy. " She was being nice. She obliged him and heard him out, " Lewis says, adding that, afterwards, Gora told Monteith the final decision was hers.

Says Lehigh: " I’m comfortable with the factual assertions and the interpretations that I build on them in the column. " He declined to comment when asked for specifics.

For Lydon, the breakdown with WUMB represents the latest setback in what has proved to be a quixotic campaign to return to the airwaves. A possible deal with National Public Radio fell through, and though he recently did a two-week stint filling in on commercial station WTKK (96.9 FM), that seems unlikely to lead to more regular work.

Asked about the possible intervention of Bulger, Lydon replies, " I have no idea. " But he’s adamant that finances should not have been an obstacle. A message he recently posted on his Web site, ChristopherLydon.org, concedes that " we find ourselves up against not just war and recession but the coldest climate in 40 years for advertising and media sponsorship. " Yet he told the Phoenix he’s confident he could have reached an arrangement that would not have cost WUMB any money. " The economy has changed in fundamental ways, but it could be done, " he says. As for Monteith’s concerns about the station’s format, Lydon says — " with no disrespect to folk music " — that he was proposing a show that would have " put that station and that university into the general conversation, where some people think it belongs. " He adds, " It’s their station. It was really up to Pat. I have a high regard for Pat. "

At the moment, at least, Lydon appears to be running out of options. His old slot at The Connection has been taken by Canadian journalist Dick Gordon, and if Gordon lacks Lydon’s quirky, cerebral appeal, he’s nevertheless doing a solid job handling the biggest story of our lifetime. Lydon (with an assist from McGrath) is currently hosting an online forum on the war on terrorism — or " post-Apocalyptic America, " as Lydon calls it — at Transom.org, a site founded by public-radio impresario Jay Allison. " Jay is an enthusiast and an awfully good guy, and he’s a link to the kind of people we’re cultivating, " says Lydon.

Whether that will lead Lydon back to radio, where he belongs, is another story.

Issue Date: October 18 - 25, 2001