Insiders saw this first.
This story was broken in Maine Politics Insider, the BDN’s daily premium newsletter for the most ardent political news followers. If you are a new BDN subscriber, you can sign up here. Current subscribers can contact our customer service team to upgrade.
The morning talk radio show mostly went on Tuesday like nothing had happened before an executive at WVOM’s parent company came on after 7 a.m. to make a statement.
A day after news broke of Bangor broadcasting legend George Hale’s firing from the WVOM news talk radio show that he has hosted since 2004 with longtime radio DJ Ric Tyler, Blueberry Broadcasting Vice President Bruce Biette said it was time to “evolve the station.”
“Simply put, George has had a magnificent media career,” Biette said. “He’s the reason a lot of us chose to get into this business, and we here at Blueberry Broadcasting appreciate everything he’s done for VOM.”
Hale was on vacation in Florida when he got a call from Biette informing him that he was fired, he told WABI. The longtime voice of University of Maine sports and a member of the state’s broadcasting and sports halls of fame turned 94 this year and has been on the media scene for more than 70 years, a rare length for a career here or anywhere else.
That makes talk radio a relatively small part of his legacy. On his show, Hale formed the more liberal side of the partnership with the conservative Tyler. Their show was often one of the only places to hear former Gov. Paul LePage after he largely retreated from the media while in office.
WVOM is an influential station because it is one of only three in the state that runs a locally produced news talk show and the only one based in the Bangor area. WGAN and WLOB, with shows hosted by conservatives Matt Gagnon and Ray Richardson, respectively, are based in the Portland area.
These are conservative venues across the board, mixing these voices with hosts including Howie Carr and Glenn Beck. WGAN fired Gagnon’s more-liberal host Ken Altshuler in 2020 to go to a one-host format.
That isn’t the move in WVOM’s case, with Hale fill-in Paul Wolf getting a permanent role on the show alongside Tyler. Biette confirmed that Hale had been offered a tribute show, something that the former host told WABI that he wasn’t sure if he wanted at this point. The move was being criticized among Hale’s fan base in the Bangor business and media communities.
“It’s an absolute understatement to say you deserved the farewell tour,” former Bangor City Councilor Cary Weston wrote in a Facebook post.