Today's podcast is in two parts. In the first half hour, you'll hear Brent Axe's journey from 89.1 The Pulse summer staffer to the premiere voice in Syracuse sports coverage. After we recorded that chat, Brent was fired from his position at Galaxy Media, which is part-owned by Jim Boeheim, ostensibly for being "too negative" in his coverage of Syracuse University sports. Galaxy Media's owner, Ed Levine, spoke of the decision in this interview on Syracuse.com
https://www.syracuse.com/orangesports/2023/03/radio-station-fires-brent-axe-for-negative-syracuse-sports-talk.html
In the second half today's pod, Brent will give you his side of the story, including Ed firing him via phone the day after Boeheim's expanded role at Galaxy was announced. The story was covered by national sports media outlets. We asked Brent how this could have played out differently? What if Ed and Jim had asked him to "take it down a notch?" What if Brent and Ed had mutually agreed to part ways?
This is the first place that Brent Axe has spoken at length about what happened in March. But he ties it back around to WJPZ - mentioning how supportive the WJPZ family has been over the last several months. And in the spirit of "The World's Greatest Media Classroom," Brent talks about the lessons learned here for other broadcasters. Sure, we all have to "hold our nose" and support corporate initiatives, but where do you draw the line and not compromise your integrity? When do you have to be willing to walk away? Brent also talks about being an adjunct professor at Newhouse, and stressing to his students that there is indeed a "business" side to "the business."
Brent will be releasing his own podcast in the coming months, and we'll be sure to keep you updated on that.
This week, Brent created a substack. And in his first post, he gets very raw about being fired from radio. Highly relatable to many of us. https://brentaxe.substack.com/p/what-they-dont-tell-you-about-getting
The WJPZ at 50 Podcast Series is produced by Jon Gay, Class of 2002, and his podcast production agency, JAG in Detroit Podcasts.
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