Breaking: Hoover Gazette Reporter Fired On Air with Paul Finebaum
UPDATE #4: Kyle at Mixed Media links to this post with his story.
UPDATE #3: Paul Finebaum, joking about Propst’s alleged affair: “The name of the Two-a-Day show — I wonder where that came from?”
UPDATE #2: Capstone Report has a post on the firing that says Ford was investigating Hoover High coach Rush Propst’s alleged affair, which Ford described as “an open secret in certain circles for years”.
UPDATE: I’ve confirmed this by listening to the Finebaum show, not my usual radio fare. The consensus between Finebaum and those calling in right now is that Hunter Ford, while following the story, contacted someone very prominent in Hoover today and made that person angry. Anyone want to speculate as to who that might be?
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Dear Husband just came in from work and told me that Hunter Ford, a reporter for the local Hoover Gazette, was fired on the air during today’s Paul Finebaum show. General Manager John Junkin apparently called in while Ford was discussing accusations that Hoover High School’s football coach got grades changed for some of his players. I’ll post a link when I find one.
June 22nd, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Oooh. Wow. That’s pretty jaw-dropping. (And that’s twice today for me!)
You do mean, this is a call-in show? And so it was like, “…and here’s our next caller…yes sir, you’re on the air,” and Junkin says, “Hello Paul, I’m the general manager of the Hoover Gazette. Hunter Ford, you are terminated effective immediately”? This is like something out of a movie. All against a background of high-school football.
June 22nd, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Apparently so. I’m listening to the show now to see what I can find out.
June 22nd, 2007 at 7:02 pm
[...] develops. Hat-tip to Kathy for the heads-up. You can read more about today’s dustup on her blog Birmingham Blues and also at the [...]
June 22nd, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Hunter Ford also writes for The Western Star, the paper that reports untruths in their opinion columns, and almost no news. He will probably keep his job there, since they do not care about the truth. Hunter has made unsubstantiated ….well I better stop there. But bye Hunter, hope you lose your other job.
June 22nd, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Interesting! There were quite a few callers who thought he used, shall we say, poor judgment in mentioning a rumor that’s been around for quite some time but apparently not substantiated.
June 25th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
Hoover schools have a long history of requiring their principals to make sure thier teachers do not post low grades. The principals have chosen to not retain their teachers if they do not co-operate.
June 25th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
Larry, that’s just sad. Not fair to the kids or the teachers.
June 25th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
It sounds fair to stoopid kids
September 20th, 2007 at 8:04 am
Kathy, I need to talk with you. The Junkin machine came after me after my appearance on 60 Minutes with Ed Bradley regarding the murder of three policemen in Fayette.
If the Hoover High scandal is the tip of the iceberg, I may have what is below the water line.
Jack Thompson, attorney, 305-666-4366, amendmentmentone@comcast.net