WEEI is now searching for a new drive-time host after Michael Holley announced Wednesday afternoon that he is leaving the station. Holley is expected to expand his TV role on NBC Sports Boston after the departure of one of their hosts, Kayce Smith. Smith joined Barstool Sports this week.
“After 13 years with WEEI, Michael Holley has chosen not to renew his agreement with the station,” a press release from WEEI said Wednesday. “He was offered a multi-year extension at WEEI, but has opted to instead expand his role on NBC Sports Boston beginning next week. Michael has been a staple at WEEI over the last decade plus, and while we are saddened by his decision, we wish him nothing but the best as he continues his career in television. A search to replace Michael as co-host of the Dale & Holley Show with Rich Keefe will commence immediately.”
Holley was highly successful in the mid-day slot for WEEI alongside Dale Arnold during the mid-to-late 2000s before being grouped with Glen Ordway in a revamped “Big Show,” which was routinely beaten in the ratings by 98.5’s “Felger and Mazz.” Ordway was replaced by Mike Salk, and WEEI then suffered some of the worst ratings in its history.
“Those were some tough years for the station and for this show,” Holley said during his final show Wednesday afternoon. “This is when I knew fans here [in Boston] were just different and just great. They would come up to me and be brutally honest. They’d say, ‘I just love listening to you and Dale. I want the best for you, but seriously – I can’t listen to the new show you have with Salk.’”
WEEI has rebounded in the ratings tremendously in recent years as they re-paired Holley and Arnold, and brought back Ordway in the mid-day. WEEI’s morning show, “Kirk and Callahan,” consistently puts up some of the top radio ratings in the country – let alone Boston – and has lifted the station to the point where it is routinely toppling 98.5 in the ratings.
