Nation's first openly gay news anchor fired from Boston station

[Bluebear]

Well, this will dumb down this station even more. They are a real "infotainment" news outfit, and the cerebral Price complained that he had to break into election day coverage to report on britney Spears...oh well, thanks for the years of news, Randy!

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http://www.edgeboston.com/display/viewimage_story.php?id=87044


Veteran television news anchor Randy Price has been let go from WHDH-TV (Channel 7)in Boston. Price ended his 12-year tenure at the station with the February 4 newscast.

Price, 59, was the first openly gay news anchor in the country and has been an advocate for animal rights and gay issues. Price has headlined local events such as the annual Men’s Event fund-raiser for Fenway Community Health Center.

Price told EDGE his departure from WHDH was essentially a business decision. The way the announcement was handled by the station’s management is a sore spot for Price.

"It angered me to see them come out and make this whole charade about ’I came in and wanted to retire’. Well, I’m not retirement age so that’s not only disingenuous but fraudulant. I think in light of who I worked for, most people see it for what it is," Price said.

http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=&sc2=news&sc3=&id=87044

[donco6]

1. Woof.

I'd be extra sorry not to see him on TV every day. :(

(I know, shallow, but WTH. He sounds like a good guy.)

[BlooInBloo]

2. How many of those 12 years was he out for?

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

4. all of them, I think

isn't he the one who came out and married his partner in 98 or so?

[BlooInBloo]

5. No idea - first I've heard of the bloke.

[hughee99]

6. He got married in '07, but I think he's been out the whole time.

They probably decided to get a younger, cheaper newscaster. He was on WBZ (Boston) for 12 years before he went to WHDH (with I think a couple of years off in between). I like Randy, I'm sorry to see him go.

[stillcool]

3. I watch that news station ..

all the time..it's my favorite for local news, and I like the weather guy. I'm not seeing why he got fired.

[Kat45]

7. I heard them say he wanted to retire and I knew it was bullshit.

He's nowhere near retirement age and I'd say he's the best anchor they have. I guess he's been out for a long time because I've known he was gay for quite a long time now, but nobody ever made a big deal out of it. I figured that his exit was the stations doing but I don't know what their reason is. I'm guessing it might be because he's one of the oldest at the station, who has been there for a long time. He probably has a higher salary and they prefer hiring more young'uns who they can pay a lot less to.

I have to laugh at the comment that it will dumb down the station even more, because I'd say that out of the network affiliates here, this station is already the dumbest. They've been dumbing themselves down for a long, long time. They call themselves "the news station" and they tend toward the more personal stories, more tabloid-like stories. They also constantly break into programming with things that can certainly wait until the evening news. If there's an accident or a fire, there they are, then they break in again 5 minutes later to tell you again. And on their newscast, they tend to call anything that happened that day--even early enough to be shown on an earlier newscast--"breaking news."

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

8. "Too much money, too old"

They churn young talking head newsreaders out at BU and Emerson who'll work for peanuts. It's a rough trade.

[Berry Cool]

9. Let me be the first to say it:

Stay classy, Boston! :puke: