If you listen to news/talk radio station WNTP/990 AM ‚Äî what are we saying, of course you don’t ‚Äî you may have heard an interesting thing during the commercial breaks recently. Sprinkled into WNTP’s heady mix of live remotes from Geno’s and promo spots for the upcoming Kenny G slot at Bethlehem’s Musikfest, you’ll hear an ad soliciting local businesses to pull out of, or boycott altogether, Philadelphia Weekly. Now, it should come as no shock that the station ‚Äî kind of like The Big Talker’s Lil’ Bro ‚Äî would be a choice forum for those who have a problem with PW’s decidedly left-leaning musings (and oh, what musings they are), but scratch the surface of of this thing, and you’ll find a whole grab bag of crazy.

The whole fugly tale, after the jump. It’s long, but like Schindler’s List, it’s worth it.

Philebrity has confirmed that the spots were purchased by NoLibs resident/Air Force fighter pilot/real estate agent Kevin Kelly. We tracked down Kelly by phone to find out more about his boycott, and how it was going. “I’m appalled at what I’m seeing in the publication,” said Kelly, who was quick to add that he wasn’t speaking as a representative of any of the various organizations he’s involved with, and rather, was doing this as a concerned individual. “They’re doing hit pieces on people, riddled with profanity. And with the constant drumbeat of antimiliatry accusations [in PW], I think people need to be aware of what they’re advertising in.”
Though he’s reluctant to say so, what really did it for Kelly was the July 12 cover story/rant thing on Michael Smerconish, penned by the, um, always entertaining Steven Wells. The piece, which chronicled Wells’ week-long immersion in the blowhard radio host’s media milieu, was a fanciful affair, complete with (surprise, surprise), Wells waxing poetic on how great punk rock was… in 1977. Shocking. By Kelly’s watch, Wells’ rant seemed like it was “written by a guy who seemed like he was on PCP at 3 in the morning.” We cannot say we entirely disagree.
Anyway, the piece seems to have really gotten Kelly’s goat. “The paper has slowly turned into leftist rant,” said Kelly when asked why he’d pull the trigger on a paper that has been left-leaning from the start. “There’s no wisdom to be had in that publication. And now they start accusing our soldiers of torturing civiliians in Iraq? I was over in Iraq. I just got back; it’s not happening.”
Okay, okay. But what does any of this have to do with Smerconish? When pressed, Kelly said that he was not a henchmen for Le Smerc, but merely a kind of Superfan, who’s met the pundit on a few occasions, although they are not close. “I don’t know if he’d recognize me,” says Kelly, “but I do know him as a good and decent guy.”
So how’s the boycott going? “I have heard from some people at companies that have said, ‘We’re taking a hard look at this,’” says Kelly, although he was uncomfortable saying exactly who that might be. Meanwhile, Kelly’s employer, Coldwell Banker Preferred, remains a robust regular advertiser in the Weekly. So there’s that.
Analysis? We thought you’d never ask! This is not exactly a meeting of the Philly Chapter of Mensa, and admittedly, our sympathies are split. On one hand, you have Wells, whose PW rants increasingly show more spittle in the corners of his mouth than they do any kind of piercing wit or willingness to get to the truth of anything. Meanwhile, as far as this Kelly guy goes, you have to wonder why a) he wouldn’t bother to see if his own place of business would pull out and b) advertise his boycott on the station that Smerconish is actually on. In the end, as usual, we side with neither. Let the freakiest freak freak out. We remain at ringside. May the best man win.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 31st, 2006 at 12:45 pm.