Howie’s Back at WRKO

The battle is over. Howie Carr officially returns to the airwaves on Friday, where he’ll resume his post as host of WRKO’s afternoon drive-time show. If you’ve missed him, or even if you haven’t, we suggest tuning your dial to 680 AM at 3 p.m. tomorrow.

It figures to be quite a show.

“We are thrilled that Howie is back on WRKO,” said Entercom New England Vice President and Market Manager Julie Kahn in a press release. “Howie is a one-of-a-kind talent, and I’m sure all of Howie’s listeners are looking forward to hearing him on our air again.”

So WRKO is thrilled, but we doubt Carr is. After a protracted legal fight, Carr was denied the right to jump to rival talk station WTKK 96.9 FM. Instead, the poor bastard will have to settle for the $7 million that RKO is scheduled to pay him over the next five years.

Sucks, dude. We feel for you.

Here’s the statement WTKK just released:

We are disappointed that Howie Carr will not be able to join WTKK at this time, but we fully support him in his decision to return to work at WRKO. While we strongly disagree with Judge Van Gestel’s decisions, which forced Howie to choose between working for WRKO or being unemployed for five years, we have always said that we would abide by the ruling of the court. To pursue what would likely have been a very long appeal with an uncertain outcome would have been counter-productive for Howie and his loyal listeners. Howie also has his family to think about; anyone in his position would make the same decision. It is time to move forward. We wish him all the best.