Update: The Padres called the claims discussed here by radio host Scott Kaplan “baseless and false.” Here’s their statement:
“The claims made by Scott Kaplan were baseless and false. Station management of 97.3 The Fan is solely responsible for their programming decisions, and the Padres provided no feedback on this lineup change.”
Our original post continues below.
John Kentera, a well-known sports radio host in San Diego, was let go from his job at 97.3 The Fan.
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, management wanted to change the direction of his time slot. After Kentera made this information public last Thursday, the station canceled his final show scheduled for last Friday.
Kentera tweeted that management informed him that he would not be able to do his last show.
I have been notified by station management that I will not be on the air today to do my final show. Thanks for all your support. Happy Holidays to you and your family.
— John Kentera (@CoachKentera44) December 22, 2023
Kentera wasn’t removed because of poor ratings. According to Barrett Sports Media, Kentera’s program was the highest-rated show in its timeslot in the market. 97.3 The Fan is the flagship station for the San Diego Padres, and the station’s X account was promoting what ended up being his final show on Thursday as though nothing was out of the ordinary.
But now we perhaps have a clearer picture of why Kentera was let go. Scott Kaplan of the Kaplan and Crew show on competitor The Mightier 1090 and YouTube believes there was an ulterior motive to Kentera’s firing, though he did hedge it on the fact that he has no inside information of any kind and doesn’t know anyone who works at the radio station.
“Here’s my thought: I’ll bet you that Coach Kentera was so tied in with (former Padres manager) Bob Melvin… I’ll bet you that coach was so dialed in with Bob Melvin, and I’ll bet you that the coach was so blunt with his criticism of the Padres — and I saw people accusing him of being a racist on Twitter because he’s not into the Caribbean style of play and bat flipping and whatever,” said Kaplan on his YouTube show Friday. “He’s an old white guy. What do you expect them to do? Love that? He’s an old-school kind of coach.”
“So, here’s my point…My guess is there is no program director at this radio station that makes that decision; too big of a decision. And I would bet you that the corporate company in New York is like, ‘We don’t care. We don’t care. This guy barely makes any money. We don’t care.’ I would bet you the Padres were like, ‘Hey, he was tied in with Melvin. He was very, very critical of our organization. And guess what? We want, we need, people who are cheerleaders. We need people to support our product.'”
Kaplan suggests that Padres management played a part in Kentera’s firing, due to critical comments and lack of alignment with their desired team culture, implying business interests and image concerns outweighed potential racism accusations. At the same time, he avoided speculation about Kentera’s motivations and intentions while also focusing on the external factors potentially influencing the decision, such as the Padres.
Kentera didn’t have a contract with the Audacy-owned station and theoretically could’ve been let go at any point. And he wasn’t the cheerleader for the organization that the two hosts, who will take over his lot, will be. Kaplan said that’s likely what the Padres wanted; at the end of the day, it’s their radio station.
“I understand it, and it sucks,” he said. “And to do it a couple of days before Christmas and to not have taken care of this guy while he was employed there. To not have given him a contract, to not have had ratings bonuses, to not have made a penny, not $1 from the success that his show enjoyed and the station enjoyed; it’s just sad. It’s just too bad.”
Update: A source familiar with 97.3’s inner workings disputed Kaplan’s claims, telling AA the decision was not about any influence from the Padres, but rather the station wanting to modernize its lineup. The source said this was about Kentera’s show and its call-in format in particular no longer fitting there, and was the station’s decision alone.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.