"Reporters used to be blue-collar; at the Globe now, it's practically required that you have a trust fund." -- Howie Carr
Howard Louis "Howie" Carr, Jr. (born January 17, 1952) is an American journalist, author, and conservative radio talk-show host based in Boston with a listening audience rooted in New England.
"About 25 years ago, I started out as a reporter covering politics. And that sort of just evolved into organized crime, because organized crime and politics were the same thing in Boston.""I think among the retired FBI agents there are some who would not like to see him come back, but I think the people running the FBI now are interested in catching him.""You look at the descriptions of Whitey by law enforcement during his early years, and they sum him up pretty well. He was the same guy 40 years later; he just had $40 million more, and had committed 40 more murders."
Howie Carr has presented a weekday radio talk-show on Boston's WRKO since 1994. The show, titled The Howie Carr Show, can be heard throughout northern and central New England but is available to a worldwide audience via live streaming on Carr's official website.
The day after President Clinton's testimony in the Supreme Court Case Clinton v. Jones, C-SPAN broadcast Carr's radio program in its entirety without commercial interruption.
On July 8, 2007, it was reported that Carr had reached an agreement to move his show to Boston's WTKK, starting on October 1 2007. Greater Media, owner of WTKK, was saidto have signed him for a five-year deal, though Entercom denies this had happened. Carr files suit against WRKO for trying to stop new deal with rival - BostonHerald.com Carr would move to morning drive-time radio, airing from 5:30 to 9 a.m. But legal decisions preventedCarr from making the jump and on November 15, 2007, Entercom announced that Carr would returnto their airwaves on Friday November 16, in his current 3 to 7 pm time slot. BostonHerald.com - Blogs: Messenger Blog» Blog Archive » It’s official: Howie Carr back to WRKO Carr's current contract expires in 2012.
WRKO suspended Carr for a week beginning April 16, 2010 for repeated on-air criticism of station management.[1]
Journalism
Carr is a columnist for the Boston Herald, but in early 2006, Carr also became a book author with the publication of his New York Times-rated best-selling book, The Brothers Bulger, about Billy Bulger and James "Whitey" Bulger. Carr's second book, also involving the Bulgers, titled Hitman, will be released in April 2011. A third book, a novel, is expected to be released thereafter.
As well as being heard on WRKO (AM 680), he is syndicated throughout New England and streamed on-line through his Web site. He has interviewed numerous politicians, authors, and celebrities. He has also worked as a reporter and commentator for Boston television stations WGBH and WLVI.
From 1980 to 1981, Carr was the Boston City Hall bureau chief of the Boston Herald American, and he later worked as the paper's State House bureau chief. As a political reporter for WNEV (now WHDH) in 1982, his coverage of then-mayor Kevin White was so relentless that after the mayor announced he wasn't running again, he told the Boston Globe that one of the things he enjoyed most about his impending retirement was not having Carr chase him around the city.
In 1985, Carr won the National Magazine Award, the magazine industry's equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize, for Essays and Criticism. In television, he has been nominated for an Emmy Award. Carr played a radio show host in the 1998 John Travolta film, A Civil Action.
For years Carr has had a feud with former Boston Globe and Herald guest columnist Mike Barnicle, calling him a "hack" and saying he (Carr) wanted to be the Herald's "nonfiction columnist" (Barnicle resigned from the Boston Globe over allegations of plagiarism and fabrication of stories.)
A Boston Globe column by Steve Bailey stated that Carr gave out Barnicle's home phone number, an allegation Carr denies. Barniclecalled Carr "a pathetic figure", and asked "Can you imagine being as consumed with envy and jealousy toward me for as long as it has consumed him?"
In 1998, Don Imus said that Mrs. Carr was having an affair with boxer Riddick Bowe. Mrs. Carr retained professor Alan Dershowitz as her lawyer. The parties reached an undisclosed settlement. In a 2007 column, Carr alleged that Imus' statements were incited by Barnicle. According to Carr, Barnicle told Imus that Carr had said Imus "would die before his kid got out of high school". Carr denies having said this.
In 2002, the Boston Herald and Carr were the subjects of a lawsuit by Superior Court Judge Ernest Murphy. The newspaper reported that Murphy had said of a fourteen-year-old rape victim: "She can't go through life as a victim. She's 14. She got raped. Tell her to get over it." He was also alleged to have said of a 79-year-old robbery victim: "I don't care if she's 109." Carr, in a front-page column on February 20, 2002, criticized Murphy as handing down lenient sentences in bail decisions in rape cases and included references to his daughters, wondering what Murphy would do if it was one of his offspring that had been the victim. Murphy denied all of the allegations and claimed the newspaper libeled him, ruining his physical and emotional health and damaging his career and reputation as a good man. Ultimately, Murphy won the suit, proving the libel, and was awarded a $2.09 million payment. During the trial, when asked what his reaction was to the Carr column, Murphy had said he "wanted to kill him".
Following the lawsuit, the Boston Herald reported Murphy's letter and a demand for $3.26 million (the court award, plus pre- and post-judgment interest) in its headlines because it was written on official court stationery. The libel case was based on his actions as a judge and therefore the Bar Association, when contacted by the media, stated that since it was his actions as a public official that were at the heart of the libel, it was appropriate for him to use the stationery. Judge Murphy's libel case
Carr was born at the Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary (now Holt Hall) at Bramhall and Congress Streets in Portland, Maine, to Frances Stokes Sutton and Howard Louis "Del" Carr, Sr. Carr was raised by an aunt in Portland. Howard Louis Carr, Sr. died on October 1, 2008 at the age of 103.[2]
He graduated from Deerfield Academy (where he was a classmate of Steven Brill, journalist and publisher, and Jeffrey Bewkes, CEO of Time Warner) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Carr has been married twice. His first marriage produced two daughters, named Suzanna and Frances. After his divorce, he met and married his second wife, Kathy. He lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with his wife and their three daughters, Carolyn, Charlotte, and Christina ("Tina"). Up until early 2006, Carr referred to his wife, Kathy, as Submit. Prior to a signing for his new book, The Brothers Bulger: How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century (ISBN 0-446-57651-4), at Wellesley Free Library on March 4, 2006, Carr explained that he came across the name on a headstone in the cemetery across from his house when he lived in Acton, Massachusetts, and thought that it would be a great name for a woman because it wasn't likely to become popular again anytime soon. In the early stages of their marriage, Mrs. Carr didn't want her first name to be public knowledge, hence her husband's moniker for her. For Christmas 2005, as a gift to his wife, Carr said he would stop referring to her as Submit.
In March 2007, Carr had a melanoma removed from his forehead.
In June 2009, Carr filled in for Dennis Miller on The Dennis Miller Show.
On July 10 2009, Carr underwent hip replacement surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. Although Carr was supposed to be off the air for several weeks, he was able to "call in" and begin the show as if he were in the studio, although he was actually still in bed at Mass General. During the opening monologue, Carr explained that he was self-medicating on a morphine drip.
In Massachusetts, a low-digit license plate was often seen as a status symbol. Politicians and those connected to them were the only people, seemingly, able to obtain these plates with four, three or sometimes even only two digits. The plates are often handed down from generation to generation, making it nearly impossible for someone that has no connections to get one. Carr, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles attends drawings for Massachusetts residents to "win" the plates. Carr was the "winner" of the plate #9823 in 2004.
Nicknames
Given to Carr
"Howard Lawrence Carr" - given to him by former producer Doug "VB" Goudie - Louis is his legal middle name as cited in the officially published obituary of his father Howard Louis Carr, Sr.[3]
"Baby-faced Assassin" - given to him in his younger years.
"Brittle Bastard" - attributed to his self-disclosed osteoporosis.
"Cap'n" - self-named after the time Carr once went out and interviewed "bums" to lampoon a Boston-area community's distribution of vouchers for the homeless. Carr would offer either money for alcohol or sizable food stamps to the homeless. The homeless men invariably chose the drink. To get the cash, Howie requested that they called him "Cap'n" before awarding the gift. It is used affectionately by the listeners and Carr.
"Fat Bastard" - used by listeners, often in jest, in reference to his waist size.
"Paper Boy" - given to him in honor of his job as a journalist.
"A Civil Howie" - in jest for his role in the film A Civil Action.
"The Last American Dishwasher" - self-named, in reference to South Americans taking the jobs that, allegedly, no American wants to do.
"The Clam Man" - in reference to his love of the seafood.
"Big Shoe"- refers to the big shoe he denies he wears since his hip replacement surgery.
"Emperor of Hate" - used of him by a liberal columnist. A clap of thunder follows when Carr uses it self-referentially on his radio show.
Nicknames frequently used by Howie Carr
"Mumbles": Mayor of Boston Thomas Menino received his nickname for his nearly incomprehensible speech, poor diction, and frequent mangling of the English language. The name is taken from the Dick Tracy cartoon character.
"Fat Boy": Senator Edward M. Kennedy received his nickname on the show due to his weight.[4]
"Chuckles": Charles Reardon, former sheriff of Essex County.[5]
"Patches": Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy, D-Rhode Island, son of Edward Kennedy; from the Clarence Carter song. A sarcastic jab at the Kennedy whom Carr considers least likely to improve the family's reputation.[6]
"Racehorse Kujawski": State Representative Paul Kujawski, D-Webster. Carr used the nickname in a Boston Herald column after Kujawski's August 2004 arrest for drunken driving and open and gross lewdness. According to police, he urinated on the side of U.S. Route 20 in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, in front of a state trooper.[7]
"Cadillac Deval" or "Coupe Deval"" Massachusetts Governor (D) Deval Patrick, for an expensive Cadillac he leased to replace a Crown Victoria soon after taking office as Governor.[8]
"The Perv in the Prius": Former Massachusetts State Senator (D) J. James Marzilli, Jr. [9], who was charged public lewdness after repeatedly approaching women strangers and making sexual explicit comments.
"Jail-uccio": Former Massachusetts State Senator Anthony D. Galluccio after repeated incidents of drunk driving. [10]
"Liveshot": U. S. Senator John Forbes Kerry (D) received his nickname, coined by Carr, for his propensity for seeking out a news camera.
"Pockets" Mavroules: Nicholas Mavroules, D-MA, liberal Congressman and nuclear-freeze proponent who later went to prison.
Marty "T as in Taliban" Meehan, liberal Massachusetts Congressman.
"The Corrupt Midget": William Bulger, the former president of the Massachusetts State Senate, University of Massachusetts and brother of notorious mobster James "Whitey" Bulger. The moniker was first used by Judge E. George Daher after Bulger attempted to defund the Commonwealth's Housing Court. Referring to then Governor Michael Dukakis, who was running for President, Daher demanded, "How's he going to stand up to the Russians when he can't stand up to the corrupt midget?"
"Good Time Flaherty": Charles Flaherty, (D- )former speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, who was forced from office after being convicted of a felony.
"Tommy Taxes" or "Felon Finnernan": Thomas Finnernan (D- ), former speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives who was forced from office after being convicted of a felony for perjury.
Tom "Unfortunately" Reilly, Thomas Reilly (D-) former Massachusetts Attorney General (D) and failed 2006 Democratic gubernatorial candidate who used the word "unfortunately" once-too-often in press conferences after losing a case.
"Jakes Rhymes with Fakes": Cheryl Jacques, former state senator of Massachusetts, who left office to take a cushier job on the public dole.
"Fat Matt": Matthew J. Amorello, the tubby ex-Massachusetts Turnpike Chairman and life long Massachusetts political grifter, who was fired by Mitt Romney and most recently arrested for driving under the influence.
Muffy": Former Lt. Governor (R) Kerry Healey, for her upper crust background.
"Money Fitz": Kevin Fitzgerald, (D) former state representative. Alleged to have convinced a dying woman to leave him money in her will.
"Marsha Coakley": Martha Coakley, Massachusetts Attorney General (D), so called because this was the name used by Patrick "Patches" Kennedy when he referred to her during her failed campaign for the U.S. Senate seat won by U. S. Sen. Scott Brown.
Placed 50th on trade journal Talkers Magazine's list of the 2007 "Heavy Hundred". The list ranks whom the magazine considers the most popular, influential, or entertaining talk-show hosts from around the country. Carr currently ranks 56th as of 2009.
2008 National Radio Hall of Fame inductee.
Received a Legislative Sentiment from the Maine Legislature in 2006, sponsored by State Representative Chris Greeley. This was presented to him during an appearance in Bangor, Maine.
A Civil Action (1998): The film is based on the real-life case of Anderson v. Cryovac that took place in Woburn, Massachusetts in the 1980s. Howie played a radio talk show host.
