Radio host John Tabacco got whacked from his job at 970 AM after only two episodes of his “Family Business” show thanks to some on-air F-bombs from guest Drita D’avanzo from VH1’s controversial new reality series Mob Wives.
Drita’s use of the f-word on Sunday’s show was so frequent it would have to be referred to as “carpet bombing” and producers couldn’t keep up with the bleeping, allowing some of the explosive profanity through to the live audience – something executives at the radio station were not willing to tolerate. According to the New York Post, Tabacco was told, “‘Your choice of guests is unacceptable, your programming is unacceptable.”
He then received a letter on Thursday from 970 AM programming director Peter Thiele which informed Tabacco that his last show would be May 15.
Drita D’avanzo talked with the Post about the firing:
“I feel horrendous,” Drita told us in an entirely curse-free conversation. “All day that day I was doing interviews on satellite radio, so I thought I could say anything I want. I love John and Derek, and I don’t think they should be blamed for what I said. It’s the worst feeling.”
So what was the wife of convicted mob leader Lee D’avanzo doing on a “family business” show any way? (Outside of the obvious tongue-in-cheek reference to the mafia.) Tabacco sort of addressed that question in his intro (which you can hear below) during which he says:
On “Family Business” we’re talking to you not only about business, we’re talking to you about family stuff, we’re talking about all the things that affect your family in this economy, And, uh, Drita’s kind of like family, Derek, she was one of your employees for a while and a good friend. And now she’s a celebrity. We’re lucky enough on the premiere of VH1’s new reality hit Mob Wives tonight exclusive, first interview, right here on NYC radio. We’re lucky, we have Drita D’avanzo from Mob Wives coming up right after this break. Do no move. Do not step away from whatever in God [sic] name you are listening to right now. but stay with us. You can call us at any time. This may be your only chance to talk to an actual mob wife.
Little did he realize that may have been the only chance to talk with him!
Here’s the full radio show thanks to Tabacco’s web site tabaccomedia.com – Drita’s intro happens at right around the 44:52 mark and the actual interview begins near 50:20: (The censors begin to drop the ball at 56:00)
The highlights are John and Erek’s reactions to Drita’s rather straight-forward responses! Here are some highlights (lowlights?):
After Drita’s first expletive John kindly said, “Well we don’t, um, we don’t have the magic of, uh, post-editing, so kind of, in real time on radio we’re trying to refrain from certain types of ‘colloquillisms.’ But you know, we scooped it up. ” to which Drita responds, “Oh, I’m sorry.”
John: Hey Drita I can’t even tell you what color my producer’s face is right now with some of the adjectives that, um, that you’re using [laughter] to characterize your experience in Mob Wives.
John: [in reference to Drita being shocked by some of the things co-star Karen Gravano did and said] So what was the worst thing you heard?
Drita: What’s the worst thing? Maybe when she was riding my husband like a thoroughbred?
[silence]
Derek: Wow.
John: Whoah.
Derek: I didn’t see that part.
John: We might have been on the cold antipasto at that point.
Drita has addressed the firing on her Facebook fan page and linked to a poll which asks the question, “Who wants the Tobacco brother’s back on the air?” with two answer options: “Yes they deserve to be” and “No there [sic] at fault” (Click the link to take the poll!)
And here’s how the tale played out on John Tabacco’s Twitter feed, with an excited prelude to start things off and ending with a plea to NY shock jock Howard Stern for a new home. (Unlike the actual Twitter, there are in chronological order from top to bottom)
I have to admit that firing Tabacco seems a little harsh. The radio execs knew he was starting off with two Mob Wives cast members as guests and even included Renee Graziano’s appearance in a press release about the program. So a couple shibbits and an F-bomb got through – that’s pretty good considering the rapid fire profanity producers had to deal with! They need to give John another chance. Besides, I want to hear his inevitable interview with Teresa Giudice!
