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America’s thoroughbred racing ambassador John Asher dies at 62

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John Asher was elated to take his family to Disneyworld. Asher, his wife Dee, and their precious grandbabies were excited to explore the Magic Kingdom. They flew from Louisville on Sunday and planned to start their Disney adventure the next morning.

John told his wife that he felt bad and was transported to an area hospital. Asher suffered a heart attack and was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.

The funeral and visitation plans were just released.

Asher was a beloved spokesperson for Churchill Downs for over 20 years. He’d made countless friends as a news anchor and reporter for WHAS Radio. Asher also worked for WAVG (formerly WAVE) before moving over to WHAS.

His ready smile, endless knowledge of music, politics, pop culture, and horse racing made him a benevolent Google long before the internet became a thing.

Louisville has lost its greatest racing ambassador. The local Catholic education foundation has lost its strongest advocate. Twitter has lost its greatest DJ.

And I, along with every other media person, has lost a cherished friend.

Thank you for your kindness, assistance, and cheerful spirit, Home Slice. I cherish the memory of laughing with you no less than a million times. #Loved

Film: a media coronation of Barack Obama bolstered the impossible quest of John McCain and Sarah Palin

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On the death of American hero John McCain, former WHAS talk show host John Ziegler reissued his 2009 MEDIA MALPRACTICE film. It’s Ziegler’s comprehensive takedown of partisan media skewing news during the 2008 presidential campaign.

John McCain, 1965

Does the Pitino lawsuit create ongoing strife for the school and its fan base?

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Rick Pitino is mad at me again. The former University of Louisville basketball coach and I are longtime friends but he has thrown hissy fits when I’ve publicly questioned him about sensitive issues. He even dropped me as co-host of his TV show for two years over tensions surrounding coverage of his affair with sketchy doughnut seller Karen Sypher.

Then there was the time I asked him if mounting evidence of strippers offering sex to his players and recruits would make him consider resigning. Pitino didn’t speak to me for a year and even avoided looking at me when we crossed paths in our St. Matthews neighborhood.

Terry Meiners with Bob Ley on Outside the Lines, ESPN, October 2017

Of course, I’ve gone on national TV and newspapers of record to defend Pitino over the years. I told what I know to be the truth and was never prompted to do it.

I know what I know and am not afraid to share it. Pitino stupidly got himself into the Sypher mess, was clueless about Andre McGee bringing strippers to the dorm, and made an adidas deal that benefitted him (and Tom Jurich) but it shackled the school from getting top level recruits.

Thems the facts through my lens.

The latest upheaval stems from Rachel Platt and me inviting WHAS Radio host Tony Vanetti onto WHAS-TV’s Great Day Live to talk about Rick Pitino’s forthcoming book and the drama surrounding the ongoing lawsuit.

A WHAS-TV viewer poll indicates that an overwhelming number of fans will avoid reading Pitino’s book.

Pitino watched the segment and texted me to suggest that there is “no need to have me on your show” if I am discussing fan fatigue related to him.

Wait, what?

In June 2017, Pitino contacted me to get on the air and tell the story of how snaring Brian Bowen “is the luckiest” Pitino has been in his 40 years of coaching.

Some would say today that maybe it wasn’t all about luck.

I believe Pitino when he talks about not knowing about the dorm strippers and that Governor Matt Bevin’s buddies David Grissom and “Papa John” Schnatter used their influence to push Pitino over the cliff at UofL.

Last week, Pitino asked to appear (“U want me to go on the record”) on my WHAS Radio show to answer UofL’s legal filings that claim he knew about payments to recruit Brian Bowen’s family.

Pitino will always have a green light to come on the air with me. He’s done it to promote his teams, camps, books, sell tickets to special events, and to brag about recruits.

He has sometimes appeared on competing shows and ignored me to get his message out. That’s OK. Competition keeps us on our toes.

On a personal level, I helped Pitino fund Minardi Hall construction and advised him on charitable donations even with occasional professional disruption between us.

I’ve also spent untold thousands supporting his foundation through golf tournaments and auction packages that were sometimes unfulfilled. So those thousands became donations, too. Again…that’s all good. Charity matters.

He once texted to ask why I had resigned from his Daniel Pitino Foundation board. Unbeknownst to me, I had apparently been removed from the board over some perceived transgression. Pitino had forgotten about it and needed my help with some new obstacle.

I’ve been happy to help Coach Pitino get his messages out over the past 25 years. That’s what I do for all newsmakers. Pitino’s voice is still an important part of an ongoing story.

Asking piercing questions, even of friends, is the very basis of journalism. We search for answers from people who make news.

After the contentious 2015 radio interview, Pitino spoke to the UofL fan base at the tipoff luncheon and declared that I “blindsided” him asking about his potential resignation.

Rick Pitino speaking at the University of Louisville basketball tipoff luncheon, October 2015

He went on to say he understood it was my job to ask him questions. He compared it to 60 Minutes host Steve Kroft asking tough questions of his friend President Barack Obama.

Even with that explanation, Pitino would not speak to me or even look at me for over a year. That’s how overly emotional people like Rick behave.

People complain to me nearly every day that they are tired of hearing about Rick Pitino or seeing references to him on newscasts because “we need to get on with Chris Mack’s team” and the future of University of Louisville basketball.

I agree that we need to fully support Coach Mack and his team but I disagree on the sentiment to ignore the newsworthiness of Pitino’s story. Millions of public dollars are at stake in the Pitino lawsuit against UofL. It’s a story we will all continue to update until the money issues are resolved.

Now steering his information elsewhere, Pitino is telling a local newspaper columnist that he plans to launch a podcast and will open a Twitter account.

Sensitivity to criticism is a problem for Rick Pitino. Hosting his own podcast will keep anyone from asking tough questions. If he actually opens a legitimate Twitter account, he will soon find that “fatigue” is the gentlest term lobbed at him.

Just read the comment thread beneath this Jay Bilas tweet.

People have moved on. The lawsuit with UofL will end. Rick Pitino and Louisville will go their separate ways forever. It’s a sad end for a mostly brilliant career.

Great Day Live, October 2014

The very bad week of Papa John Schnatter

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2009 photo: Lachlan McLean, Terry Meiners, Papa John Schnatter

The founder of Papa John’s pizza company admitted using the N-word during a recent media training exercise. The slur was reported on Forbes.com and “Papa John” Schnatter was quickly removed as chairman of the Louisville-based company.

The University of Louisville then removed Schnatter from its board of trustees, scrubbed his name from the business school, and Papa John’s pizza no longer retains naming rights to the Louisville football stadium. Papa John’s immediately bleached Schnatter’s image from all of its marketing materials.

The University of Kentucky then announced it would remove the Schnatter name from its business school, and Schnatter’s alma mater Jeffersonville High School scraped his name off the field house where the pizza baron donated $800,000 for upgrades.

At the end of his brutal week, John Schnatter spoke exclusively with me in a 28 minute freewheeling interview.

Deadspin.com ripped Schnatter’s entire appearance.

Schnatter claimed that he “was pushed” to say the N-word by the company conducting the training exercise. “I should have been more sensitive. I wasn’t raised that way. I did it. I own it. And I’m sick about it.” He added that he feels “horrible” for the Papa John’s “employees and franchisees who did nothing wrong.”

AD WEEK

In response to our interview, Papa John’s directors are demanding that Schnatter cease all media appearances. They even took the extraordinary step of preventing him from using his office space within the company headquarters.

Schnatter then wrote a letter to the board saying it was a mistake to resign his chairman position.

Reinstatement? Crickets.

In our WHAS Radio interview, Schnatter also claimed that Papa John’s “fired” the NFL, not the other way around, after his 2017 comments complaining about African American players protesting the national anthem. Rival chain Pizza Hut is now the official pizza of the NFL.

The WHAS interview also delved into Schnatter’s role in the firings of University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino and athletics director Tom Jurich.

Schnatter chafed at the question about whether his family would continue living in the Louisville area or would flee the hot cauldron of controversy.

In a subsequent interview with WLKY-TV, Schnatter claimed that the Laundry Service marketing firm that conducted the media training tried to extort him “to make it go away.” The firm originally asked for $1 million for services then upped the price to $6 million. Schnatter claims a Laundry Service exec said “If I don’t get my f-ing money, I’m going to bury the founder.”

When I asked John Schnatter if he would sue the marketing firm that leaked his racist gaffe to media, he didn’t mention extortion. “I don’t like litigation. I don’t like lawyers. I don’t like what (Laundry Service marketing) did.”

Papa John’s was also dropped by marketing partner Olson Engage.

Now Major League Baseball execs urged Schnatter to stay away from Tuesday’s MLB All-Star game. Multiple teams have suspended or ceased their promotional deals with Papa John’s, and the MLB league-wide promotion of Papa Slams has been shelved.

Others think he needs to disappear entirely.

New York Post, July 13, 2018

COURIER-JOURNAL: The Rise & Fall of Papa John Schnatter

DEADSPIN: Pizza Dipshit John Schnatter Claims Victimhood in Strange Strange Radio Interview

AD WEEK: Ad Agency “Pressured” Schnatter into Using N-Word

For his part, Schnatter tells me he is focusing on the philanthropic work he has done and he plans to continue working for the betterment of his community.

One day after our radio chat, Schnatter wrote an impassioned letter to the Papa John’s board to recap his claim that he was coerced into the N-word discussion, the makings of an extortion attempt, and that he shouldn’t have resigned before the board conducted a complete investigation.

He’s now hired Los Angeles attorney Patricia Glaser, who has managed cases for Harvey Weinstein and Paula Deen, to handle his forced departure from Papa John’s. She has declared that Schnatter will not go quietly.

Larry & Terry: just shooting the breeze

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Bisig Impact Group co-owner Larry Bisig invited me to his advertising/marketing company for a chat on camera. Cool.

We talked about my radio history, growing up with discipline, the last days of Ron Clay, my evolving tolerance, how to interview big ego people, dealing with violent students, and drunk college buddies trying to ruin my job.

Good talk, L Man. Thanks for having me.

Larry Bisig and Terry Meiners, January 4, 2018

WAVERING STANDARDS: If it’s in the dick-tionary, it must be OK (or is it spelled okay)

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When I asked Courier Journal management about scrubbing a 2014 parody of John Calipari from its website, I was told that the image didn’t meet the newspaper’s “standards.”

This piece ran last week in the standards conscious Courier.

Courier Journal, January 5, 2018 on the Pittsburgh basketball coach who mocked UofL’s adidas shoe scandal to someone in the stands at the Yum Center on January 2nd

This week the Cussin’ Courier throws feces at its readers – wiping it from the headline – but dropping it into the report on UK Coach John Calipari’s scatalogical jab.

Courier Journal, January 2018

Read the thread below for background on the Courier Journal defense of apologizing to Coach Calipari and removing an image from its web site. Salty Joe Gerth, a UK fan, says the September 2014 image is still available.

The subject of MY tweet was in response to Tim Sullivan’s CJ column shining light on Tom Jurich’s sometimes contentious relationship with various media members. I simply pointed out that it is not uncommon for athletics departments across America to contest media musings.

Courier Journal management printed an apology to Coach Cal and said the image would be removed from its site. According to Gerth, the image remains on its site more than 3 years later.

Then Joe called me a liar. He’s probably miffed that I didn’t put his name in the headline of this blog post. No wait. It’s there. 😂

UPDATE: Courier Journal is SUPER edgy now, comparing local air quality with fellatio. So witty!

Courier Journal, January 19, 2018

Standards. You know, old gas stations, right?

Best of 2017 News Bloopers – the #metoo for broadcasters

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Stumble. Bumble. Fumble. It’s what we do.

Terry Meiners files snow reports along I-65 (January 22, 2016)

PHOTO OF THE YEAR: women’s march, January 2017 — Me too? Im guessing that’s a NO.

Women’s march, Washington DC, January 23, 2017

ALL-TIME CLASSIC BLOOPER

FOR MY PILOT BUDDIES:

Rolling into year 33 at WHAS Radio and TV

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Terry Meiners on the air at beginning of his radio career — WKQQ-FM (Lexington) in 1977.

file started December 2, 1985 – losing entries have been discarded over the years

đŸŽ™ïž Friday launches my 33rd year on WHAS Radio and television. We ran a contest on my 1st radio show where hundreds of people guessed when I would be fired or leave. The winner gets $500.

Only two entries are still valid. Jim McClellan needs me gone within three years or else Robert Rudolph is the winner. #loumedia #radiopersonality #Louisville

My radio career began in September 1976 at WKQQ in Lexington, although I did not go on the air until late 1977. Therefore my total broadcast career has surpassed the 40 year mark.

WKQQ program director pitched management on taking the radio station from automation to live deejays. His calculation for me, a college student, is misstated as “weekly” when he meant to type “monthly.” $40 x 12 months = $480