Two controversial local stories — both of which got media coverage outside Livingston County — apparently led to the ouster of longtime WHMI news director and morning show host Jon King.
In an interview today on Michigan Radio’s “Stateside” program, King was interviewed about his ouster after nearly 20 years at WHMI-93.5, which is owned by Owosso-based Krol Communications. King pointed to two stories, both of which involve Meghan Reckling, chair of the Livingston County Republican Party, and who is running for a seat on the Livingston County Board of Commissioners.
The two stories that King said are linked in his firing are Reckling’s criticism over a planned Drag Queen Bingo event planned for the Howell Melonfest, which was pulled because of the controversy; and the protest Reckling organized when President Joe Biden visited Howell in October.
King said that the final straw was apparently placed by Steve Gronow of Chestnut Development.
According to King on “Stateside,” Rod Krol of Krol Communications said Gronow felt the station’s news coverage of Biden’s visit was “over the top.”
King was told that “the day after the president visited, (Gronow) listened to the station and all he heard were sound bites from the president,” King said. “And about the protest.”
Biden is the first sitting president to ever visit Livingston County, and his visit to the Operating Engineers Local 325 training facility on M-59 in Howell was his very first stop to sell his Build Back Better legislation, which was at that time being wrangled in Washington, D.C.
You can read our coverage of that visit by clicking here.
King asked Krol what it was about the station’s coverage that was untrue or unfactual, but the question was never answered.
Then, King was handed an email that he had sent to Meghan Reckling in which he asked for her comment on the difference between Drag Queen Bingo and the protests she organized for Biden’s visit.
Reckling opposed the planned Drag Queen Bingo at the Melon Festival on the grounds that it was inappropriate for children, and she was the organizer of the Biden protest, encouraging children to attend.
“(The Biden protest) was held at a major intersection in the middle of the week at which children were encouraged to attend and were there,” King said of the protest on Stateside. “There were vulgar banners, open consumption of alcohol, and physical intimidation of the president’s supporters.”
King’s email to Reckling: “You said the first event was inappropriate for children, and you organized this very public event at which children were present, and some reasonable, rational person might say it was inappropriate. Can you comment on that?”
Reckling never replied to King’s email, but it somehow found its way to Krol Communications, and was presented as “proof of my bias,” King said.
Since Reckling never responded to the email, King said there were only three conclusions he could draw:
• Reckling gave the email to Krol management as proof of his bias;
• Reckling presented the email to someone else to present to the station; or
• Krol Communications was monitoring King’s email.
None of the three possibilities speaks well of the company, King said.
That email was handed to him at the same time he was told Gronow declined to renew his advertising contract.
“I’ll let you draw your own conclusions,” King said.
Tyler Scott, who interviewed King for “Stateside,” said he contacted Gronow for comment.
“Gronow would not comment to ‘Stateside,’” Scott told King. “He wishes you the best, and he said he was not in a place to judge you as a journalist.”
King said that he knows Gronow from community events, and that he had never had a negative interaction with him.
You can listen to King’s interview on “Stateside” by clicking here.
