WXYT's Valenti Apologizes For Corey Smith Joke

Mike Valenti

CBS RADIO Sports WXYT-F (97.1 THE TICKET) afternoon co-host MIKE VALENTI has issued an apology for making a joke about former DETROIT LIONS player COREY SMITH, who is presumed dead after a boating accident off CLEARWATER, FL this week.

VALENTI, reading instant messages from listeners on the air, read a joke about SMITH and a joke about a capsized boat on MONDAY's show; the DETROIT NEWS quotes VALENTI as saying at the outset of WEDNESDAY's show that the jokes were "a very, very, very stupid decision on my part -- probably the dumbest, most reprehensible decision I've made in my radio career. We were doing instant feedback and I put something flat-out on that never should've gotten on. No one else deserves to get blamed but me. This is on me. It was an instant feedback from a listener in regards to, at that point, the ongoing COREY SMITH situation. And I just offer you my sincerest apologies. It was completely ridiculous to put it on the air. And again, it comes to me. The only thing I can promise you as my listeners, it won't happen again. Otherwise, I tell you right now, I don't deserve to be around. So I humbly apologize. It's an egregious decision, and we move forward."

Marketing Manager DEBBIE KENYON told the NEWS that she and PD TOM BIGBY had apologized to the LIONS, whose games are broadcast on the station. LIONS President TOM LEWAND also issued an apology to the SMITH family, calling the incident "nothing short of reprehensible. It's not something we'll condone, it's not something the DETROIT LIONS organization wants to be a part of, and I'm hopeful they'll take the appropriate steps to ensure that it doesn't happen again."

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