iHeartMedia Classic Rock “Big 100” WBIG-FM Washington DC has parted ways with morning host Don Geronimo following an on-air incident this week in which he and co-host Crash Young made sexist comments directed towards WUSA-TV anchor Sharla McBride while both were broadcasting from Washington Commanders training camp on Thursday.
During his show, Geronimo noticed McBride walking by and stated “Hey look, Barbie’s here. Hi, Barbie girl. I’m guessing she’s a cheerleader.” Later in the show, they noticed McBride conducting interviews and stated to Young, “Oh hey. There’s that chick that you thought said tight,” with Young following “Yah. I screamed tight when she was,” before getting cut-off by Geronimo saying, “I think. I think she’s a sportscaster at Channel 9. Or Channel 7. I thought she was a cheerleader.”
In a report on WUSA-TV’s site about the comments, McBride said she was hurt and incredibly offended that after 17 years as a journalist, sexist comments like that discredit her as a professional calling it inappropriate, unprofessional and embarrassing.
Geronimo and Young were subsequently banned from broadcasting from Commanders training camp on Friday with a Commanders spokesperson telling WUSA-TV, “We have worked hard to ensure that everyone feels safe and respected in our workplace, and we took swift action when we learned that an employee of our partner iHeart made sexually disparaging remarks to and about a member of the media while she was broadcasting live from training camp yesterday.”
WBIG-FM took over as flagship station for Commanders games in 2022 and is set to enter the second season of the three-year deal.
In a statement to the press, iHeartMedia Washington Region President Aaron Hyland wrote, “After an internal review, Don Geronimo is no longer an employee of WBIG. We take matters of this nature very seriously and this behavior does not align with our core values.”
Geronimo, real name Mike Sorce, joined WBIG-FM in September 2021, returning to the market where he arguably became the biggest radio star in the city. He began his career at the age of thirteen on 1600 WINX Rockville MD. After bouncing around the country to work at multiple Top 40 stations throughout the 1970s and early 80s with stints including WXLO New York, KIIS-FM and KFI Los Angeles, and WLS-FM and WBBM-FM Chicago as well as 1260 WWDC and 95.5 WPGC-FM in the Washington market, he joined 105.1 WAVA-FM Arlington VA in 1985 first as afternoon host and then quickly teamed with Mike O’Meara in mornings. The “Don & Mike Show” would move to afternoons at 106.7 WJFK-FM in 1991 and soon enter syndication via Westwood One. Outside of a brief move to middays in the early 2000s, the Don & Mike Show continued until Geronimo retired in 2008 following the death of his wife. Geronimo would later spend three years hosting middays and then mornings at 1140 KHTK Sacramento CA. He then briefly hosted nights and weekends back at WJFK-FM in late 2013/early 2014 and hosted a daily podcast from 2014 to 2019.
Geronimo has already been scrubbed from WBIG-FM’s website.
