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What would you do if you hosted a podcast that had tens of thousands of downloads per episode and were told by your boss to take it down? That’s exactly what happened to Fox 2’s M.L. Elrick, who works for the Detroit TV station.
Elrick has also been hosting a podcast called Sould of Detroit since February. He was originally given permission by station management to host the podcast. Station management changed and the podcast is mysteriously on hold, according to Deadline Detroit.
Former Detroit radio personality Drew Lane started The Red Shovel Network in which there are several very popular podcasts, including his own called the Drew & Mike Show, named after his former radio show. Lane recruited Elrick to host Soul of Detroit on his network. Here’s the statement Lane sent Deadline Detroit:
“I spent a long time trying To get ML to do this and I knew it would be great. Then it took months to get through red tape to approve it with Fox 2. It was worth the wait. The ‘Soul of Detroit’ took off and 2 weeks ago 50,000 people downloaded it. 99.9 percent of all podcasts will NEVER do that! Marc Fellhauer and Sean Windsor have poured their hearts into this and the show also has picked up advertisers. My understanding is there’s a new sheriff at Fox 2 and ML has been asked to take a pause while Fox 2 decides whether this is Ok going forward. We all have to answer to someone and he has respectfully put on the brakes. After all the hard work, chemistry and hustle it took to get the ‘Soul of Detroit’ where it is, obviously this really hurts. I just hope we get it going again soon because this show has LEGS and gets better all the time. ML is an important voice in Detroit and hearing him in this format was fantastic.”
Listeners speculated that this might have something to do with the power company in Detroit, DTE. Elrick did a show called “Fight The Power (Company)” where rate hikes were discussed. DTE is an advertiser with the TV station. A spokesman for DTE told Deadline Detroit DTE had nothing to do with the podcast being put on hold. Lane also rails against DTE on his show due to constant power outages at his house where he broadcasts his show.