Ludington City Councilor Gary Castonia has been the color commentator of Ludington Oriole sports since it came to WMOM radio quite a few years back.  Until this fall, he teamed up with Todd "Scoop" Hansen to provide coverage of football and basketball games.  The impediment this autumn happened to coincide with him throwing in his hat to run for the vacated seat of mayor.  This made a dilemma for the radio station, as they would have had to provide 'equal time' to the three other mayor candidates as explained here:   Always Listen to Your... Equal Time for Mayor Candidates on... WMOM

As noted in the comments, the station put Castonia on hiatus until the election was over, replacing him with Steve Miller, who also works for the station as a sales manager.  Miller was a very competent replacement who had as good of on-air chemistry with Scoop Hansen than Castonia did.  Castonia was still out of the range of the mike providing the new team with statistics.   

On the afternoon of December 9th, Castonia made the following statement on Facebook:

When read with some of his other posts that day, he makes the point that WMOM released him from his job with them, and you can read the bitterness in his posts even when he doesn't point out that he's bitter.  Witness the three posts by the councilor in this section of comments that followed that day:

When one takes Gary Castonia at face value here, you would have to believe that the station dumped him because Miller was a 'free bee' (due to his other job within WMOM) and that he bore some resentment concerning the owner of WMOM, portraying him as a cowardly figure getting out of town so that he could avoid the councilor's vitriol.  He continued in that vein later into the night:

Gary Castonia is old enough and retired enough to not have to worry about burning bridges behind himself, but the schism that formed between him and his former employer warranted further investigation.  A retired police investigator like Castonia is would surely condone such inquiry.

Reliable sources confirm that on December 9th, Castonia was presented with a new contract about an hour before the basketball game.  Even though it offered him his old job, he did not find it to his liking, and flew into a rage.  He watched the game well away from the announcers, Hansen and Miller.  Since then, he has allegedly contacted some of WMOM's sponsors to portray the station and/or its personnel in a negative light.

WMOM owner, Patrick Lopeman, when asked about what was going on offered this statement:

“It’s very regrettable that Gary turned to Facebook to air his grievances publicly against the station, our general manager, Steve Miller and me personally. This behavior is unbecoming of a public official”.

And still, no "Merry Christmas"!  I can just see Gary's bitter countenance sitting on the curb mulling over why his private employer couldn't provide him with hefty salaries and benefits anywhere near the amount he gives out each fall to city employees.  Sorry, Gary, in the private sector you get paid what you're worth, and you obviously have an inflated opinion of yourself, despite your third place showing in the mayor's race.  

Merry Christmas to you, anyway, and best of luck in the coming new year... and, wait for it... "Always listen to your mom!"

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Getting on Facebook and airing your greivances regarding your employer reveals what kind of person he is. If I were a business and he applied for employment I wouldn't consider him for any job. Whining about MOM On a public forum is something he will regret, besides, who cares?

And it seems that he was a bit untruthful in his rants on Facebook, if my sources are correct.  He never mentions that he was offered a contract and rejected it, instead inferring strongly that WMOM just dropped him without ceremony.  From what I hear, he was the one who kicked WMOM to the curb, for if his proposed contract was so bad, wouldn't he be raving about how terrible it was rather than implying he was fired?

Just for doing that to Gary I'm going to boycott That MMOM radio station. Wait, I don't listen to that crap they play. Still going to boycott it. Grow up Gary, maybe you should get a twitter account also.

Sad, and petty to air this to thousands that may see it. But, I guess when you've exceeded your authority for many years around Ludington and take it for granted that's the way to act, you can't even imagine someone or any employer that wouldn't put up with it. Reality check is hard to take.

At tonight's council meeting. Castonia made an inside joke about having a lot of extra time to devote to his committee work over the last week.  'Twas an interesting meeting this evening, I actually precipitated an apology from a councilor and a left-handed compliment from another.

Wow... !  You are really sounding like a donkey, Gary.... Not like you were Howard Cosell or somebody that actually could announce sports for a living.....Now, clean up the city commision & quit being a stooge for Shay.

Not only does Gary have a very raspy gravelly voice, he doesn't know the game, players, or play calling of football. Maybe he should Go to FLINT for a sportscasting job there, and see how he's received by an unbiased radio station.

Having a distinguishable voice can be a bonus for broadcasting, but Gary's ability wasn't distinguishable enough to guarantee him dictating the terms of his employment.  Unfortunately, before he got his broadcasting gig, he was retired and working as a city councilor with no signs of being a reformer and John Shay's biggest advocate.

This is very childish and immature for Gary.  You would expect more from a retired police officer/elected official.  It's a bit hypocritical when he complains about comments being made about him online, but then airs his dirty laundry on Facebook.  I wonder if LPD will be working with the owner of WMOM and his staff to investigate whether Gary has made any threats or made any defamatory or slanderous comments about a private business and it's individual employees. 

A person as perceptive as yourself, Wonder Woman, should understand that many of the biggest crybabies around are those who have spent their adult lives as public officers.  In this instance, I believe the decision makers of WMOM offered Gary a contract from a position of strength, being that they had a very competent substitute for Gary in his absence, who could effectively work cheaper since he was already a salaried employee. 

Gary felt slighted and unappreciated, and threw a fit.  Absent from his post-employment rants is any mention of any terms of the proposed contract, which makes me deduce that the terms weren't all that bad, just not as good as it had been. 

Those at WMOM should be concerned, however, that Gary's immaturity may translate into special legislation and action that could make things more difficult for the radio station over the next two years.  In my estimation, he will be the most outspoken and powerful councilor, and will not have to worry about backlash as he will be term limited out in 2018.

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