Jack Lessenberry: "The best thing to do."
"if I made anybody feel uncomfortable . . . I apologize."
Listeners missing Jack Lessenberry on Michigan Radio will have new opportunities to hear his voice, this time on the AM dial. Lessenberry joins Superstation 910 AM for a two-hour weekday show, launching July 9, the station announced today.
"We’re a city, a state and a country of second chances," said Mort Meisner, spokesman for the station. "We've had some other (hosts) in the past who have had some challenges, and we feel real confident (that Lessenberry will do well)."
Lessenberry's second chance comes after a Deadline Detroit investigation revealed years of questionable behavior toward women, including students at Wayne State University, where he leads the journalism program. Lessenberry is currently on leave from that position, and resigned jobs he held with Michigan Radio, where he delivered regular commentaries on the news, and Metro Times, where he had a weekly column. His behavior is being investigated by Wayne State, the reason for his leave.
Lessenberry has maintained he is not guilty of any inappropriate behavior with students, and in his resignation statement to Michigan Radio, said he "admits to absolutely no wrongdoing whatsoever.” As one of the highest-profile journalists in the Detroit area, Lessenberry has had a long career as a writer, teacher and consultant, in Michigan and Ohio.
Superstation 910 AM has a history of offering shows to notorious local figures, including Christine Beatty, former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's one-time mistress and chief of staff; Monica Conyers, a Detroit City Council president who served time for misbehavior in office; and Todd Courser, a former state representative who left office in a sex scandal.
“For my part, I am excited to be part of the exciting future that (station CEO Kevin Adell) and his team are building at 910,” Lessenberry said via the station's press release. “We’re going to be doing some things you might never expect, shake people up and make them think, and the goal is never to be boring.”
-- Nancy Derringer