Original post: KHOW talk-show host Peter Boyles has been off the air since last Thursday, when he and longtime producer Greg Hollenback got into screaming spat that briefly got physical -- although not in the way many longtime listeners may have imagined.
Neither Boyles nor Hollenback is commenting at this time, but we've got details about what happened from numerous sources.
What remains unknown is the future of Boyles, who most observers would characterize as Denver's best-known, most-listened-to talk-radio figure.
The incident took place at around 8 a.m. Thursday amid a program during which former Congressman Tom Tancredo announced that he's running for governor. A 9News crew was on hand for Tancredo's statement, and the station has reported that after the argument, Hollenback was seen with red marks on his neck.
This image conjures up the prospect that Boyles grabbed or choked Hollenback, but we're told that's not the case. Rather, sources tell us that Boyles yanked Hollenback toward him by a lanyard, resulting in the aforementioned red marks. In response to this action, Hollenback is said to have thrown his hat at Boyles.Although such a confrontation isn't characteristic of the relationship between Boyles and Hollenback, they've certainly had high-volume disagreements over the years. Yet their verbal fights have typically been the equivalent of passing storms -- a dynamic playfully sent up in a 2011 video, during which Boyles shoots Hollenback with an Airsoft gun. Note that after their Thursday dust-up, the pair collaborated on the last hour of the show, which went without further incident.
Afterward, however, the marks on Hollenback's neck were reported to KHOW management, and overseers at Clear Channel, the station's corporate owner, have been involved since then. Initial speculation that a determination about possible punishment would be made quickly proved inaccurate. While Boyles's material remains on the KHOW website, fill-ins have been scheduled for him through the rest of the week.
Officially, there's radio silence at KHOW about Boyles. Execs decline to comment about what they call a personnel matter -- and while we're once again hearing rumblings that a decision could come down soon, they remain unconfirmed. One thing's certain, though: This is the quietest Peter Boyles has been for a long, long time.
Here's the lighthearted video alluded to above. Note that it also features Rich Wyatt of Gunsmoke Guns, a onetime reality-TV star now facing off against an especially fearsome enemy: the Internal Revenue Service.
More from our Television & Film archive: "American Guns' Gunsmoke Guns: Did Wyatt family rip off the I.R.S. for years?"
