Jay Severin to return on Tuesday

Jay Severin's suspension will end next week, and he will return to WTKK Radio (96.9 FM) on Tuesday. The following statement is from Heidi Raphael, spokeswoman for Greater Media, WTKK's parent corporation:

"We have had conversations with Jay Severin over the past several weeks about his hurtful, inappropriate remarks. He understands that we will not accept this type of commentary on our airwaves in the future. Based on this understanding, we have agreed to conclude Jay's suspension and he will return to the 96.9 FM WTKK airwaves on

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Tuesday, June 2, 2009. We want to emphasize that WTKK still strongly supports an open and spirited debate about the many issues our community and our country currently face. There will no doubt be times when people disagree with what Jay says. Our goal is to maintain a level of discourse that is compelling and thought-provoking, yet civil and respectful. While we will not always succeed in walking this line, we will continually strive to do so."

This should be interesting. The offensive remarks that got Severin into trouble, concerning Mexicans and swine flu, were not out of character with his shtick over the past decade.

That has led to speculation that his suspension was really about something else, with his fading ratings and his reported $1 million-plus salary being seen as likely factors.

But Severin's ratings were solid for many years. And it looks like 'TKK management has decided it would be easier to fix an existing show than to start over with something entirely new.

The Boston Herald's Jessica Heslam and the Boston Globe's Martin Finucane have more.