98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston has one of the most out-there sports radio stories I’ve heard in a while.
Award-winning sports radio talk show presenter Fred (Toucher) Toettcher (born 1975) of WBZ-FM in Boston and longtime co-host of the morning Toucher and Rich show with Rich Shertenlieb arrived late for that broadcast and went on rants about his divorce, the Black Lives Matter movement and other topics.
That resulted in Toucher being absent from the show for an indefinite amount of time, as reported by Chad Finn of The Boston Globe.
On Instagram, Toucher addressed the situation, disputing claims (made by several listeners who tweeted about the show) that he was drunk on Tuesday and announcing his intention to check himself into a mental hospital.
But what triggered this outburst—problems between Toucher and his wife, which eventually led to their divorce?
Who Is Fred Toettcher?
Originally from the city of Detroit, Fred Toucher is a Marconi Award-winning sports radio talk show host. He co-hosts “Toucher and Rich” with Rich Shertenlieb.
Toettcher received his degree from Rollins College back in 1997. After graduating from college, he found work at a local radio station in Cumming, Georgia. Starting in the evenings in 1999, he worked his way up to the morning show on Atlanta’s 99X. In 2006, when he stopped performing in Atlanta.
Together with Rich Shertenlieb, he launched The Toucher and Rich Show on WBCN in Boston. They broadcast on 98.5 The Sports Hub now after moving there in 2009. The Toucher and Rich Show was one of the most popular radio shows in New England, but it was only supposed to be a temporary fixture at the station while the producers worked on a more sports-oriented program.
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Did Fred Toucher Divorce His Wife Stephanie Toettcher?
Fred Toucher was married to Stephanie for more than ten years. Their relationship seemed to be going well until 2020 when they said they were going to break up. Toucher hasn’t said anything about his relationship with Stephanie or how he met her until now. People say that they hung out together a lot in the Boston suburbs.
The news that Toucher was getting a divorce from his wife Stephanie Toettcher began to spread in 2020, when Toucher, who co-hosts a popular show with Rich Shertenlieb, said he was going through a divorce on Tuesday’s show. He was late to the show, and he sounded so angry during the 7 a.m. hour that Shertenlieb suggested he take a break and offered to go off the air with him.
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He said, “I’m getting a divorce! …Yeah, I gotta relax about the whole divorce thing. It’s something that I really need. …Why is it that I’m, like, addicted to chemicals? Why is that part of it? (Shertenlieb says “Maybe, what are they saying, the way you speak?”) Oh, slurring, and this and that? Are you kidding me? What do you think I did this morning? I was late! What do you think I did this morning, I got up and had 18, uh, Bloody Marys?”
Fred said that problems in his personal life caused him to lose his mind in July 2020. After three months, he posted a picture of his family online with the words, “I made it through these crazy few weeks.”
He hasn’t posted any more photos of them on social media, which could mean that they broke up.