Fred Toucher returns to Sports Hub following throat treatment

Media Fred Toucher returns to Sports Hub morning show following treatment for throat problem Toucher said at the top of the “Toucher and Rich” program that he was diagnosed with leukoplakia, a condition associated with smoking that causes thick, white patches in the mouth and throat. The “Toucher and Rich” program on 98.5 The Sports Hub debuted in 2009. Cha-Chi Loprete
Fred Toucher returned to 98.5 The Sports Hub’s top-rated morning show Thursday, almost exactly a month after he took a leave of absence to seek treatment for a throat problem that was affecting his voice.
Toucher said at the top of the “Toucher and Rich” program that he was diagnosed with leukoplakia, a condition associated with smoking that causes thick, white patches in the mouth and throat. Toucher was a longtime smoker but said he has quit.
But the show, which had a massive 25.6 share in the most recent Nielsen Audio ratings, was not fully intact. Co-host Rich Shertenlieb was absent from the show. He did not immediately return messages asking why he was absent.
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Toucher and Shertenlieb have had remarkable success as co-hosts in the Boston market, first on rock station WBCN starting in 2006, then as the Sports Hub’s morning drive program beginning with the station’s launch in August 2009.
But there has been public tension between the hosts recently. In late April, Toucher sent a series of tweets lamenting what he said was a lack of support from Shertenlieb and other show personnel.
During the 8 a.m. hour, Toucher detailed what his last few weeks have been like, and apologized for the sequence of tweets accusing his coworkers of not being there for him.
Toucher said that when he first began having voice problems, he went to doctors who “scoped it and were like, eh, it’s no big deal, whatever, just keep doing what you’re doing,” he said.
But his voice worsened, and eventually he saw Dr. Steven Zeitels at Mass General on the recommendation of a listener who worked in the doctor’s office. Zeitels is well-known for helping Adele, Steven Tyler, Dick Vitale, and other celebrities overcome voice problems.
“So I go in there, and they put the tube down your nose, and he starts poking around like, “You’re throat has blown up,’’ said Toucher.
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Toucher said the doctor found a mass on his vocal cords that he believed was cancerous. Because the swelling around it was so bad, surgery wasn’t immediately an option. The doctor told Toucher not to talk for two weeks and get back to him.
Toucher was also told that he needed to quit smoking. He said he began smoking as an 11-year-old but has not for 40 days. When he returned to see Dr. Zeitels again, he was told his throat looked much better and soon had the procedure to scrape off the leukoplakia.
Toucher, who was joined by Jon Wallach and Ryan Johnston on the show, apologized for his tweets saying his colleagues weren’t supporting him, explaining that he was afraid that he had cancer and his career might be over and that he was in a poor frame of mind.
“[The tweets were] completely unfair,’’ said Toucher. “I talked to Jon, I talked to Rich, [he] had offered his connections at Dana Farber [Shertenlieb’s wife, Mary, is a cancer survivor], he had offered these things. In retrospect, it was a stupid thing to do. … I was sitting home scared of all this happening, not that this is an excuse. So there you go.”
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