On a recent broadcast of 'The Howie Carr Show' (3 p.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays on WVOM, 103.9 FM and WVQM 101.3 FM), the syndicated talk-show host, author and Boston Herald columnist was discussing the final days of the recently completed trial of notorious Boston gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger. 

Carr came close but stopped short of referring to the 'summer of Whitey' as 'the end of an era.' That's too trite of a phrase for Howie Carr - the sort of clich that he would make sport of on the air. But keen listeners knew where he was headed.