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97 Rock REALLY steps in it

C

ckg279

On today's edition of Morning Bull, the show's hosts were doing a segment on comparing how they like their toast to the skin color of Black people.

Well...so far...

1. WGRF has pulled today's entire edition of Morning Bull from their on-demand section(and that includes the podcast).
2. Roswell Park has pulled all advertising from the station.
3. Pegula Sports and Entertainment(who owns the NHL's Sabres and the National Lacrosse League's Bandits)has turfed Rich Gaenzler as their in-game host.

This is only going to get worse for 97 Rock.
 
This format is garbage. These Morning Zoo shows operate in a vacuum. The hosts know that their audience is White Blue Collar men and so they probably figured no one would care. It's just one example of the dreadful content offered daily everywhere on Commercial Radio.

Now they will offer some hollow apology and hope the advertisers don't run for cover. These hosts may now be "Toast"...
 
Per Madison Carter(who used to work at 7 Eyewitness News, but is-for now-still the president of the Buffalo chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists while she continues looking for her next job), West Herr has also pulled advertising from 97 Rock.
 
Gilad Melamed of 7EWN: Rob Lederman has been fired from 97 Rock. The rest of the morning show has been suspended.
 
I just don't get how/why some morning jocks or teams don't understand that what's acceptable and what's considered "funny" by many people has changed greatly over the years. You really need to watch when it comes to bits involving race, sexual orientation, ethnic and religious backgrounds, etc. Comedy that would have been considered funny a decade ago and maybe had people laughing in the aisles back in the days of "showbiz" can now quickly find a morning host in hot water and advertisers running for the hills. Consider that Don Imus' infamous "nappy headed hos" comment that caused CBS Radio to give him the boot happened all the way back in 2007!
 
ckg279 said:
Gilad Melamed of 7EWN: Rob Lederman has been fired from 97 Rock. The rest of the morning show has been suspended.
Click to expand...
Yes, Cumulus has terminated the Lederman fellow. His bio says he is some kind of "D List Stand-Up Comic". He can now ring up Michael Richards (Kramer on Seinfeld). Maybe they can do a Podcast together...
 
As a black person i could care less if he perfers light skinned black woman. But he should have had enough common sense not
to say this on the radio. The man is a moron. Comparing black womans skin to burnt toast
 
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97 Rock Rob Lederman audio

Anytime the words, "I may get in trouble for this" begin a discussion or bit, trouble usually follows. How far up the James Casey ladder does accountability go, who does the morning show while Bull and Klein are in the penalty box, and did they get five minutes or a game misconduct.
 
Rob Lederman is so quick-witted that I am sure his tenders had not kicked in quick enough to realize that this was not a good analogy. He is a really decent guy and it is too bad that this sealed his fate. Bull and Chris should not be penalized for any of this. Unfortunately, the corporate guys have very itchy fingers and pull the trigger without even thinking it through. West Herr has pulled their advertising starting years ago on WBEN from 12n-3p (Rush Limbaugh) and 3p-6p (Tom Bauerle) and now they have another station that they won't be spending on. It's too bad...Chris Rock can make fun of his own race and others, but a guy of "no color" like Lederman is canned for milder comments.
 
If this is very serious, then maybe also the termination comes with a no compete clause?
Not that 92.9 would want him as the morning person after that...don't they also own WBLK? lol
 
Oldbloodandguts said:
Rob Lederman is so quick-witted that I am sure his tenders had not kicked in quick enough to realize that this was not a good analogy. He is a really decent guy and it is too bad that this sealed his fate. Bull and Chris should not be penalized for any of this. Unfortunately, the corporate guys have very itchy fingers and pull the trigger without even thinking it through. West Herr has pulled their advertising starting years ago on WBEN from 12n-3p (Rush Limbaugh) and 3p-6p (Tom Bauerle) and now they have another station that they won't be spending on. It's too bad...Chris Rock can make fun of his own race and others, but a guy of "no color" like Lederman is canned for milder comments.
Click to expand...

As Rusty put it, any time you say the words "I may get into trouble for this", that should be a major sign NOT to do it. And, BTW, Rich and Chris aren't innocent in this matter; hell, the audio shows Chris joined in the conversation! That puts the lie to your take that she "should not be penalized". And as far as Rich goes, he frontlines the show; you'd presume that it's his job to slam the brakes on stupid stuff like this.
 
WGRZ adds that in addition to getting canned as the in-game host for the Sabres and Bandits, Gaenzler lost ANOTHER side gig: PA announcer for UB Bulls football.
 
ckg279 said:
As Rusty put it, any time you say the words "I may get into trouble for this", that should be a major sign NOT to do it. And, BTW, Rich and Chris aren't innocent in this matter; hell, the audio shows Chris joined in the conversation! That puts the lie to your take that she "should not be penalized". And as far as Rich goes, he frontlines the show; you'd presume that it's his job to slam the brakes on stupid stuff like this.
Click to expand...
They all joined in during this insipid banter. He said outright that he doesn't like "Very Dark Toast And Dark Skin Colour". He also used the archaic term "Mulatto". All he left out was references to Watermelon and Fried Chicken. They brought this on themselves.

"Radio Morning Talent" is an oxymoron...
 
tbolt909 said:
They all joined in during this insipid banter. He said outright that he doesn't like "Very Dark Toast And Dark Skin Colour". He also used the archaic term "Mulatto". All he left out was references to Watermelon and Fried Chicken. They brought this on themselves.

"Radio Morning Talent" is an oxymoron...
Click to expand...
I wonder what will happen at 97 rock
 
Curious. I'm presuming that morning radio hosts (so-to-speak) and their employer are bound under some formal contract that includes either directly or by reference a Code of Conduct. I'd also presume that these on-air 'talent' are expected to do things that will attract listeners... many times this would involve controversial discussions (that may - by their nature - offend some). And, I'd presume that hiring a professional comedian/comic acknowledges that they are artists.

So, my wonder is what do these agreements actually contain that is relevant here; what was violated, and; what does termination look like (legally & financially) in a situation like this? Also, are these contracts generally consistent from station to station and market to market?
 
four4rock said:
Also, are these contracts generally consistent from station to station and market to market?
Click to expand...

Most likely within the Cumulus system. In just the last three months, their corporate head of content (who oversees all station PDs) had put out two very public edicts: No election misinformation and no playing of Morgan Wallen music (a country singer who was caught by TMZ using the "N" word.) Anyone who did would get fired. Given the second edict, you'd think air talent in other formats would be careful not to step into the racial rabbit-hole. They obviously don't read the trades or keep up with their own company policy.

 
TheBigA said:
Most likely within the Cumulus system. In just the last three months, their corporate head of content (who oversees all station PDs) had put out two very public edicts: No election misinformation and no playing of Morgan Wallen music (a country singer who was caught by TMZ using the "N" word.) Anyone who did would get fired. Given the second edict, you'd think air talent in other formats would be careful not to step into the racial rabbit-hole. They obviously don't read the trades or keep up with their own company policy.

Click to expand...
Wallen's album is selling even better than it was before that word escaped his lips. I'm sure tickets for his shows will be in red-hot demand when full-capacity venues are booked again, even if he hasn't been allowed to record a new song or be played on most country stations for months. He is doing just fine, so far. How long will the label suspension and radio shunning have to go on for it to hurt him in the least?
 
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