This is out of St. Louis. However, it is relevant on a local level:
Moral of the story:
White guy tells innocuous racial joke=name soiled, loses job, becomes virtually unhirable.
Urban twosome encourages violence against police officers=street cred increase, get to keep job.
Police call for firing of two DJs
By Emily Dulcan
Of the Post-Dispatch
07/28/2005
The local and national offices of the Fraternal Order of Police, the largest professional police organization in the country, are calling for the immediate firing of two DJs on radio station KATZ who discussed on the air how to injure police officers.
John Helmkamp, KATZ marketing director, said Tuesday he expected to receive a statement from general manager Lee Clear about the DJs' future at the station. However, Clear's decision had not been made public by the close of business Tuesday.
Kevin Ahlbrand, president of the St. Louis Police Officers Association, wrote to Clear on July 21 stating that the station's reprimand and suspension of the DJs was insufficient. The call to fire them was unanimously supported by the local Fraternal Order of Police lodge executive board.
If the DJs are not fired, Ahlbrand said, he has been directed by the local Fraternal Order of Police board to call for a boycott of Clear Channel's advertisers. He said he also would promote such a boycott at the FOP's biennial national conference, beginning Monday in New Orleans. About 4,000 officers are expected to attend.
People listening to KATZ (100.3 FM) said DJs Kaos and Syllli Asz talked with callers about how to injure officers and take away their radios so they couldn't call for help. The two were suspended indefinitely after the July 13 incident.
Ahlbrand said DJs who potentially have influence over hundreds of thousands of listeners should be held accountable for what they say on the air.
"Under First Amendment rights they can say whatever they want. However with that freedom of speech comes added responsibility," he said. "We believe a line was definitely crossed."
The DJs made their remarks a week after the killing of Kirkwood police Sgt. William McEntee on July 5.
Chuck Canterbury, president of the national fraternal police group, sent a letter dated July 26 to Lowry Mays, president of the board of Clear Channel Communications, which owns KATZ, and requested the termination of the DJs.
Kaos and Syllli Asz wouldn't be the first area DJs to be let go for program content that some listeners deemed inappropriate. In November 2003, KPNT (105.7 FM) fired Jeff Fife and Tony Mott, co-hosts of the afternoon drive-time show, for racy on-air dialogue and porn-like photos posted on the station's Web site. And in 1993, Steve Shannon and D.C. Chymes, who co-hosted the WKBQ (104.1 FM) morning show, were fired after describing a caller with a racial slur.
BTW...three weeks later and Kaos & Syllli Asz are still on the station's website and will continue to be employed by Clear Channel Communications.
Moral of the story:
White guy tells innocuous racial joke=name soiled, loses job, becomes virtually unhirable.
Urban twosome encourages violence against police officers=street cred increase, get to keep job.
Police call for firing of two DJs
By Emily Dulcan
Of the Post-Dispatch
07/28/2005
The local and national offices of the Fraternal Order of Police, the largest professional police organization in the country, are calling for the immediate firing of two DJs on radio station KATZ who discussed on the air how to injure police officers.
John Helmkamp, KATZ marketing director, said Tuesday he expected to receive a statement from general manager Lee Clear about the DJs' future at the station. However, Clear's decision had not been made public by the close of business Tuesday.
Kevin Ahlbrand, president of the St. Louis Police Officers Association, wrote to Clear on July 21 stating that the station's reprimand and suspension of the DJs was insufficient. The call to fire them was unanimously supported by the local Fraternal Order of Police lodge executive board.
If the DJs are not fired, Ahlbrand said, he has been directed by the local Fraternal Order of Police board to call for a boycott of Clear Channel's advertisers. He said he also would promote such a boycott at the FOP's biennial national conference, beginning Monday in New Orleans. About 4,000 officers are expected to attend.
People listening to KATZ (100.3 FM) said DJs Kaos and Syllli Asz talked with callers about how to injure officers and take away their radios so they couldn't call for help. The two were suspended indefinitely after the July 13 incident.
Ahlbrand said DJs who potentially have influence over hundreds of thousands of listeners should be held accountable for what they say on the air.
"Under First Amendment rights they can say whatever they want. However with that freedom of speech comes added responsibility," he said. "We believe a line was definitely crossed."
The DJs made their remarks a week after the killing of Kirkwood police Sgt. William McEntee on July 5.
Chuck Canterbury, president of the national fraternal police group, sent a letter dated July 26 to Lowry Mays, president of the board of Clear Channel Communications, which owns KATZ, and requested the termination of the DJs.
Kaos and Syllli Asz wouldn't be the first area DJs to be let go for program content that some listeners deemed inappropriate. In November 2003, KPNT (105.7 FM) fired Jeff Fife and Tony Mott, co-hosts of the afternoon drive-time show, for racy on-air dialogue and porn-like photos posted on the station's Web site. And in 1993, Steve Shannon and D.C. Chymes, who co-hosted the WKBQ (104.1 FM) morning show, were fired after describing a caller with a racial slur.
BTW...three weeks later and Kaos & Syllli Asz are still on the station's website and will continue to be employed by Clear Channel Communications.
