• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Did former KNTF air a racist song?

TheBigA said:
In interviews, that's what Rodney says about the song. It's self depreciating. Her leaving drove him crazy.
Click to expand...

Personally, I enjoy self-deprecating (correcting spelling) humor. Another Rodney (Dangerfield) was the champion of that style.
 
michael hagerty said:
Pryor was in a first-season SNL skit with Chevy Chase in which all the various black/white insults got used. Devastatingly funny (because of the payoff), but I'm not gonna be the one to link to it, even though it aired on network TV.

Times have changed.
Click to expand...
That was a Classic Comedy sketch. The payoff was Gold.
People can look it up.

Yes, times have changed I suppose. Some people don't understand that Archie Bunker was the butt of the jokes. He spewed idiotic stuff, but he wasn't a caracature. People had Fathers or Uncles just like him. TV Land actually airs a disclaimer before BONANZA and GUNSMOKE now. It says "This show has outdated ethnic stereotypes". I find that absurd. BONANZA actually had some progressive ideas. It's true that Hop Sing was the Chinese cook, but they never mocked him.

Back to Radio, many Country songs use "Redneck" in the lyrics. That's essentially the same as "Honky"...
 
30james said:
The song in question was rodney crowell"s shes crazy for leaving
One of the lyrics goes
You add insult to injury and what do you get you get a bus full of honkies that don't ever forget.

To me it's racist KNTF should had banned the song from airplay. Just sayin
Click to expand...

And 36 years later I still like that song and remember when Rodney was big when he first came out.

K.M. Richards said:
What really worries me here is that James actually dredged up a song that played without incident, three decades ago, on a station that has changed formats multiple times since, and started a thread about it.
Click to expand...

This! Someone wanna check on James to make sure he’s okay? 🤣🤣🙈
 
michael hagerty said:
Exactly. People say you couldn’t make “Blazing Saddles” today, but the entire movie was a takedown of racism (written in part by Richard Pryor).
Click to expand...
Pryor was also the first choice for the role that ultimately went to Cleavon Little. I always loved the Gene Wilder line
"These are simple farmers. The Common clay of the New West. You know -- Morons"

You are correct. The movie showed the absurdity of Racism while being hysterically funny.

Randy Newman is an artist that wrote songs in the third person. Many folks didn't understand that the character (singer) was often a flawed despicable guy. His song "Rednecks" has some rough language, but it's witty and accurate. A few FM stations once had the guts to play it and some of his other gems...
 
Last edited:
Having been the “token white kid” at R&B WJMO in Cleveland beginning in 1959 I was kiddingly called every slang and pejorative term for whites that they knew. It was very much done in fun, as they took me to clubs, concerts and even family gatherings along with voter registrations and demonstrations.

Insults, I learned, depended mostly, on context.

I spent the next 60 years as “Gringo”. You get what you pay for.
 
tbolt909 said:
Randy Newman is an artist that wrote songs in the third person. Many folks didn't understand that the character (singer) was often a flawed despicable guy. His song "Rednecks" has some rough language, but it's witty and accurate. A few FM stations once had the guts to play it and some of his other gems...
Click to expand...

The entire album containing "Rednecks", Good Old Boys, is a portrait of the early 20th century deep south. A brilliant album.

Malcolm Gladwell devoted an episode of his "Revisionist History" podcast to Good Old Boys:

Good Old Boys | Revisionist History

If you disagree with someone — if you find what they think appalling — is there any value in talking to them?
www.pushkin.fm www.pushkin.fm

FledSoCal said:
this reads like a NextDoor thread.
Click to expand...

Find context and depth like that on NextDoor.
 
michael hagerty said:
Exactly. People say you couldn’t make “Blazing Saddles” today, but the entire movie was a takedown of racism (written in part by Richard Pryor).
Click to expand...

He almost didn't get to make it then.

This is a true story, because I have heard Mel Brooks himself tell it: When the execs at Warner Brothers saw the first cut of "Blazing Saddles" they refused to release it. Brooks says they told him that he must have been insane, and he said that if they felt that way, he would release them from his contract ... provided they released "Blazing Saddles" without changing it. They agreed (probably out of relief over what they thought Mel might do next) and it was a huge smash hit. Of course, it was now too late for Warner to resurrect the deal with Brooks because he had already moved over to 20th Century Fox and started work on "Young Frankenstein", which of course was another big hit.
 
K.M. Richards said:
He almost didn't get to make it then.

This is a true story, because I have heard Mel Brooks himself tell it: When the execs at Warner Brothers saw the first cut of "Blazing Saddles" they refused to release it. Brooks says they told him that he must have been insane, and he said that if they felt that way, he would release them from his contract ... provided they released "Blazing Saddles" without changing it. They agreed (probably out of relief over what they thought Mel might do next) and it was a huge smash hit. Of course, it was now too late for Warner to resurrect the deal with Brooks because he had already moved over to 20th Century Fox and started work on "Young Frankenstein", which of course was another big hit.
Click to expand...

I always wondered why "Saddles" was for Warners and "Frankenstein" for 20th. Now I know! Thanks, K.M.!
 
Considering that no other racial group enslaved my western European ancestors for 400 years, I'd say the term "honky" really doesn't hold must sting.

Pejorative? Sure. But without sting, where's the scandal?
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom