Former KJFK Austin host back on air after doing time

[fredcantu]

Shannon Burke is on WEUS 810 in Orlando after serving 60 days for wounding his dog and his wife. Both survived.

http://bit.ly/dCOWzO

 

[mmnassour]

Fred...this is really a tragic story. The Orlando Sentinel article ( http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...non-burke-deadly-weapon-and-animal-burke-dove ) tells of a person who, encouraged by his superiors at Clear Channel, fell into "character", literally becoming the character he played on air. The Clear Channel managers helped him destroy his life, all in the pursuit of ratings. A clip from the article:

Burke was a free-wheeling, left-wing talk-show host in Austin, Texas, when Clear Channel brought him to Orlando in 2001. Three years later, after Burke cultivated a local following as a staunchly conservative — though not highly rated — host on 540 AM, the company promoted him. Burke moved down the hall to Real Radio 104.1 FM, a popular blue-collar show that did well in the ratings.

Duncan said Clear Channel encouraged Burke to develop a "bad guy" image.

And Burke dove into the role, adding tattoos to his body and riding his motorcycle around town.

That move, ultimately, carried long-term consequences, Duncan said.

"They [managers at Clear Channel] enabled it by making excuses, and sending him to bar gigs, knowing he would drink, even if he knew he shouldn't have," Duncan said.

This raises a couple of important questions:

Of the flaming loudmouths we hear on today's talk radio, right and left alike, how much is act and how much is their real personality? If it's mostly act, then aren't they simply lying to their listeners about who they are, thereby giving up any credibility whatsoever? And where does it end, does this just go on at the local level or is Limbaugh himself simply a cartoon?

And what about the people themselves who are playing these characters on talk radio? In this case we're seeing lives destroyed and people physically injured.

Is it worth it?

 

[fredcantu]

Michael Weiner aka Michael Savage comes to mind.

 

[MozeMan]

Not buying this. Burke is a grown man and Clear Channel is not responsible for managing his habits. My gig involves lots of appearances at bars, and it's up to me to control my intake, or pass on appearances that are not right for me. I find the idea of becoming a cartoon character because of a radio gig pretty sad. If Burke started buying his own bull and lost control of his life, it's his fault, not that of his boss.

 

[fredcantu]

I would disagree. It's not about "buying your own bull"... It's about staying in character so you don't lose what works for you professionally. There can be tremendous pressure from your employer to keep it up or lose your job.

 

[mmnassour]

Not buying this. Burke is a grown man and Clear Channel is not responsible for managing his habits. My gig involves lots of appearances at bars, and it's up to me to control my intake, or pass on appearances that are not right for me. I find the idea of becoming a cartoon character because of a radio gig pretty sad. If Burke started buying his own bull and lost control of his life, it's his fault, not that of his boss.

Understand what you're saying, I'm big on personal responsibility myself. But what if Burke was inherently a weak person, one who covered up that weakness by spouting off on the radio.

Fred has a point about employer pressure. If indeed alcoholism is a disease, then one could argue that taking him to a bar is like giving a suicidal person a loaded firearm.

Honestly though, I was thinking not of alcohol and the "drunk" persona, but rather those people pretending to be hyper-right or hyper-left,or hyper-, well, anything. When this kind of act, and that's all it is, an act, stirs up the nutcases in the overall population, then violence will indeed be the end result, whether it comes from a weak-willed on-air person, or some listener who just needed a little bit of encouragement go to out and shoot someone.

I hold Clear Channel liable not for one man's drinking, but for what they broadcast over what were at one time the public's airwaves in pursuit of profit.

 

[willdav713]

Not buying this. Burke is a grown man and Clear Channel is not responsible for managing his habits. My gig involves lots of appearances at bars, and it's up to me to control my intake, or pass on appearances that are not right for me. I find the idea of becoming a cartoon character because of a radio gig pretty sad. If Burke started buying his own bull and lost control of his life, it's his fault, not that of his boss.

Understand what you're saying, I'm big on personal responsibility myself. But what if Burke was inherently a weak person, one who covered up that weakness by spouting off on the radio.

Fred has a point about employer pressure. If indeed alcoholism is a disease, then one could argue that taking him to a bar is like giving a suicidal person a loaded firearm.

Honestly though, I was thinking not of alcohol and the "drunk" persona, but rather those people pretending to be hyper-right or hyper-left,or hyper-, well, anything. When this kind of act, and that's all it is, an act, stirs up the nutcases in the overall population, then violence will indeed be the end result, whether it comes from a weak-willed on-air person, or some listener who just needed a little bit of encouragement go to out and shoot someone.

I hold Clear Channel liable not for one man's drinking, but for what they broadcast over what were at one time the public's airwaves in pursuit of profit.

Clear Channel is not to blame, Burke is to blame. No one pulled a gun up to his head and told him he had to go to the bar, have too many drinks and become psychotic. Peer Pressure exists and will always exists it is a part of life and if you don't have the self control you lose. Life is about choices, you make good choices and you make bad choices, and you learn from those bad choices. Gosh I might just hold my neighbor responsible because I was late on my cable bill, no I just suck it up and pay the late fee. Why? It was my responsiblity to pay the cable bill not my neighbors.

 

[mmnassour]

Yes, but....

There's a large difference between peer pressure (your buds saying just have another) and the pressure to keep an increasingly scarce radio job in today's environment. They hired the guy to do a schtick and I promise you he didn't refuse when they told him to go promote himself at bars.

He should have.

He didn't want to lose the gig.

Such is the industry today....and that's wrong.

 

[crow]

Not buying this. Burke is a grown man and Clear Channel is not responsible for managing his habits. My gig involves lots of appearances at bars, and it's up to me to control my intake, or pass on appearances that are not right for me. I find the idea of becoming a cartoon character because of a radio gig pretty sad. If Burke started buying his own bull and lost control of his life, it's his fault, not that of his boss.

Absolutely AGREE! Attempting to blame CC or any other company is a real stretch. This is a grown man. If he let his so-called made up persona get to him... that's his doing... not CC or anyone else. I spent 4 years going out to a topless bar for remotes every Thursday night. I was out there to sell the nudity, drinking and whatever else that world is supposed to offer. However, I am someone who really doesn't drink, who doesn't do drugs and who could careless about the nudity... but I went out there, every Thursday night for over 4 years... and acted like I was totally into that lifestyle. Yet, I didn't ever let that BS facade cross over into my real life.

Simply put... this kat is the only person to blame. If he had mental issue that would allow his fake persona to take over his life... that is not the companies fault. That would be like blaming the movie studios if Robert Englund a.k.a. Freddy Krueger went out on some killing spree.

 

[1st of 5]

This IS about personal responsibilty, a concept which a great many people no longer understand. Its always someone else's fault, no one is responsible for their actions, if accused-accuse your accuser. Its always been that way for those who want to have their 15 centons of fun and then try to blame anyone else when the nightsoil hits the fan. So what if radio jobs are hard to keep? In the past 20 years I was pushed out of two careers, due to change in business models and outsourcing. But did I go nuts and hurt anyone? No. You just be a man and find something else to support all those others who lay around with their hand out.

 

[bturner]

Personal Responsibility is the key issue but I'd want to know the circumstances.

At my last radio job I had a car dealer as an account. When my car was totaled, I tried over a month to get my account to sell me a car I could afford. Then I went elsewhere. As I was going to pick up my car, my boss told me we were heading to the car dealer that was my account and I would buy whatever car they suggested. My pay was minimal cash, a restaurant trade, a gas trade and a trade-out for my trailer (including utilities) at a trailer park. My boss explained I didn't have to do what he said but if I didn't I would not have a job, a paycheck, a place to put my trailer, gas for the car or a place to eat. I bought the car and got out of there as fast as I could but I didn't have a job that very minute.

Employers can really mess with your life when they lack a moral and ethical compass.

 

[mmnassour]

Yes. THIS is where I'm coming from.

There's no doubt that a person has to know his or her limits, especially when it comes to the situations we've described here. But given the sleaziness of some radio management, it's tough to turn down what is in effect...a do it or lose your job order.

 

[bobbranson]

There's enough blame to go around...sure, some people believe Clear Channel is the devil, but they didn't make the guy shoot his dog and wife. That said, they probably DID know he was unstable, so allowing and encouraging that is on the suits at CC.
Equally troubling is how some posters, desperate to discredit all conservative talkers, try to use this isolated tragedy to make a general statement.