BY DAN
KENNEDY
Notes and observations on
the press, politics, culture, technology, and more. To sign up for
e-mail delivery, click
here. To send
an e-mail to Dan Kennedy, click
here.
For bio, published work, and links to other blogs, visit
www.dankennedy.net.
For information on Dan Kennedy's book, Little People: Learning to
See the World Through My Daughter's Eyes (Rodale, October 2003),
click
here.
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
More trouble for a guy who
deserves it. Gay-bashing hatemonger Michael Savage's
well-publicized firing from MSNBC isn't his only problem: his
talk-radio empire may be crumbling as well.
Ira Simmons reports on ChronWatch
that, because of a contract dispute in Savage's home base of San
Francisco, The Savage Nation has been yanked
off the air in New York City.
His show has also been
(temporarily?) suspended
in Boston at WRKO Radio (AM
680), the Boston Globe's Mark Jurkowitz reports today. Program
director Mike Elder tells Jurkowitz that he personally believes
Savage is "probably a homophobe," and that he will not tolerate an
outburst like Saturday's
MSNBC incident on WRKO's
airwaves.
This is all moving in the right
direction, yet the underlying hypocrisy continues to astound. Doesn't
Elder listen to his own radio station? Before MSNBC ever gave Savage
a show, he was already infamous for his references to
"homosexual
perversion" and "Turd World
nations" -- references that were broadcast repeatedly to WRKO
listeners since his being added to the line-up last year.
Savage's ridiculous
sucking-up
to a lesbian cop in the
debut of his TV show demonstrated that both he and MSNBC knew they
had to do something about his well-earned reputation as a
homophobe.
Hey, Mike (Elder, that is): take a
look at this
compilation by Fairness and Accuracy in
Reporting. As far back as 1999,
the San Jose Mercury News reported, "Savage has apologized to
gay activists after saying he wished they would get AIDS."
Savage has reportedly also joked
about "the Million Dyke March," and has spoken out about "the grand
plan, to push homosexuality to cut down on the white
race."
On its website, WRKO has posted a
statement about Savage that concludes:
It is our hope that
Michael Savage will return to WRKO in the next few days. It is
clear that these comments were not made on his radio show, but
this is the same way we'd handle a similar situation with our
local talent. This is not a free speech issue, but rather an issue
of appropriateness and good corporate citizenship.
WRKO is certainly right about one
thing: this is not a free-speech issue. The station is part of
Entercom,
a corporate media conglomerate with stations across the country --
four in Boston alone. Its profits derive from the deregulatory
environment of recent years, in which the FCC has allowed a handful
of giant operators to gobble up all but a hardy few
stations.
Elder needs to understand this:
Michael Savage is a homophobe, and his homophobic remarks on
television were an extension of the homophobic remarks he's made on
radio. Does Elder care? He certainly will if carrying The Savage
Nation turns into a business liability.
Do advertisers really want to be
associated with such garbage? We'll soon find out.
posted at 9:00 AM |
comment or permalink
MEDIA LOG ARCHIVES
Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
