BY DAN
KENNEDY
Serving the reality-based community since 2002.
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.
Tuesday, August 12, 2003
WRKO suspends "Ozone" for two
weeks. John Osterlind, the loud, raspy-voiced "Ozone" half of the
Blute & Ozone team on WRKO Radio (AM 680), has been
suspended for two weeks after telling listeners this morning that the
Palestinians should be "eradicated," according to Michael Elder, the
station's director of operations and programming.
Elder was unaware of Osterlind's
alleged remarks when contacted earlier today by the Phoenix,
which had received an anonymous tip that Osterlind had advocated
"extermination" of the Palestinians. After listening to a partial
tape of the show, Elder said, "Your source was pretty close to
accurate," but added: "I did not hear exterminate. Eradicate is what
I heard." (Disclosure: I am paid to discuss the media on WRKO's
Pat Whitley Show every Friday morning.)
Elder said that cohost Peter Blute,
a former Republican congressman, sounded aghast at Osterlind's
outburst. "Peter Blute kept trying to reel him out of it," said
Elder, adding that, at one point, Blute warned Osterlind that he was
advocating "Hitlerian genocide." Blute could not immediately be
reached for comment.
Osterlind, contacted at home,
denied the allegation, saying, "It was dancing around that line, but
never once did the words come out of my mouth that the Palestinians
should be eradicated. But the bad ones, definitely." Several minutes
later, he added, "Arafat, sure, you know, him and his people, no
doubt."
This afternoon on the
WRKO website, under the
heading "Today on Blute & Ozone," is this: "After two more
suicide bombings in Israel the other day, a frustrated Ozone wants to
rid the world of anti-Israeli Pallestines [sic]. Peter
says there is, more violence that occurs on a daily basis, in
Massachusetts than Israel [sic! sic!
sic!]."
In explaining his decision to
suspend Osterlind, Elder said, "I can't let that kind of language
against a whole race of people go on the airways unpunished. Other
people are going to get the idea that it's okay. It's not okay. That
kind of language I'm just not going to let on the radio station." He
added: "Quite frankly, I just don't think that's a good way to run
talk radio."
Osterlind's suspension comes about
a month after Elder suspended syndicated talk-show host Michael
Savage's show for one
day, following Savage's
homophobic outburst on what turned out to be his final appearance on
MSNBC.
Neither Elder nor Osterlind could
say whether the two-week suspension would be paid or unpaid. Elder
said the terms of Osterlind's contract probably require that it be
paid.
Osterlind seemed stunned this
afternoon, describing the events that led to his suspension as a
combination of an aggressive approach on his part and outrageous
calls from some listeners. He said that when callers suggested
eradicating all Palestinians -- and, in one case, the entire "Arab
street" -- he replied, "Are you nuts?"
He described his conversation with
Elder like this: "He said he'd gotten some calls, and that he had to
do something to appease the people who are upset." Asked whether he
believed he himself had made a mistake, Osterlind replied, "Maybe
baiting the listeners into calling and saying something like
that."
He added: "You do a talk show, you
talk about controversial things. I've been doing this a long time,
and it's the first time I've ever been suspended. I just don't think
he [Elder] liked the whole tone of the segment."
A pause, and then this:
"I'm just a peace-lovin' person,
Dan."
posted at 4:39 PM |
|
link
MEDIA LOG ARCHIVES
Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
