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HOSTS FIGHT MUZZLING

Hosts, Management Dispute Situation, Plus: Roundup




Despite new management assertions to the contrary, two KVI/Seattle talk show hosts believe a July court ruling now prevents them from discussing a key November statewide ballot initiative on the airwaves.

In a stunning decision, a Thurston County, Washington judge forced organizers of Initiative 912 to report, as in-kind campaign contributions, favorable comments made by KVI hosts Kirby Wilbur and John Carlson.

Backers of I-912, which seeks to repeal a statewide gas tax hike, were required to place a dollar value on talk radio's supportive statements.

Critics of the ruling say it's a judicial attack on free speech, especially when related to pre-election campaigning.

As the election has drawn closer, Wilbur and Carlson now feel they can't even mention the issue. Given the judge's bizarre ruling, who can blame them?

In a strange twist, station management no longer agrees with its own hosts on the issue's sensitivity. From the Olympian newspaper:


"Essentially it means my clients are in an extraordinarily difficult position. Carlson and Wilbur probably blew through that $5,000 already," institute lawyer William Maurer argued late this week, estimating that at a radio ad rate of $140 a minute, the limit would cover just over a half-hour of air time.

Maurer added that Carlson, Wilbur and station owner Fisher Communications have a choice to "face fines and penalties or shut up and not face fines and penalties."

But managers at Fisher strongly disputed that claim Friday, saying it simply is not true.

So did the San Juan County prosecutor who brought the original lawsuit against I-912 over Carlson and Wilbur's on-air promotions of it.

"On their part, I think it is an overstatement," Fisher vice president and general manager Rob Dunlop said Friday, referring to public statements that the talk-show hosts have made.

"We are not moving to modify their speech in any way. I shared that personally with John yesterday afternoon, and this morning when I had a chance to talk to Kirby.

"...They are free to talk about this initiative, any other initiative or any other matter facing the community we serve."

Carlson and Wilbur could not be reached, but Brett Bader, spokesman for I-912, said his campaign must report the on-air activities in order to follow Thurston County judge Chris Wickham's earlier ruling.

Because those activities likely will exceed $5,000 in value, the radio station and talk show hosts, as well as the campaign, are at risk of fines.


If you were in their shoes, would you continue to discuss the initiative, risking thousands in potential fines?



Despite the August sackings of its key participants, one of sports talk's most peculiar and maddening incidents still hasn't been resolved. It's now heading to a California courtroom.

From the San Francisco Chronicle:


Fired KNBR sports talk jock Larry Krueger and ex-morning show producer Tony Rhein have filed a pair of blistering lawsuits against their former employer -- saying they were fired after the infamous "brain-dead Caribbean hitters" flap, simply so the station could keep its deal to broadcast Giants games.

Had the Giants canceled their KNBR contract, they allege, the station's value might have plummeted -- in turn, putting at risk owner Susquehanna Radio's pending $1.5 billion sale of the team's flagship station and 33 other stations.

"After discussion with executives at Susquehanna, KNBR realized it would need to appease the Giants to sell the San Francisco radio station,'' lawyers for Krueger and Rhein claim in their lawsuits, filed late Friday in San Francisco Superior Court.

The suits are the latest salvo in the battle that broke out in August when Krueger, host of a nightly sports talk show, lit into the Giants for their poor play -- complaining about "brain-dead Caribbean hitters hacking at slop" and opining that Giants manager Felipe Alou's brain had turned to Cream of Wheat.


It seemed senseless to fire so many people over garden-variety sports trash-talk. Therefore, it's no surprise the hosts would take this to court.

Especially stupid: the idea you could offend a "Caribbean hitter", since there's no particular ethnic or national identity associated with the term.

Would "Pacific" or "Atlantic hitter" be offensive? The word Caribbean defines a sea and geographic region, made up of many countries, peoples, languages and cultures.

Some of these San Francisco liberals need to get out a little more often.



A Cincinnati Enquirer story about local ratings mentions Air America moving up to 16th place. Apparently that's reason to celebrate, even though conservative WLW-AM turned in a first-ranked, mammoth 10.5 audience share.

One would think Jerry Springer could dominate his hometown, where he was once mayor.

Other Air America Summer 2005 market ratings so far are emerging generally flat, or down, with rare exceptions.


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