KFI, New Hampshire, Sydney Fallout

NOT OVER YET

Still Angry Over Tookie, Plus: 'FU-v' Host Firing?




Think the debate over Tookie Williams ended with his execution? Guess again.

Issuing a public challenge, The Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable’s Earl Ofari Hutchinson and Jasmyne Cannick have accused KFI's John and Ken of racism. They insist proof is found in the pair's supposed reluctance to insist a white man on death row be quickly put to death:

The Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable’s Earl Ofari Hutchinson and Jasmyne Cannick have issued a public challenge to controversial radio hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou of the John and Ken Show of AM 640 KFI (Los Angeles) to prove that they are not promoting racial double standards when it comes to the death penalty.

The John and Ken Show dedicated the hour of 5 p.m. as “Kill Tookie/Tookie Must Die Hour” for over a month. During this time, KFI purposely followed around Black community activists, religious and civil rights leaders who were in support of clemency for Williams, with the sole intention of using their comments out of context and verbally abusing them on air for the entertainment of their listeners.

John and Ken publicly denied there were any racial motives in their playing up death for Williams. But they have given no public hint that they will establish a “Kill Clarence Ray Allen Hour.” Allen, an elderly white inmate, is scheduled to die January 17 at San Quentin prison.

Cannick and Hutchinson, ask “Can we expect to see John and Ken at San Quentin on January 16 broadcasting live again? While we strongly oppose the death penalty, the deafening silence of John and Ken on Allen strongly suggest their racial double standard for executions.”

Meanwhile, John and Ken have even hinted that they will launch a new campaign for the death penalty for black activist Mumia Abu Jamal, formerly sentenced to death in Pennsylvania.

We'll update this with any response from the KFI afternoon drive hosts.

There's also a discussion, here. The graphic to the left was created by a delightful "hate" group. John and Ken's website/blog is found here.



Was liberal New Hampshire talk host Arnie Arnesen too fiery for Granite State listeners and advertisers? After being terminated from WTPL-FM, that's what she claims.

From the Concord Monitor (via Perry Simon at All Access):

Radio personality Arnie Arnesen will be off the air at the end of the year because her talk show is "too provocative" to sell ads, Arnesen, 52, said. Arnesen said she doesn't know whether she'll look for a new radio job after she leaves WTPL, 107.7 FM.

Arnesen, whose outspokenness is her trademark, said there wasn't a single incident that led to her show being canceled. But she cited her rants against SUVs as the kind of on-air opinion that makes advertisers turn away.

"I have started calling SUVs, FU-vs, because it's not acceptable anymore that 90 percent of people who own them don't need them. For the 10 percent who do need them I say, 'Have them, have a semi-truck,'" she said. "Here's the problem: If the bread-and-butter of small radio stations is car businesses, who's going to buy me?"

WTPL station owner Jeff Shapiro said Arnesen had become a hard-sell to the business community. Arnesen's show has bounced around several radio stations and was at WTPL when Shapiro took over the station last year.

"Advertisers perceived that it was maybe a little too strong politically for them to be associated with," he said. Shapiro said he did not know what he'll replace Arnesen with.

The blame-game over Australia's recent racial riots continues, with Sydney presenter Brian Wilshire of station 2GB actually issuing an apology. From the AAP:

CLAIMS that Sydney's race violence has been stoked by talkback radio were reinforced today when a radio announcer was forced to apologise for on-air comments about Lebanese Australians.

Macquarie Radio station 2GB's late night announcer in Sydney, Brian Wilshire, had accused some Lebanese of being inbred.

"Many of them have parents who are first cousins whose parents were first cousins," he told listeners to his 9pm-midnight show.

"The result of this is inbreeding – the result of which is uneducationable (sic) people...and very low IQ."

Wilshire's comments were greeted by outrage in Sydney, where thousands of police are preparing to mount road blocks this weekend to prevent a repeat of the race riot at Cronulla beach.

"It reveals an uneducated comment on his part – they are disgraceful comments," NSW Premier Morris Iemma said.

Wilshire, whose 2GB colleague Alan Jones has also been accused of fuelling racial tensions, emerged today to apologise for his remarks.

"I understand that those comments may have caused offence to some members of the Lebanese community and I unreservedly retract those comments and I apologise for any offence that might have been caused," the 61-year-old told Network Ten.

TVNewser reports Bob Novak has just signed on with FOX News Channel. Good for him, this will give the left something to fume about over the holidays.

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