Grant, Ward Stories Highlight Hypocrisy In Talk Radio

BI-COASTAL HYPOCRISY

Libtalkers Get Benefit Of The Doubt, Conservatives Don't





*** NEW: Who's Standing Up For Grant? ***


The origins of this week's firestorm over the unexpected revocation of a lifetime achievement award for conservative talk radio legend Bob Grant go back years, thanks to an industry that is largely run (and often mismanaged) by our political foes.

And a shocking development on the West Coast Thursday evening is leading to a whole new talk radio outrage. In an revealing way, the stories turn out to be interrelated.

In San Francisco, former KGO host Bernie Ward, indicted on charges of possessing and distributing child porn, will be getting his job back. That's provided he can beat the federal rap, for which he is currently awaiting trial.

From KGO-7's Dan Noyes:

KGO Radio General Manager Micky Luckoff tells me the station took the action against Ward before knowing full details of the case, and that he wants him back on the air soon. Luckoff believes Ward’s explanation that he downloaded and traded child porn as research for a book: “Technically, it’s against the law. He admitted what he did. There’s no reason to believe he’s a pedophile.”

Luckoff adds that Ward’s arrest “hit us like a ton of bricks.” Luckoff says Ward and his attorneys have assured him that the talk show host’s involvement with child porn is confined to the three incidents outlined in the federal complaint.

Ward and Luckoff will meet after the next court appearance January 24th, and he may be back on the air soon very soon. Luckoff tells me would hire him back, even before a possible trial wraps up: “We really value Bernie. He’s a very capable on-air talent.”

In addition, a source inside Citadel confirmed the story to your Radio Equalizer late Thursday, using even stronger language to indicate Ward would definitely be returning almost immediately.

And Luckoff's above version of events doesn't at all jibe with what yours truly had been told at the time of Ward's arrest. This site was given strong indications that Citadel- ABC in fact had the details of the case before the story was first broken by the Radio Equalizer. That's why he was fired, rather than suspended, at that point.

By the way, no evidence has ever emerged that Ward was writing a book.


Both the Grant and Ward sagas are interrelated, thanks to a common employer: ABC Radio, recently taken over by Citadel Communications. Most of ABC's previous management team remains in place, including KGO's Luckoff.

In 1996, Grant found his career virtually destroyed after making a very unfortunate comment about the death of Clinton's Commerce Secretary Ron Brown in a plane crash. The conservative radio legend certainly made a mistake, but paid a very heavy price.

Eventually, he was hired by crosstown rival WOR, but it took a concerted, decade- long effort by mid- level managers to get him back to WABC radio. Many in New York City radio felt Grant had been punished much too harshly.


In Ward's case, the KGO libtalker was allegedly caught red-handed not only possessing, but also distributing child porn. Because it "only" involves "three incidents", ABC- Citadel suits are ready to roll out the red carpet for his return. In the sick world of San Francisco liberalism, three child porn images on one's computer is apparently not enough to worry about.

Before Luckoff and Citadel CEO Farid Suleman can rehire Ward, however, there's one little problem: the federal indictment. If Bernie goes to prison, KGO is out of luck.

But the fact that KGO even wants to associate itself with child pornography is disgusting enough. So much for the station's credibility. Why would Suleman approve this move? Does he support child porn distribution?


Even though it is conservative talk that has generated the ratings and made the big money over the past few decades, the industry's corporate leadership still generally leans to the left and is often befuddled by the medium's incredible success.

That bias extends to many of those who run radio trade industry publications and are in charge of handing out (or withdrawing) awards.

It boils down to this: Bob Grant, a conservative with 50+ years of trailblazing talk radio under his belt, cannot be given the benefit of the doubt, while a suspected child porn- distributing libtalker deserves an instant second chance, even before his trial is complete. Call it coast- to- coast hypocrisy.


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