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This topic comprises 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5
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Topic: Don Imus' Radio-Thon
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Jim Bedford
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 597
From: Telluride, CO, USA (733 mi. WNW of Rockwall, TX but it seems much, much longer)
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 04-12-2007 02:56 PM
Part of the problem is that there really isn't a "double standard" for TV and radio shock-jocks because more than 90% of them are white males (just like more than 90% of the posters on Film-Tech).
Imus (who I happen to like and enjoy much of his show) has long pushed the envelope, sometimes hiding behind what he calls humor to justify his rants against any number of individuals or classes of people. He's been doing this for more than 35 years and is probably less outrageous and OTT now than he was in his earlier, counterculture years.
But times change and I'm not sure he (or many others) saw that there were millions of women and minority members out there waiting for the right insult at the right time to speak up for their rights. Not to mention the airwaves are a Federally regulated system that is purportedly owned by all of us. People who have not been heard are being heard. Constitutional rights are not absolute, especially when they are used to put people down in spiteful, hurtful ways.
Welcome to a more inclusive America because this isn't going to stop here. See story below that may be more of the wave of the future than we want it to be.
Jock fired for soliciting Imus words
quote:
Pennsylvania DJ fired for repeating Imus’ comments as part of contest
From Associated Press
April 11, 2007
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A radio station fired its longtime morning DJ Wednesday after he encouraged listeners to repeat talk-show host Don Imus' racially charged comments in an on-air contest.
Gary Smith told WSBG-FM listeners to call and say "I'm a nappy-headed ho" for Tuesday's "Phrase that Pays" contest, said Rick Musselman, executive vice president of station owner Nassau Broadcasting Partners L.P.
Musselman said three of the listeners who called were awarded tickets to a NASCAR promotion at a local club.
Station management reviewed a tape of the broadcast of the "Gary in the Morning" show and fired Smith, Musselman said.
Musselman said that Smith was fired and not suspended because he uttered the slur in a premeditated manner, "with full knowledge of the reaction to Don Imus' use of the exact same phrase."
The nationally syndicated Imus was suspended for two weeks by CBS Radio and MSNBC after he called members of the mostly black Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos." Civil rights groups have demanded his firing.
Smith has an unlisted number and could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
WSBG 93.5, a 3,000-watt rock station, is based in Stroudsburg, about 40 miles northeast of Allentown. The Princeton, N.J.-based Nassau is privately held with more than 50 radio stations in the Northeast.
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Jim Bedford
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 597
From: Telluride, CO, USA (733 mi. WNW of Rockwall, TX but it seems much, much longer)
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 04-12-2007 03:25 PM
quote: Matt Fields
Freedom of speech includes insulting anyone, anytime, anywhere, for any reason, reguardless of how much it hurts the persons feelings.
Hey Matt. Put that to a test by walking into one of your full auditoriums and yell "Fire!", or call a cop that pulls you over a mother-fucker, or say "cocksucker" on TV or radio, or utter treasonous remarks, or say you're going to harm the President, or talk about bombs while you're in an airport security line, or even speak "fighting words" and get cited for disturbing the peace and you'll be singing a different tune. The right to speak one's mind is not absolute, no matter what you think.
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Stephen Furley
Film God
Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002
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posted 04-12-2007 04:41 PM
quote: Jim Bedford
or say "cocksucker" on TV or radio
That's interesting; does it still apply today? When I first left school, in 1974, I worked for a while at a totally mad girls' school in South London (yes, we did, and to a limited extent still do, have some single-sex schools). The local residents used to call the place 'St Trinians', after the school in the Ronald Searle drawings, and the later films. There was indeed some similarity, but it wasn't a boarding school, and the inmates didn't wear that terrible uniform.
Anyway, there were certain records which were quite popular with the girls there at the time, one was Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's 'Derek and Clive live', which for those who haven't heard it consists almost entirely of four-letter words, and another was by, I think, George Carlin, and was called 'Class Clown'. This consisted mainly of non-swearing material, but did include one track, 'The seven words you can never use on television', of which 'cocksucker' was one. I remember thinking at the time that I'd heard six of the seven on British television, and have certainly heard all of them since. Obviously there are shows where they wouldn't be allowed, but surely there isn't a total ban, is there?
'Derek and Clive live' was actually used by the somewhat strange media studies teacher as teaching material; he got his class to record sections of it onto tape, and then edit out he swear words as practice at editing tape. No, I'm really not joking! This was also the only school I knew of where not only did the pupils swear at the teachers, but the teachers also swore at the pupils. I still remember on my first day there, where the media studies class had been watching a film, on 16mm, in our small viewing room. The above-mentioned teacher looked at his watch at the end of the day, and found an unusual way of dismissing the class; in his very strong Irish accent he said to them: (please excuse the language) 'It's a bit early - o well, you can get up off your fucking arses and fucking piss off home'. Again, I'm really not joking. I'm not easily shocked, but I remember thinking that I'm sure teachers aren't supposed to talk to their classes like that.
The school still exists, but has since changed it's name; to protect the guilty I won't mention either name. The headmistress died several years ago, so it's probably totally different there now. It's main claim to fame was that it produced Olympic gymnasts, who competed in at least the 1972 and 1980 games, one of whom went on to become a children's television presenter. Whether she ever used any of the seven words on air, I don't know.
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