New York radio station suspends morning crew

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mak16

Senior member
Oct 12, 2003
241
0
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New York radio station suspends morning crew
NEW YORK (AP) ? The host of a New York morning radio show and the rest of her on-air crew were suspended indefinitely Wednesday for airing a tasteless song parody that mocked victims of the catastrophic south Asia tsunami.

"What happened is morally and socially indefensible," said Rick Cummings, president of Emmis Radio, in announcing the disciplinary action. "All involved, myself included, are ashamed and deeply sorry. I know the members of the morning team are contrite. They know their actions here are inexcusable."

The song, a parody of the charity single We Are the World, aired last Friday on Emmis station WQHT-FM, known locally as Hot 97. The station was subsequently flooded with thousands of angry phone calls demanding the firing of morning show host Tarsha Jones, known on air as Miss Jones.

The DJ offered an on-air apology, and the station initially announced that she and a half-dozen other members of the morning team would donate a week's salary to tsunami relief. The station, in a statement posted on its Web site, said management later decided "stronger action was necessary to demonstrate the severity of the situation."

The song included references to "screaming chinks" and orphaned children "sold into child slavery." The chorus began, "So now you're screwed, it's a tsunami, you'd better run ... go find your mommy."

The decision to suspend the DJ and her crew was immediately hailed by groups upset over the song.

"I think this is definitely a step in the right direction," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. "The egregious nature of this offense mandated something beyond a week's pay."

Others had called for advertisers to boycott the station and for Emmis to fire its staffers ? a call reiterated by City Councilman John Liu, whose Queens district includes a large Asian population.

"It's clearly not sufficient," Liu said. "Miss Jones and (sidekick) Todd Lynn need to be terminated, taken off the air permanently."

The death toll in the tsunami is estimated at anywhere from 144,000 and 178,000, with more than 140,000 more people still missing.

Hot 97 has been criticized for poor taste before. In 2001, two different morning hosts were suspended after an on-air mocking of the plane crash death of R&B singer Aaliyah.
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what do you think?
 
D

dudeman007

Diamond Member
Apr 6, 2004
3,243
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Freakin idiots. How can they say they're sorry, they knew about their actions. Complete ignorance.
 
S

SuperSix

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
9,872
2
0
Originally posted by: dudeman007
Freakin idiots. How can they say they're sorry, they knew about their actions. Complete ignorance.
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It's not ignorance, it's stupidity. Ignorance is whenyou don't know better..

:|
 
K

Kipper

Diamond Member
Feb 18, 2000
7,366
0
0
Originally posted by: dudeman007
Freakin idiots. How can they say they're sorry, they knew about their actions. Complete ignorance.
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Ignorance doesn't really fit the bill here...

It's a combination of a huge ego, low intelligence and lack of a heart.
 
yukichigai

yukichigai

Diamond Member
Apr 23, 2003
6,404
0
76
I dunno, I think it's justified. I mean c'mon, SpongeBob SquarePants is gay? My ass.
 
J

JoeKing

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
10,641
1
81
the statement from HOT 97 website. I urge you not to visit because you're just giving them hits

Statement from WQHT-FM, HOT 97

New York City - Miss Jones and the HOT 97 Morning team have been indefinitely suspended for the airing of a song that made light of a catastrophic event, as well as comments made at the time the song was aired.

Earlier this week, Miss Jones said on the air "I apologize to all who have been offended by my poor decision to go along with playing that insulting (to say the least) Tsunami song. I should have known better and I didn't. So I'm sorry and hopefully we can move forward from this, or I can move forward from this being a better hostess, because I am better than that, and I know better than that -- and you deserve better radio than that."

While Miss Jones has apologized on the air, in the media and on the HOT 97 website, station management felt that stronger action was necessary to demonstrate the severity of the situation.

Emmis Radio and HOT 97 will not tolerate such derogatory and racially insensitive content. This incident in no way reflects the spirit of HOT 97. The station has a long-time and well-known reputation for community involvement and support.

Emmis Radio President Rick Cummings said, "What happened is morally and socially indefensible. All involved, myself included, are ashamed and deeply sorry. I know the members of the morning show are truly contrite. They know their actions here are inexcusable."
We would like to clarify that no company advertising on our station had any connection to the Tsunami Song and no company advertising on our station endorsed or sponsored the offensive material aired on the "Miss Jones in the Morning" show. We apologize for any misunderstanding that may have caused listeners to believe that anyone, other than the morning show staff, was responsible for the material that should not have been aired.
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D

DurocShark

Lifer
Apr 18, 2001
15,708
5
56
I'm glad they were suspended and wish they were fired.

That clip was horrid, tasteless, and downright insulting. And I'm white!

If they want to make fun of asians and middle easterners that's fine. But doing it and including victims of a natural disaster... :|
 
H

Hammer

Lifer
Oct 19, 2001
13,217
1
81
While Miss Jones has apologized on the air, in the media and on the HOT 97 website, station management felt that stronger action was necessary to demonstrate the severity of the situation.

Emmis Radio and HOT 97 will not tolerate such derogatory and racially insensitive content. This incident in no way reflects the spirit of HOT 97. The station has a long-time and well-known reputation for community involvement and support.

Emmis Radio President Rick Cummings said, "What happened is morally and socially indefensible. All involved, myself included, are ashamed and deeply sorry. I know the members of the morning show are truly contrite. They know their actions here are inexcusable."
We would like to clarify that no company advertising on our station had any connection to the Tsunami Song and no company advertising on our station endorsed or sponsored the offensive material aired on the "Miss Jones in the Morning" show. We apologize for any misunderstanding that may have caused listeners to believe that anyone, other than the morning show staff, was responsible for the material that should not have been aired.
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translation: our sponsors/advertisers are really pissed and pulled their ads. we've lost millions of dollars as a result. our plan to give the DJ a slap on the wrist has failed so now we have to do damage control.
 
B

BigJ

Lifer
Nov 18, 2001
21,330
1
81
Originally posted by: spiderrasmon
how many of you fools actually live in NY?

thought so...
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What does that have to do with anything?

And yes, I do.

 
D

Doggiedog

Lifer
Aug 17, 2000
12,780
5
81
Originally posted by: BigJ
Originally posted by: spiderrasmon
how many of you fools actually live in NY?

thought so...
Click to expand...

What does that have to do with anything?

And yes, I do.
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Same here. Sheesh.

Raised on the Upper West Side. Now living in Ft Lee right across the water.
 
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