By Stephen Sears
The past few months have not been kind to firebrand radio personalities. Earlier this summer, successful radio host Michael Savage was fired by MSNBC for telling one caller to “get AIDS and die, you pig.” Fast forward a few months to Rush Limbaugh claiming that the media over-rates Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb because they want to see a black quarterback succeed.
The fun did not stop there. Local radio personalities John Dennis and Gerry Callahan compared the gorilla that escaped from the Franklin Park Zoo to minority children who utilize the METCO program. WEEI suspended both for two weeks.
Now, these men have been discussed to death in the media, mostly with indignation. But, there are some targets I feel have not taken or been given their full share of the blame for these incidents. Those targets are MSNBC, ESPN and WEEI.
MSNBC, tired of getting shellacked by FOX News every night, tried to spice things up a bit by hiring the San Francisco talk show host to be an even louder, more brash Bill O’Reilly. They certainly got that. His show made barely a dent in the ratings. For now, FOX has the conservative crowd cornered. MSNBC’s futile attempt to bite into that crowd resulted in heavy embarrassment.
It can be easy to label people this and that nowadays, but I can say without any doubt that Michael Savage is racist. Anyone who listens to this man for more than a minute can tell you this. He blames immigration for almost every problem this country faces and advocates the closing of our borders. He says that Latinos “breed like rabbits” and that liberals are more of a threat to your life than Al Qaeda. A reputable news network gave him airtime knowing he once said that female volunteers who feed the homeless do so because they could “go in and get raped” because they seem to like the excitement of it. There’s always the thrill and possibility they’ll be raped in a dumpster while giving out a turkey sandwich. Isn’t this every girl’s dream?
This is Savage’s schtick, and it has made him wealthy. Fine. But for MSNBC to give him a show proves that ratings come before anything else, even basic decency. As events of this month would prove, the geniuses at ESPN did not learn the lesson that bigoted quick fixes do not work.
Rush Limbaugh is no Mr. Inclusive. He once told a black caller to “take that bone out of your nose and call me back.” He once wondered aloud why all criminals seem to look like Jesse Jackson. Yet ESPN hired him for their Sunday pre-game show. And no, it was not for his incredible football knowledge. This from the same executives who thought David Justice would be a good color commentator for playoff baseball.
What was ESPN thinking? If Limbaugh actually believes that McNabb, one of the best quarterbacks in the league, is overrated because of his race, then he obviously knows nothing about the NFL (Where is all the hype surrounding Tony Banks and Rohan Davey?). He hosts a hugely popular radio show and that is all that matters. ESPN thought they had the guy to attract angry white men and cynically dismissed his history of idiotic statements.
Around these parts, there was the controversy involving John Dennis and Gerry Callahan. Only after a listener complained to the station did WEEI suspend Dennis for likening black students to a gorilla. Initially, the suspension was only for two days. Several days later, the station miraculously discovered that Callahan was also involved. So making Dennis the lone scapegoat did not work, but not for lack of effort on WEEI’s part.
Both of these men have not proven themselves to be blatantly racist like Limbaugh and Savage. I do find it hard to believe that comparing black people to gorillas was just a slip of the tongue. However, the station has become the undisputed king of local sports radio in part because of the fraternity atmosphere of their radio programs. In a competitive market, the incentive to always push the boundaries is omnipresent, and something like this was bound to happen.
Raucous comments have helped make the people at WEEI very successful. They will swallow the two week suspension and welcome back the two hosts to continue their successful morning show.
This is not about political correctness run amok. This is a about a radio culture that rewards racism, anger and idiocy. This is about desperate networks hiring bigots because they want more money. These television executives knew what they were getting and did not know what to do once they got it. It is akin to the Muppets hiring Howard Stern to star on their show and then acting shocked when Stern asks Miss Piggy to bare all to see if she’s got enough for Playboy.
-Stephen Sears can be reached at [email protected].
