DJs Ousted for Mocking Beheading
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Two Portland, Oregon, DJs were fired for making jokes as they aired a
recording of American Nick Berg's beheading in Iraq, station management said,
calling their actions "beyond comprehension."
The DJs, named only by their on-air personas "Marconi" and "Tiny," and their producer were fired
from their morning show on Thursday after the pair laughed and played background music while
repeatedly airing Berg's screams as militant Islamists decapitated him.
"This was way over the line, insensitive and repulsive, by anyone's measure," said Clark Ryan,
vice president for FM operations of Entercom Communications Corp. in Portland, where the
network runs five FM stations.
Ryan said the station received numerous complaints from "appalled" listeners.
Marconi apologized on Friday in an audio recording posted on his personal web site, saying he had
made himself sick with his "stupid" actions.
"I say a lot of stupid things on the radio, but this was the most inappropriate thing that I've ever
done and I am very ashamed of myself for doing it," the DJ said.
Marconi and his partner Tiny were known for crude jokes and had been reprimanded before, but the
station deemed their "edgy" humor necessary to reach young adult listeners.
Berg's killers released a grisly video of the execution with one of the five masked men reading a
statement urging Muslims to seek revenge for Iraqi prisoners abused by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib
prison.
"There are times in life when you wish you could take something back that you did. This for me
was one of those times," Marconi said.
― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Monday, 17 May 2004 19:36 (twenty-two years ago)
I just can't, y'know, imagine what they might have thought would be humourous about this.
― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Monday, 17 May 2004 20:14 (twenty-two years ago)
Stuart, can't blame all of Portland, this time. These weren't 5 year olds...
― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Monday, 17 May 2004 20:32 (twenty-two years ago)
If I'd been betting on where this would have happened, I would've bet on Florida, and lost.
― Layna Andersen (Layna Andersen), Monday, 17 May 2004 20:33 (twenty-two years ago)
Me too, Layna. But then, I'd have saved my pennies
― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Monday, 17 May 2004 20:35 (twenty-two years ago)
Is this the same radio station in Portland that plays nu-metal a lot? I heard them play System Of A Down when I was arriving into Portland after a drive back from southern California, and then (unfortunately) this husky sounding DJ started talking about how all women listening to him right now should remove their shirts and "shake their boobies" in his honor.
― donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 00:19 (twenty-two years ago)
three years pass...
Holy shit, these guys have the afternoon slot on the local butt-rock/clearchannel station.
in other news,
http://imdb.com/news/wenn/2007-08-15/#2
Imus Plans Radio Comeback
Shamed broadcaster Don Imus is planning a radio comeback after reaching a settlement over his multimillion-dollar contract with CBS. Imus was axed from CBS Radio earlier this year after he called the mostly-black Rutgers University Women's Basketball Team a racial and sexist epithet on his radio show Imus In The Morning. Imus threatened to sue CBS for $120 million in a breach-of-contract lawsuit but the two parties reached an agreement on Tuesday. The terms of the settlement have yet to be disclosed. Now Imus is in talks with rivals WABC-AM radio to resume his broadcasting career.
― kingfish, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 06:09 (eighteen years ago)