Savage call's Elder's bluff

["Dan Strassberg" <dan.strassberg@att.net>]

I was dialing around on AM this evening (Labor Day, September 1 at 7:24 PM),
when I reached 680. A caller was on the air. I knew that it was Savage's
time slot, but I figured that someone else was probably filling in because
of the holiday. The caller was clearly out of line, but the host--whoever it
was--was letting him go on, and I could hear the host say "uh-huh," a few
times in the background in seeming agreement. The caller's point was that
the Palestinians are not to be trusted and that Israel should go into Gaza
and the West Bank and exterminate the lot of them. Although I did not hear
the interchange a few weeks ago between a caller with similar opinions and
Ozone Osterlind that led to Elder's firing of Osterlind, this caller had
apparently begun a similar interchange. "Now," I said to myself, "who is
filling in for Savage? Whoever it is, will not be doing any more fill-ins,
because WRKO's VP of Programming, Mike Elder, will let the syndicator know
that he will pull the show from WRKO if that fill-in host appears again."

I was taken aback a few seconds later when Savage himself began talking. He
was doing the show himself; there was NO fill-in host. Savage first stated
that the Isrealis, though they hated the Palestinians as much as the
Palestinians hate the Israelis, were willing to live with the Palestinians,
as long as the Palestinians leave them alone. Savage went on to state,
however, that the Palestinians were unwilling to leave the Israelis alone
and that, therefore, the caller had the only workable solution--the
Palestinians must be exterminated. But Savage didn't stop there. He went on
to state that the Immams want all non-Muslims to either convert to Islam or
be killed, and that therefore, the only solution is for the non-Muslim world
to exterminate the Muslims (or at least the Immams who hold such views).

Now, as I said, I did not hear Ozone or his caller in the interchange that
led to Ozone's firing, but the interchange I heard this evening between
Savage and a caller--also on WRKO, but in a syndicated program, not a
locally originated one--sounds as if it was pretty much a carbon copy of
Ozone's infamous interchange. Since Elder had already "suspended" Savage's
program from WRKO (for a couple of nights a month or two ago) because of
some intemperate comments Savage had made about gays, one would think that
Elder would now regularly listen either to Savage's broadcasts or tapes of
them. I think that Savage has dug a hole for Elder and it will be
interesting to see how Elder extricates himself--if he CAN extricate
himself.

Clearly, Savage means more to WRKO than Ozone did. If that were not the
case, Elder would have followed up Savage's previous suspension with
termination of the station's contract with Savage's syndicator. But Elder
must have come under pressure from management not to terminate Savage's show
on WRKO. So I don't think this latest outburst of Savage's will result in
Elder's imposing any more than another brief suspension. But if that's ALL
that happens, the local press will have a field day at Elder's, WRKO's, and
Entercom's expense. One way to look at it is that every knock is a boost and
that the whole thing will blow over. Moreover, until it does, WRKO--and
Savage's program in particular--will be the beneficiaries of increased
listening. That's what I predict will happen. Still, if Elder demonstrates
that principles did not underlie Ozone's firing and that there are different
rules for Michael Savage, Ozone would seem to have grounds for suing
Entercom (and maybe Elder personally) big-time.

--
Dan Strassberg, dan.strassberg@att.net
eFax 707-215-6367