"Obama isn't black because his family wasn't slaves. Bomb Syrian mosques. Cut off the fingers and penises of detainees. Burn people alive and dig up dead environmentalists to kill them again." That's the type of commentary Disney/ABC-owned radio station KSFO in the San Francisco area broadcasts on the airwaves. One liberal blogger took a stand—and Disney tried to shut him down. Could Disney get away with censorship in the digital age? Nope. And here are the clips to prove it.
Nope. Listen to the clips and YouTube's video.
Here's what KSFO commentators have been telling their listeners:
On Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, Brian Sussman says, "My opinion as your average white guy—he is not allowed to wear the African-American badge because his family are not the descendants of slaves." He called Obama a "Halfrican."
After discussing a black man in Lincoln, Neb., Lee Rodgers says, "Catch the person, tie 'em to a post and burn 'em," to which Melanie Morgan responds, "Hog tie 'em first. That would be good."
On Nancy Pelosi, the first woman speaker of the House, Morgan says, "We've got a bull's eye painted on her big wide laughing eyes."
To one self-identified non-Muslim listener, Sussman says "Say 'Allah is a whore' and 'I'll believe you.'
In October 2005, the liberal Spocko, who uses a pseudonym to protect his identity, began posting such vile transcripts on his blog, demanding KSFO change its act. Station management's inaction prompted him to start e-mailing audio clips to advertisers, asking them to hold the station accountable. It worked—and Disney tried to shut him down.
Disney/ABC lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to Spocko's Internet service provider demanding the clips be removed on account of copyright infringement, but this was only done after several major advertisers, including Mastercard and Bank of America, No. 25 in The 2006 Top 50 Companies for Diversity®, pulled their spots. Internet 1&1 shut down Spocko's site after receiving the letter. Read the letter.
Bloggers united in defense of Spocko's right to "fair use," which allows critics and commentators to publicize such files and free speech—and now the audio files are broadcasting KSFO's "hate speech" all over the Internet, which is precisely what the "family-friendly" Disney tried to avoid.
Let's face it, if vile language and hateful rants make money, why would a station bother changing what works? In today's deregulation age, media users hold media accountable for their content. The advent of the Internet and the popularity of the blogosphere made it easier for Spocko, who got a new service provider and now is back online (www.spockosbrain.com), to do just that.
As Spocko says on his new web site: "There will always be a market for this kind of 'entertainment', it won't go away. Some people need to get in touch with their 'inner Archie Bunker' to be happy. That's fine, free speech and all that, but maybe, just maybe it won't be a safe place for some advertisers to hang out in the future."
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