[AF] "Zero Tolerance" holds tough.

[Rich Wood]

------ At 05:12 PM 5/23/2007, Reader wrote: -------

> From Inside Radio:
>
>"Zero Tolerance" holds tough.
>"My 101.7" WHOF, Canton, OH morning co-host Jesse Johnson exits 
>after the station accidentally aired a pre-recorded bit featuring 
>Johnson making a mistake - then letting loose with a string of 
>profanities. She thought she recorded over it - but it made it to 
>the air. Morning man Gary Rivers is also suspended for a week.

I've always been taught microphones have ears. If you have a habit of 
using profanity in a studio you're incredibly naive in thinking it 
won't get on the air. Murphy rules.

With fines being what they are, it's no longer a cost of doing 
business. It's potentially serious money. We're in a witchhunt period 
where any foul language or misjudged comedy bit will have you shown 
to the door. As a personality you have to ask which is more 
important, your job or avoiding the fine for doing something stupid..

If she knew she had originally recorded a string of profanities, she 
should have been professional enough to audition the final product 
before air. It used to be standard procedure to check your work no 
matter how vanilla it might be. She wasn't interested enough in the 
bit to be sure it was done right. Doesn't sound like a pro to me.

In the case of comedy you have domestic terrorists just waiting for 
what you think is a simple joke. Don Imus and a gaggle of others have 
been fired for simple comments that brought out the wolves. Two 
particular wolves do it as a profession.

It looks to me as though Mel Karmazin is the only manager willing to 
stand by his people as he did with Howard Stern, both at Infinity and 
before Congress in refusing to censor his people. He knows the 
SIRIUS/XM merger decision might just be made on a promise of 
political correctness. It took gonads to refuse to dumb down his product.

The sad thing is that radio is now good enough for government work.

Rich