Citadel to Hire Bush Press Sec Perino?

Radio hosts from conservative talk show KSFO have been talking about hiring outgoing Presidential press Secretary Dana Perino for their San Francisco based program. KSFO is part of ABC Radio and Citadel Broadcasting (NYSE:CDL) which is is the third largest radio group in the United States.

The drive to hire Perino was begun by "Officer Vic", pseudonym for Tom Benner, KSFO's morning traffic reporter who in early December said,

"She's going to be out of work soon and I think she needs a place to feel at home and we have we have a need we have an opening for someone like this. We need a press secretary. And I think Dana Perino would be an excellent addition to this program."

Lee Rodgers, the long time morning host for KSFO, wondered, "Would full-frontal nudity be involved in her [Perino's] role?" (Audio link) (transcript)

Rodgers discussed hiring Perino with Wall Street Journal reporter "Big Buck" McQuillian.

"And I would assume if we were successful in luring Ms. Perino to join this program, "Big Buck" probably would wanna move his base of operations from the Wall Street Journal back there on the East Coast out here to also join us. I'm just guessing. I don't know."

McQuillian's response? "If there is nudity involved, then possibly."

"Officer Vic" said, "I'm just thinking content here. What great content she would bring to the program."

Lee Rogers, "What a great rack, I know."

Perino, who is currently the Assistant to the President and Press Secretary at the White House, has a master's in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois (summa cum laude) and her bachelor's in mass communications from the University of Southern Colorado (cum laude).

Will Perino accept the challenge to defending the talk radio hosts who are more interested in her body than her brains or experience?

I'm sure that all will be revealed after President Bush leaves office.

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I doubt that Andrew Gardiner, the CEO of BAJobs.com was aware of how Rodgers talked about Perino in the studio. (BAJobs.com provides clients with radio spots on KSFO as part of a promotion package. ) What will he say to his potential clients?

Imagine how embarrassing it must have been for Applied Signal Technology (one of BAjobs clients whose recruitment ads he runs on KSFO) to find out that a job recruiting ad ran right after Lee Rodgers talked about hoping for full-frontal nudity from Perino, a highly qualified professional woman. Seeing as Applied Signal Technology is looking for a director of human resources, they probably didn't notice.

There really isn't anything that the BAJobs or Applied Signal Technology people can do about the environment their ad will drop into on KSFO. One minute they might be suggesting:

• Supporters of a Republican presidential candidate traced so he can "run you down and kill you like a mad dog." (video link. audio link) transcript 5
  

the next they want

• Liberals to be hanged; (audio link)

Rodgers reminds everyone, "Nobody is gonna tell me, what to talk about or not talk about or in what fashion on this radio program! It ain't gonna happen!" (audio link) I'm certainly not going to tell him what to talk about. I don't want to be tracked down and killed.

BTW, management knew of and approved of all these comments. Rodgers proudly acknowledged them (audio link)

I wonder if Citadel's Chief Operating Officer Judy Ellis, or General Counsel and Vice President Jacquelyn Orr have the same support for Rodgers as the boys club in San Francisco? I suppose just as long as they meet their numbers it's no big deal. I hope Citadel's human resources lead Susan Arville can figure out which HR rules apply. I suppose that Rodgers' behavior is beneath the notice of Patricia Stratford, the SVP of Finance and Adminstration, and IR contact as long as he is a top earner and his antics don't impact projected revenue (like they did in 2007).

The ones I feel sorry for are hard working folks at BAjobs. They probably expected that KSFO was a safe place to advertise. These conservative hosts can and will say almost anything and it is accepted and embraced at the highest levels of management. Because management supports this, advertisers need to be prepared so they can protect their brands and clients. For example, I'll bet that Nike would have like to disengage from Michael Vick before he got arrested for dog fighting. When you spot a pattern of behavior and you don't act on it, who is to blame?

Hopefully the host's next inapporpriate comment, verbal atrocity, attack on an advertiser or their customers faith will miss their client's ad window. Good luck!