Email Filters at ProFlowers have Higher Standards than KSFO Radio Hosts

Mark Sottosanti, Senior Vice President of New Business Initiatives and Marketing,
Provide Commerce (parent company for ProFlowers)

Dear Mark:

You probably don't want to hear that KSFO host Lee Rodgers describes waterboarding as nothing more than "dipping testicles in a basin of cool water." right before he reads your ProFlowers commercials. (audio wma MP3 )

And, because of your Provide Commerce spam filters, you won't. My email to you yesterday contained so many foul words said by the hosts of KSFO it never made it to you or your colleagues. It's kind of ironic that your email filters have higher standards that the radio hosts at KSFO.

You are an extremely technical company, I'm impressed by all the advanced technical degrees within your management team, you clearly WANT data, you want to know how your brand is being enhanced or tainted as it meets the great wide world, but you probably never anticipated that some radio hosts are so disgusting in their comments that an attempt to alert you would be thwarted by a simple Spam Assassin language setting.

It's hard to know if the filter was triggered by the words, testicles, penis or anal sex. It might have been triggered by too many links. The links are to document the host's actual words so that you will be convinced that I'm not making any of this up.

The people at Citadel Broadcasting, (KSFOs parent company) are relieved that you couldn't read the email. This gives them time to create their excuses and attempt to demonstrate how they sternly chastised the offending hosts. What you don't know is that any "chastising" is nothing more than a winking memo saying, "Try not to do it again. :-) Mickey."

They know you are too busy to follow up and keep track of the new horrific comments the hosts make. They certainly aren't going to tell you. Is your ad rep going to tell you and lose a commission on a package? They have a vested interest in keeping you in the dark. They don't care if your ad comes up at the tail end of "Testicle Talk with Lee and OV!"

Yesterday I sent you audio clips from three years ago showing KSFO host's love of gruesome torture. I linked to clips from two years ago where they didn't apology and clips from last week showing them laughing about torture. If you cared to listen just this morning at 6:37 am Lee Rodgers comes out again in favor of torture. (KSFO archive link)

Now I could spend some time pointing out all the logical fallacies, straw men and out of date information Rodgers uses to make his case, but that's really not the point. The point is that testicle and torture talk is mainstay of his program.

Would it help you to hear some more audio clips? How about this joke suggesting a former KGO host be castrated and his testicle sack be used as a tobacco pouch? Now imagine that conversation ending with, "brought to you by the florists at ProFlowers." (audio Rogers, "OV" aka Tom Benner).

When Rodgers isn't calling the former governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano, a bitch, auto executives whores or talking about the penis size of pirates, he is calling for the death of his political opponents on broadcast radio. ( audio linkWMA) (audio link MP3)

His latest gambit is to tell advertisers what kind of ads they CAN NOT run on his program. I hope you don't want to run "green" ads on KSFO.

"If any business advertises anything green I'll never buy their product or services." -Lee Rodgers, KSFO/ABC Radio/Citadel Broadcasting. 4-24-2009 6:07 am

Melanie Morgan chimes in, "Boycott green!" (audio link wma audio link MP3)

(I wonder if that applies to the green plants you offer. Looks like you might not have his business in the future.)

Rodgers and Brian Sussman aren't going to change their views or what they say on commercially supported broadcast radio. KSFO management has shown time and time again that there isn't anything their hosts can say that is bad enough to warrant correction because otherwise they would be seen as "wussies" by Lee Rodgers, the most powerful man in radio. (Audio link wma)

I guess KSFO management is happy to lose advertiser after advertiser rather than be seen as a wussies. I suppose there is always another advertiser who wants to hang with the tough talkers. Some men will do anything to avoid been seen as a wussy. Torture! Kill! Insult advertisers! Lose millions! Lay off support personal! Just Don't Call Me a Wussy!

If you do decided to leave, please don't feel bad, KSFO will simply find another advertiser who hasn't heard the stories or believes the ad rep who says, "Oh, they aren't like that any more." Who are you going to believe, them or your lying ears?

LLAP (Live Long and Prosper)
Spocko

Is ProFlowers ProTorture? KSFO hosts tie your brand to torture

Mark Sottosanti, Senior Vice President of New Business Initiatives and Marketing,
Provide Commerce

I'm not sure if I made myself clear last week on the phone. The radio hosts of KSFO are tainting the ProFlowers brand. Let me explain how.

KSFO hosts, Brian Sussman and Lee Rodgers, are currently reading your ProFlower ads for Mother's day. Sussman audio wma audio mp3; Rodgers audio wma audio mp3

These hosts have a history of making horrific comments including violent rhetoric directed towards liberals, democrats, journalists and Muslims. They are unrepentant in their calls to torture and kill people. (Listen to Lee Rodgers NOT apologizing for calling for attaching electrodes to the testicles of Kevin Holder, a criminal in Lincoln Nebraska, before he suggests that we "blow his bleeping brains out." (audio wma ) Remember, Rodgers is acting as your spokesman to the San Francisco Bay area.
KSFO hosts Proudly Pro Torture for Years
They are pro torture and have been for years.

• Brian Sussman from 2005, 'You know me, I'm pro-torture". They have sick fantasies about torturing people. (audio wma)
  
• Sussman from 2005 talking about cutting off the finger then the penis of a Iraqi.
  (audio wma)
  
• Sussman from 2009 talking about blowing off the kneecaps of someone during an interrogation. (audio wma)
• Torture jokes. Lee Rodgers and Melanie Morgan joking about waterboarding employees of rival station KGO from last Thursday, April 23, 2009. Audio wma Audio mp3
  

I find their views repugnant, but I'm not paying them to associate with my product. You are. Question: Is ProFlowers ProTorture? If so, Brian Sussman and Lee Rodgers are ideal spokesmen.

Next week, when more photos of Americans torturing comes out, please remember that these hosts are FOR the acts of torture shown in those photos.

ProFlowers parent company, Provide Commerce was voted one of the best places to work in California and in San Diego. Your motto, "finding a better way to do it" is interesting. Your business proposition, connecting consumers with growers, makes sense but your ads bank on the listener's relationship with the hosts. That's swell but it it also puts your brand under the control of the people who are selling your product. Ask Nike what happened when its spokesperson, Michael Vick, came to represent a repugnant act like dog fighting.

You won an award for being a great place to work. I'm guessing that you don't threaten to torture people.

The ProFlowers brand experience on KSFO: Listeners hearing horrific comments about torturing people by cutting off fingers and penises and then hearing that exact same KSFO radio host exhorting listeners to buy flowers for Mother's day. Is that the brand link you want? Is a joke about simulated death by drowning better?

Some people hate their mother. They may decide to purchase flowers for their Mother after hearing about torture. If reaching that demographic is the goal of your advertising on KSFO you have succeeded.

I want to make it clear that I'm not objecting to the discussion of the topic, what I find offensive is their support of a repugnant act. These hosts are NOT having a discussion about torture as part of an intelligent debate like you might hear on the Rachel Maddow show. Also, you are not the Government. By removing your paid financial support you are not limiting their speech, you are simply exercising your right to spend your marketing dollars in ways that more closely match your own corporate guidelines. The "we don't support torture" guidelines that most companies have in their bylaws.


Listen to KSFO's "Officer Vic" Imitating President Obama Having Anal Sex with Michelle Obama
Additionally this is not the only horrific comments from these hosts. Listen to traffic and weather reporter Officer Vic doing an imitation of President Obama having anal sex with his wife via "the port entry" or "the tunnel" and then using sound effects to make sure we all get the image. (audio wma).

If you decided to pull your ads from the Brian Sussman and Lee Rodgers' show "Officer Vic" would be reading the ads. The news and weather isn't even a safe place for your ads.

KSFO's Sussman attacks Advertisers who Support Same Sex Marriage
I also don't want to presume that there are any gay people in the floral industry because that might be playing into some stereotypes. But I would think that you would want to provide flowers for all occasions to people of all sexual orientations. To do otherwise would be bad for business. A gay marriage would require as many flowers as a straight one.

Brian Sussman didn't like that Pacific Gas & Electric stood up for their employee's civil rights when it came to same sex marriage. He went on the air telling people how to get their gas from other suppliers. (audio wma mp3) Brian Sussman will use your support of the equal rights of your employees against you on his show and actively tell people how to buy products from your competitors.

Mark, I wanted you to know what you are getting into when you advertise on this station. These hosts are not like the others you have reading your commercials. You could ignore my letter but "finding a better way to do it" means having more and better information about the people selling your products. I hope you will choose to disassociate yourself from these people. Who you choose to associate with and how and where you advertise your product says something about you and your company. Please don't choose people who are pro torture.

I encourage you or your agency to listen to the overall content of these shows, I'm confident you will quickly determine the multiple ways the hosts of KSFO are tainting your brand. They currently have a 7 day archive you can listen to at their website.

If you want to call the the sales manager and alert her to your desire to go another direction with your ads, contact Deidra Lieberman- Director of Sales for KSFO. Her email is
Deidra.lieberman@citcomm.com her number is 415-954-8118.

cc.
Anna Hansen, Senior Vice President of Consumer Insights and Service
Penny Handscomb, Vice President Human Resources
Kent Olson, Vice President, Website

pr@providecommerce.com

Updated4-28-2009 to correct link, phrasing.

The T-Word: They can't even say the Word Torture

Torture is a hot topic, there are other people talking about it who are drilling down to the details. My friends over at Fire Dog Lake are all over this. Marcy Wheeler is giving us details that will not only explain what happened when based on public records, but Jane and Christy will talk about the other implications.

I want to know the details so that I can win a debate with the radio hosts who are misinforming their audience and using these actions by Obama to ramp up the fear. But once again I'm going to pull from the wonderful book, "The Authoritarians" by Bob Altemeyer, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.

You’re not likely to get anywhere arguing with authoritarians. If you won every round of a 15 round heavyweight debate with a Double High leader over history, logic, scientific evidence, the Constitution, you name it, in an auditorium filled with high RWAs, the audience probably would not change its beliefs one tiny bit. Authoritarian followers might even cling to their beliefs more tightly, the wronger they turned out to be. Trying to change highly dogmatic, evidence-immune, group gripping people in such a setting is like pissing into the wind.

I figured this out a long time ago. But I still want to "win the conversation" with the Double High leaders of the Right Wing Authoritarians. But they do not have any obligation nor the intellectual honesty to admit that they are wrong. It might be emotionally satisfying, but it will neither persuade, convince nor compel them to a different conclusion. RWAs like to say that "the enemy" will only respond to brute force, because they know that is the only thing that would work on them. They think the left will try and silence them because that is what they do and have done in the same situation.

If you do present evidence that refutes their claim they will appeal to secret knowledge, "Cheney leads the way! Yeah, let us know what the "harsh interrogation" came up with! Ah ha! Then you will see just how great it was! "Harsh interrogation" saved LA! In YOUR FACE wussy liberals! In. Your. Face!" And if it was regular interrogation that gave up with those leads? Well never mind. If the harsh interrogation later came up with a ridiculous plot to blow up the moon? Well never mind.

What is it all about?

• Is it a sin?
  My friend Rich likes to bring in deep metaphors about sin when he talks about this issue.
  

• Is it illegal?
  Lawyers talk about the law breaking and the rewriting of law
  

• Is it interrogation or torture?
  Linguists talk about definitions, "It depends on what the definition of torture is".

• Do we need it?
  The right is framing this politically so that the issue becomes, "If we don't torture we will be unsafe."

What is to be done?

If you can't win an argument with people who won't listen to evidence, who will willfully distort history, defy logic, dismiss scientific evidence, and ignore the Constitution what can you do?

Personally I like to get their views in front of normal people. People who CAN remember history, who do understand logic, who don't dismiss evidence and who follow the Constitution. I want to get their sick world view in front of people who don't share their views. These people are often disgusted by the views of the torture apologists. They can see that they are offering false choices, "We must torture or we will all die!"

And when they see this they can say, "Hey you can have your history defying, illogical, anti-Constitutional world view, but my company isn't going to pay to support your sick stuff. It's bad for our brand. Come on, I'm selling flowers here, not whips and chains.

The right has decided that we want to shut them up. Why? Because that is what THEY would do and it is what they HAVE done. This is an old saw from the free speech folks. "You fight bad speech with more speech."

Advertisers might be willing to hear multiple views on a topic if it was presented as such (as an intellectual challenge) but they don't have to pay to support a viewpoint that is morally repugnant to them. They are using their right to choose where they put their money. They are supporting their already defined internal company policies. They can vote with their feet too.

The Authoritarian has Never “merged files”

I'm reading a great book by Bob Altemeyer called The Authoritarians. you can download and read it for free. His work was frequently referenced by John Dean in his book Conservatives Without Conscience. His book is funny, he has Star Trek references and he's from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg Canada so what's not to love?

I dropped him a note to be prepared to comment to the press to help them explain the anger that they saw at the tea bag parties. Anger that really isn't based on their own tax situation (unless the parties were attended by the top 1 percent in America, a statistical improbability) but was whipped up by the right wing leaders.

As I've been reading more I've found, as did John Dean, so many answers to the question that my friend PTCruiser posed about some of these talk radio hosts. 'What is wrong with these people?"

Dr. Bob, as his student's call him, explains how the hosts can say one thing one second and then a contrary thing the next. He describes it

2. Highly Compartmentalized Minds
As I said earlier, authoritarians’ ideas are poorly integrated with one another. It’s as if each idea is stored in a file that can be called up and used when the authoritarian wishes, even though another of his ideas--stored in a different file--basically contradicts it. We all have some inconsistencies in our thinking, but authoritarians can stupify you with the inconsistency of their ideas. Thus they may say they are proud to live in a country that guarantees freedom of speech, but another file holds, “My country, love it or leave it.” The ideas were copied from trusted sources, often as sayings, but the authoritarian has never “merged files” to see how well they all fit together.

I like that metaphor a lot. And if you point this lack of merged files out to them? "But Clinton!!!!" (Which will soon become, "Your buddy Obama said..."). They do not see their own inconsistent logic as a problem. He also explains later how fundamentalists (Christian and others) are also fine with a lack of consistency. I'm not to the last chapter (What's to be done?) But I'm looking forward to it.

Let the Mocking Continue! Sinfonian, Teabagging In Paradise!

So my buddy Sinfonian from the Blast Off blog went to a Fox News, FreedomWorks, teabagging party today. And of course he told people the truth and was roundly booed. That's gratitude for ya!

It's almost like they didn't WANT to hear the truth.


I didn't attend any of the Bay Area teabagging parties because I know that the right-wing KSFO listeners are really right on the edge of violence and I didn't want to be a target, what with my DFH shirt and all.

As I predicted, a fight did break out at the SF event. And as I also predicted a caller to KSFO said that it was "Acorn types" that started it. I should have further predicted Brian Sussman's comment on the scuffle, because I think he might read my blog. I like to show off my mind reading capability because it gives me geek cred. I did predict that the ACORN types would get blamed by "getting in the faces" of the real American and the real Americans just had to respond. "I had to punch him Mom, he called me dirty word!" What did he call you honey? "A conservative."

It is actually hilarious how the right seems to think that we operate like they do. The projection of their tactics, view points and ideas on others is constant and boringly predictable.

They like to say that any PR is good PR. I disagree. The tea-bagging protest did get media coverage, but it was easily mockable and showed how pathetic and disjointed their messages are. And yet I try not to get complacent. You do not turn your back on these people.

Many of them are on a hair trigger. These people have guns with ACTUAL triggers -- it's not a safe situation. They don't even bother to suggest they aren't going to kill people. They want us to know they are just about ready to snap--with gun in hand. They say those guns are to stop an out of control government or home intruders, but it's funny how energized they are now when under Bush the Bill of Rights became the Bill of 9 suggestions and one right-the Almighty 2nd Amendment!

I'm proud of Sinfonia for getting up and having his say, I gave him some advice on what to say, but his delivery and timing was all his. Well done! I forget to be funny sometimes when I'm dealing with the right wing because they are very serious with their anger. So I'm pleased he was able to make it funny and true at the same time. I'm also glad that nobody decided that he was threatening him and had to "stand their ground".
Live Long and Prosper Sinf.

Updated Sinfonian spelling. 4/22

Will There be Blood? Update: Tea Party Death Threats arrest

UPDATED 4-26-2009 I was right.
See this story titled "

"Oklahoma Man Arrested for Twittering Tea Party Death Threats"

Of course he didn't actually kill anyone so I'm sure that the right will say, "It doesn't count! He was just a crazy person!" And you remember how they were so offended about the report about right wing extremists? "They are out to get us and we never do anything wrong! We are all so well behaved!" Well here we have the latest example.

Lots of Teabagging parties across America. So what if the KSFO hosts can't control the crowd? I know I'm starting to sound like Grandpa Simpson bringing of the possibility of violence. But I just would like the media who cover this to consider how this would play if the sides were reversed. Maybe my friends at KPFA can talk about what happened to them when they suggested a protest.

I’ve contacted the FCC to ask them if there are any consequences to KSFO/ABC/Citadel, Fox if the angry mobs that they are organizing hurt anyone. Will the think tanks Freedom Works or Americans for Prosperity that provided logistical support be liable for broken glass if some teabagger gets out of control?

I have also contacted the SF City Attorney to see how they have handled property crimes that arose out of corporate organized protests. I’ve contacted the SF police Field ops office as well.

I would like to hear some legal opinions on CIVIL damages and who can collect from whom if there are problems.

I would also like a criminal prosecutor who has gone after DFHs to be available to comment. ‘Breaking the law is breaking the law. If they punch a cop they are going to jail. If they punch a hippy they are going to jail. I don’t care what their political party is.”

We on the left have had decades of experience putting on peaceful protests. We know not to bring guns and not to resist arrest. When property damage happens it is from a group of anarchists who wear black masks and run after breaking windows. I wonder if the people on the right who are doing a corporate sponsored protest are prepared for the right-wing equivalent of black masked anarchists. (They will of course say that there were infiltrated by ACORN anarchists)

Will the corporate sponsors and Fox follow the Pottery shop rule, “If you break it you own it!” rule? If violence or property damage happen I want to make sure all the non-Fox stations know who should pay if the gathering of an angry mob (who own guns) gets out control.

I’m sure if something happens it will become one of those, “Nobody could have predicted!” bits. Well I hope it doesn’t come to this, but if it does I just want to go on record as predicting it. I’m happy to be wrong.

Joyful Video Do Ri Me Dance in Central Station

In Antwerpen.

Enjoy.

How many Richard Poplawski's Are Lee Rodgers and Brian Sussman trying to Create?

My friend David Neiwert has a new book out, "The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right." I'll be getting my copies from Amazon and then more from my local book seller when they arrive in stores.

I was reading his site today where he talks about Richard Poplawski. He's the guy who killed the three cops in Pennsylvania. Based on some stories I've read about Poplawski, I could tell he would be a big fan of Lee Rodgers and Brian Sussman--the hosts of radio programs on KSFO (Which is owned by ABC Radio, which is owned by Citadel Broadcasting whose majority shareholder is Disney).

Richard Andrew Poplawski was a young man convinced the nation was secretly controlled by a cabal that would eradicate freedom of speech, take away his guns and use the military to enslave the citizenry.

- Post-Gazette Dennis B. Roddy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

I could put some quotes from Sussman and Rodgers here saying exactly those kinds of things (and I might later), but they don't see that they have any role to play in this case, or in any of the shootings. It's as if they both own and deny their power at the same time. When they are selling products it's all, "Hey, listeners do what we say! They buy your products!" (Of course if they are telling people your product sucks like they did for DishTV, Marriott, all American airlines except Southwest and cable tv, well that's another story)

But when it comes to their suggestions for violent actions, why WOULDN'T people listen to them then?

And what we know from experience about volatile, unstable actors like them is that they can be readily induced into violent action by hateful rhetoric that demonizes and dehumanizes other people. And thanks to human nature and those same freedoms, we will certainly always have fearmongering demagogues among us. But the purveyors of such profoundly irresponsible rhetoric need to be called on it -- especially when they hold the nation's media megaphones.
David Neiwert - Orcinus

Since I've become number 4 on the Richard Poplawski search I thought I would provide some actual quotes from Rodgers and Sussman in case they think I'm making this up.

1) Lee Rodgers and Jed Babbin talking right after the election in 2008, "I have no idea how you are fixed in the fire arms department. I have two guns myself, and I come from the Charlton Heston school, "From my cold dead hand" They then proceed to compare sizes of guns. It was important that Babbin let Rodgers know how big his gun was and how he had trained with Blackwater. Gee guys why don't you just whip 'em out and get it over with. Who has the biggest? Lee or Jed? (Biggest gun, that is.) This conversation was on election day 2008 (audio link)

2) Brian Sussman talking to caller Randy. Taking about the possibily that Sussman raises earlier in the program of Obama coming to take away guns.

Caller Randy: "If they come to take my guns, I'll give it to them, but I'll give it to 'em after I give them all my ammo."

[snip]

Sussman: "I don't use my gun for hunting, if you know what I mean."

Randy: "I know exactly what you mean"-KSFO Listener Randy, 11/27/08
(audio link)

Listen to caller Randy. The next Richard Poplawski? Listen to Sussman's reaction and encouragement.

(Sussman is SO subtle, he wants his listeners to understand the connection between Obama being elected and how he uses his gun. Wink. Wink.)

ATTN: KSFO advertisers from Lexus, BMW, Mercedes and Toyota. The Citadel Broadcasting Corporation encourages these men, you pay their salaries. Read what Jim Adkisson said in his manifesto then compare that to what Lee Rodgers or Brian Sussman have said on the air for years. If caller Randy becomes the next Richard Poplawski we will be sure to remind you that you have been funding the "fearmongering demagogues" at KSFO. Remember, a dead customer can't buy your cars.

So after Poplawski kills the armed policemen, people looked through his posting history on the web and looked at what he reads. Do they know what he listened to? Heck for all we know caller "Randy" could have been Richard. KSFO loves to brag about how they are listened to all over the country.

I often wonder what it would take for Citadel Broadcasting to take any meaningful action on Rodgers or Sussman. It's a pretty sweet gig for them. They can:

• Call for the death of specific individuals, groups, religions, races and entire countries
• Call people commies, Stalinists, socialists and terrorists with no basis in reality
• Insult the advertisers
• Attack their advertiser's potential customers
• Mock their advertisers
• Tell factually incorrect information and never have to correct themselves

All this and they still keep getting that juicy paycheck.

And you know who they have to thank for all this? Liberals. The people that they hate and want to kill have ignored them for years. In some cases they helped support them, maybe they never thought it would get this bad.

I just had a brilliant email conversation with someone recently and she says that she never listens to these people and was of course appalled by what I told them they say. I told her what I was did and she was pleased at my approach. As David Neiwert said, "the purveyors of such profoundly irresponsible rhetoric need to be called on it."

Inside Baseball On Talk Radio Business for People who Care, everyone else can stop at the paragraph above.

If I was looking at this from the male conservative point of view I would say to Lee Rodgers and Brian Sussman's boss , "They made you their bitch!" Think about it. They are embarrassing the owners on the national and international stage. And you just KNOW there is male posturing going on behind the scenes.

The hosts have openly defied multiple company policies, pissed off advertisers and lost revenue. Remember those employees from KGO that got laid off? Do you think that maybe they might have kept their jobs if KGO didn't have to carry KSFO when they lost all that money? You know that the management will never break out that data, they might have a riot on their hands.

"Are you telling me that because those jerks lost all that money for the stupid things they said, *I* have to lose my job! WTF!? Explain to me again why we have to subside them? They sure as hell wouldn't have subsided us. They would say that, "the marketplace has decided!" and cut us loose the second we didn't make our numbers."

Conservatives are quick to expect profitability unless it's their money losing operation. And management can't let anyone go when they are under heat because it would make them look weak. And for KSFO/KGO management it is all about not looking weak. The hosts really appreciate you standing by them as they lose more and more advertisers.

I'm sure the KGO laid off employees appreciated the big picture, that KGO has to subsidize KSFO so that the Republicans, instead of paying for ads like any other vendor, can have their own free private radio station. Is it any wonder that the state republican party operatives are on all the time? It's free for them! They even get free plugs for their PACs.

Yeah, yeah "the invisible hand of the marketplace" the conservatives will cry, but conservatives really want either a straight subsidy or a monopoly that they paid for via lobbying. "We bought our monopoly fair and square! It's much easier to bury the funding of RW talk radio when you have hundreds of other stations carrying you. It's also easier to hide the lobbying money when you can siphon $20,000 per station to send directly to K street lobbyists.


I don't know the internal politics. Maybe Farid Suleman was fine with KSFO losing money. Maybe this is part of his master plan to take the network private. Maybe he wants to file bankruptcy so that he can break union contracts. I wonder if the hosts will scream when that happens. "I HAVE A CONTRACT!" Hmm, you weren't so noisy when it was happening to the auto workers union. I guess it depends on whose ox is getting gored. (Gored! Like Al Gore! Get it? It's a joke!)

Did you know that many of the people in broadcast radio are in unions? Brian Sussman hates being in a union even though they have provided him with numerous protections. Did you know that if Sussman got fined for an obscenity HE personally doesn't have to pay the fine? The station does. Did you know who made sure the company and not the DJ had to pay the fine? The union. The earlier draft of the rules would have applied the fine directly to the radio host. And then those $350,000 fines that the Christian Right created to get to Howard Stern would have applied directly to him. But thanks to the Union, KSFO would have to pay the fine.

But of course if Citadel filed for bankruptcy and then asked for concessions from their union members I'm sure he would totally be cool with it. In fact, this might be a wish come true for him. Citadel could break those pesky union contracts with the broadcasters so they can keep the station operating! Maybe he could go freelance like Rush or Sean! Woot!

I'm sure the Conservative talk radio host won't complain if a Citadel bankruptcy happens. But I wonder if they will offer to give some of their salary to keep some of those union engineers employed? Let me think about it.

As Enid, said to Melora in Ghost world. Yeah... That'll definitely happen.

UPDATED 4-8-2009 to add audio clips.

At KSFO attacking the Advertisers is Just Good Business Sense!

If people contact the KSFO current advertisers like The SF Chronicle or Comcast, or previous advertisers like DishTV to alert them to their violent rhetoric and other rude remarks directed toward Muslims or other groups, you can point out to the advertisers that the hosts don't like THEM either.

Here is a clip of Lee Rodgers saying that Officer Vic thinks that DishTV sucks and that cable companies "are a bunch of thieves."

(Audio Link)

Imagine how the ad reps must feel when KSFO runs their Comcast ad one minute and the next the hosts are calling their client thieves? What if you heard the hosts saying your product sucks?

I'm sure that the ad reps for Comcast don't mind paying all that good money to reach the KSFO audience for the privilege of being called thieves. The question is, who should the audience listen to, the hosts, or the ads?

I guess the advertisers will just have to grin and bare it, nobody tells Lee Rodgers what to say on not to say on his radio program! (audio link)

The only recourse they have is to remove financial support. Rodgers will keep insulting and attacking, it's what he does. He's not going to change his spots so you might as well pull your spots, it's the only way to be sure. Let someone that he ISN'T attacking buy spots. The companies he isn't attacking is getting smaller and smaller.

Here's Sussman telling a caller to shut up and then proceeds to explain that the Chronicle is irrelevant and it is going away. I suppose I could play some audio clips of Rodgers calling the people at the Chronicle idiots, but that would be too obvious.
(audio link)

Lee Rodgers isn't Joking Regarding His views on Arabs

Two quick things

1) I'm not an Arab. I'm not a Muslim. I'm a half human half Vulcan mix. So when I complain about the comments about Arabs I can't claim to be personally offended. Someone spouting bigoted comments about other human races is offensive to me as a half human.

2) Lee Rodgers comes right out and tells us what he thinks of Arabs. If you listen to this clip it is clear he is not joking. Notice Lee's sneaky way of getting his views out. He will have on a guest and ask them a question like this and ask them to agree with him. And if he is called on it later he will claim, "Hey, I was just asking them a question!"

Listen to his clip in which Lee Rogers says that lying is as natural to Arabs as breathing in a conversation with Nonie Darwish promoting her book. “Now they call me Infidel."

Audio clip link

I'll pull up a recent clip next, but I think this one says a lot. I'm sure that some of his best friends are Arabs!

It would be nice if some nice white, non-Arab Christians, Jews, Buddhists, or atheists contacted a few advertisers just to let them know that they find his bigoted views on others objectionable too.

Update: Link Fixed.

Can't cha' take a Joke? The Bully's Lament

I was at a convention and we were talking about a tactic that is used by some people on the right. They say something offensive and then when someone says, "Hey, that's offensive." They reply, "I was JOKING! Can't cha' take a joke?"

I asked what our reply to this remark should be. My friend Thers at Whiskey Fire suggested "Bite me." A professional cartoonist suggested, "If an actual joke had happened there would be laughter."

Right wing talk show hosts use the, "It's a comedy bit!" to try and excuse their especially nasty comments. But if you listen to the shows long enough you will hear what is clearly NOT comedy. And no amount of historical revisionism will make it so.

If that trick doesn't work they use the, "You have to hear the whole context" gambit. As if right before they said the horrific comment they said, "I would NEVER say something like THIS!" Other dodges used are, "It's old and out of date!" as if they aren't still using Howard Dean's scream.

Carla Marinucci's column the other day asks about Brian Sussman's comedy skit. That was what was offered up by Media Matters at the time and that was what the Council on American-Islamic Relations -a member of the Hate Hurts America Multifaith Community Coalition focused on.

They could have chosen lots of other comments to focus on, some of which I've posted in the past, others I've never posted. One reason they aren't all available is that KSFO's parent company had my blog shut down because I was using those and other clips to show the violent rhetoric coming out of the hosts of KSFO. The didn't really want the advertisers to hear what their hosts were saying on the advertiser's dime, (Ironic eh?) so they ginned up a bogus copyright violation to shut me down.

So any crying that you might hear from KSFO hosts about how people are trying to silence them is hilarious seeing as they ACTUALLY used the power of the legal system to shut ME down. Fortunately the fine folks at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (as well as hundreds of bloggers) had my back and helped me prove I wasn't violating their copyright. I found another hosting company, ctyme.com, and got back on the web.

My goal was to alert the advertisers about what they were paying for on KSFO so they could decide if they wanted to continue to associate their brand with KSFO "humor" and the violent rhetoric targeted at liberals, democrats, Muslims and journalists. By my count 27 advertisers agreed that the content of the show just wasn't something they wanted to keep sponsoring.
Many companies have internal guidelines about the standards their vendors need to meet. They simply looked at their own guidelines and said, "We can't give a waiver to this vendor who attacks people of one religion or belief."

So what were some of the comments that upset the advertisers? I have lots, but since the current discussion is about people of the Muslim faith I'll repost some of those here. Listen for yourself.

"Say Allah is a Whore"

Sussman may claim that the call where he asked a listener to "Say Allah is a Whore", was a comedy bit, but it wasn't. That is their all purpose dodge. Listen. Say Allah is a whore audio link
He didn't just say it once, he said it twice.

NOTE: Sussman did apologize for this comment, but only because he got caught on that one. I have many other quotes of his that show an ongoing rage toward Muslims. Go to the KSFO website where Sussman had two hours yesterday to have his say on this. That is where he says this was a comedy bit (ha!) and that he already apologized.

ABC Radio is now owned by Citadel Broadcasting. Michael Black is no longer the sales manager. It is now Deidra Lieberman. Citadel Broadcasting is majority owned by Disney.

In recent months the way the station gets around their violent comments and anti-Muslim bias by having anti-Muslim guests who will never challenge their views. People like the Jihad Watch guy.

Caller comment and Host agreement that Innocent Muslims should be Preemptively Killed
For example, here is a quote I didn't put up.
A caller suggests that they send 10 cruise missiles hitting all the mosques in Syria on Sunday. Sussman agrees and says that we should have done this. 12/07/2006 six o'clock hour

Sussman's gruesome math, estimating that 10 million Muslims need to be killed because they are probably extremists. (link)

They love to accuse me of not providing context (as if right after they make a horrific comment they said, "I totally retract what I just said!") Extra context almost always reveals even more support for their horrific comments.

8 minute clip where Sussman reveals his true feelings toward of Muslims. (link) March 13 2006 You may want to take a walk in the sunshine after listening to that.

Now you might say that the deeds actually happened and that they would upset anyone who cares about innocent life. I must remind you that Sussman chose to read attacks from Muslims. I would like to believe his hate and anger is because he feels terrible about the innocent life that was lost, but given his pro-torture views and his stated desire to torture people I don't buy it.

Here is a five minute clip of Sussman talking about how he would cut off body parts to get people to talk (link) That was from 2005.

And just to be clear that he hasn't changed, here he is just this January talking about how he would shoot a suspect in the knee to make him talk. (link) 1/07/2009 Maybe he thinks that 24 is a training film. As I've said in the past, Jack Bauer has writers, the show is fiction.

And just so you can get a flavor of what else goes on this show, listen to this clip from March 31, 2009, but a few days ago. Advertisers have to be honest in their ads, journalists run corrections. But there are no such limits to the talk radio hosts. They can ignore facts, or make up information.

Listen to him agreeing with a caller who talks about how children will get AIDs from skinning their knees on a sidewalk where a person with AIDs spit (or vomited or pooped).
That we can't show him one person who has died from pollution in the united states.
Oh, and there is no correlation between asthma and pollution in the United States.

(Audio Link, Guest claims you can get AIDS from spit on the sidewalk)

So what do you do when this kind of misinformation and violent rhetoric toward others goes out day after day on these shows? You can contact their management, but has supported them with, 'It's a joke!' or "It's just their opinion!" or "Don't pick on us!"

That is why I contacted the advertisers, to ask them if they want to continue to sponsor this misinformation and violent rhetoric. It's the old, "Let the market decide." that the right claims to believe in from the comfort of their media monopolies.

I might write more about this, but now I think I need to take a walk out in the sun myself.

United: Do you really want to advertise on KSFO? They are tainting your brand

Dennis Cary, senior vice president and chief marketing and customer officer
Tony Cervone, director of Corporate Communications
United Airlines

Dear Dennis and Tony:

A series of your ads are running on KSFO radio station in San Francisco. They are live reads by one of the hosts, Tom Benner, known as "Officer Vic". (audio link of live read on March 31, 2009).

A few minutes later your United spokesperson, "Officer Vic" talked about President Obama having anal sex with Michelle Obama to avoid pregnancy. Listen to the clip of Officer Vic doing an imitation of the President having sex with his wife via "the port entry" or "the tunnel" and then using sound effects to make sure we all get the image. (audio clip).

When advertising on KSFO you can never trust what will come out of the mouths of the hosts before or after your ads run. Sadly this is only the most recent example in a long history of horrific comments. KSFO hosts have called for the death of Muslims, liberals, democrats and journalists. (see multiple audio links below).

Host Lee Rodgers has expressed his hate for all American airlines (except Southwest). He saves his specific hate for your Fly Away promotion partner Marriott. (audio link, this is a longer clip for context. If you want longer clips on any audio I'd be happy to provide them to you or your agency). I have also copied Marriott, your promotion partner, on this letter.

These hosts are now the voice of United to the SF Bay Area. You have chosen to associate your brand actively with this host and this station. Given that relationship, shouldn't they, as a vendor for United, be following your Code of Business Conduct? Your code says that it applies to all third party representatives such as contractors, consultants and agents of UAL Corporation. You require vendors to meet your own corporate guidelines when it comes to harassment or discrimination of people because of their race, religion or sexual orientation. After listening to the audio of KSFO hosts it will be hard to see how they can meet those guidelines.

Please do not simply dismiss these hosts as "shock jocks", they bill themselves as providing political news and talk and regularly have congressmen, senators and the head of the California Republican party on their shows. However their content primarily consists of death threats, name calling, discussions of torturing, shooting and mutilation of Iraqis. In the case of one host, the mutilation of his own children. They are also proudly pro-torture.

I understand some people find discussion of torture and blowing someones brains out funny. As an advertiser you'll want to first decided, after listening to their death threats for political opponents, torture fantasies for Iraqi's and anti-Muslim discrimination if their "humor" matches your brand.

I want to stress that if you choose not to advertise you are simply removing your paid support, you are not limiting their speech. This is about a corporate decision on who you choose to partner with based on your internal guidelines. If it helps you decide, imagine Officer Vic and Lee Rodgers wearing the United uniform and saying any of these things on TV.

To be fair, I encourage you or your agency to listen to the overall content of this show, you will likely determine the hosts of KSFO are tainting your brand.

Some advertisers, when they learn of the actual content of the show, are shocked and pull their ads, others choose to move them to the news portion of the show or to the feature portion like the Wall Street Journal report. I want to point out that neither of these locations are safe spots. The hosts make it a point to disparage their own network newscasts or use the stories as jumping off points for sick jokes or to disparage a company in the news.

For example listen to your United spokesman "Officer Vic" tell a story of a man's last meal. Notice how he wraps the McDonald's brand in his sick story of blood and death. (audio link)

Given this behavior and their history are you looking forward to the jokes if your plane is involved in a crash? Given Rodger's hate for all American airlines and their "humor" it is a strong possibility. And since your head of communications most recently came from the auto industry you might note how Wall Street Journal reporter Buck McQuillian uses a discussion of Ford as an opportunity to attack the auto industry. (audio link)

I know you work very hard to protect your brand, and you can't monitor all the places your ads go. Please don't allow the fine name of United to be dragged through the audio cesspool that KSFO has become. If you choose to continuing to support the hosts of KSFO after their lack of support of your quality brand, please let me know. I will be happy to continue to provide you with new horrific brand-tainting comments.

Thank you,
Spocko

cc;

John Tague, executive vice president and chief operating officer, United

Beth McGlasson, Marriott International, Inc
Amy McPherson, executive vice president, global sales & marketing, Marriott International.
David Rodriguez, executive vice president, global human resources, Marriott International.

Steve Jones, VP ABC News Radio, 212.456.5101
Daria Albinger, ABC News Radio WPLJ
Jim Kane, Deputy D.C. Bureau Chief, ABC News Radio
Mary McCarthy, Affiliate Relations, Citadel Broadcasting (KSFO/ABC Parent company) 212.456.5211


Wendy Davis, Media Post

AUDIO CLIPS
KSFO Radio Hosts, Lee Rodgers, Officer Vic, Brian Sussman (Morning host fill in) and Scott Cox (evening host fill-in)

Death on KSFO

"We'll trace you back, hunt you down and kill you like a mad dog."
Lee Rodgers, KSFO about supporters of Ron Paul (audio link)

"Officer Vic" KSFO, Joking about electrocuting New York Times editor Bill Keller
(audio link)

Brian Sussman, KSFO shooting the Dixie Chicks (with sound effects!)
(audio link)

"Officer Vic", KSFO Liberals are like cockroaches, cut their heads off
.(audio link)

Lee Rogers, KSFO Stomp protesters to death (audio link)

Cutting off Fingers and Other Body Parts on KSFO
Scott Cox, KSFO
"I would literally lop off the pinkie finger of either one of my children if they would let me drive those cars." (audio link)

Brian Sussman, KSFO talking about cutting off finger and other body parts during interrogation of Iraqi's (audio link)

Pro-Torture on KSFO
Brian Sussman, KSFO about shooting people in the knees during interrogation
(audio link)

Brian Sussman, KSFO
Waterboarding is not Torture, "No one ever died from waterboarding", it's just uncomfortable (audio link)

Lee Rodgers, KSFO Not apologizing for suggesting the torture and electrocution of a criminal following by "blowing his bleeping brains out." This shows the management support for these comments as well.
(audio link)

Death to Muslims and anti-Muslim bias on KSFO
Lee Rodgers, KSFO
Capture Muslims squeeze 'em for all the info they got and kill 'em (audio link)

Lee Rodgers, KSFO
We need to kill the Muslims in Indonesia, millions of 'em. (audio link)

Brian Sussman, KSFO
We need to kill at least 10 million Muslims because that is the percentage that are extremists (audio link)

Sexual Harassment on KSFO

December 3, 2008, ABC Radio hosts Lee Rodgers, "Officer Vic" and Wall Street Journal Reporter "Buck" McQuillian discuss the possibility of hiring outgoing Presidential Press Secretary Dana Perino to work at top conservative San Francisco station KSFO.

Rodgers talks about Perino coming to work sans clothing to show off her great rack (Windows Audio link, MP3, transcript)