Nice write up! Thanks for helping to spread the word!

Rip -
(Team Blog Integrity)

I just blasted this press release to N. Cal. media:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 11, 2007

Background:
A self described “fifth-tier” anonymous blogger, Spocko, was moved to record the incendiary and hateful rhetoric* he heard broadcast by KSFO. In an effort to make advertisers aware of the damage that was being done to their brands, he wrote emails to the companies and included links to his blog where the company executives could hear the KSFO hosts in all of their glory. Several advertisers pulled their sponsorship of the station. KSFO retaliated by posting a picture of Spocko on their website and by threatening to bring a lawsuit against him. Undeterred, Spocko pressed on. Eventually, ABC, subsidiary of Disney and parent to KSFO, directed their lawyers to convey a cease and Desist order to Spocko’s ISP that made a frivolous claim of copyright infringement. The ISP, rather than battle Disney in court, pulled the plug on Spocko. Spocko emailed Mike Stark, an internet activist, who took up his cause. Within days Spocko’s audio clips were hosted by hundreds of blogs, a YouTube clip was posted that received over 30,000 views, and over a thousand bloggers “blogswarmed” the topic. Within the past two days, CBS 5 News did a feature segment that highlighted Spocko’s ordeal and the San Francisco Chronicle wrote a lengthy page 2 story. On Monday, the story will further explode into the national media.

* Hate speech available here: http://blogintegrityblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2007/01/ksfos-eliminationist-tendencies-caught.html

Body:
KSFO posted the following statement to their website this afternoon:

KSFO TALK SHOW HOSTS TALK BACK TO THEIR CRITICS IN A NO-HOLDS-BARRED BROADCAST THIS FRIDAY
Lee Rodgers, Melanie Morgan, Officer Vic and Brian Sussman will address issues and concerns prompted by misleading information about the station on the Internet and in the mainstream media. The broadcast will air on KSFO Radio starting at 12 noon on Friday, January 12, 2007 and will continue as long as anyone has relevant questions of our hosts.
Both friends and critics of the station are invited to participate. Members of the news media and the blogging community will be encouraged to participate, as well.
Given the nature of the talk radio medium, I decided to call the station in an effort to ascertain the format and ground rules of the planned broadcast. I talked with Ken Barry, KSFO’s program director.
Barry told me that the show would be call-in only. I expressed my trepidation with regards to that format. After all, having made a name for myself by wallowing in the fetid cesspool that is right wing talk radio, I’m fully aware of disgusting and unfair techniques hosts use to maintain control of the dialogue and marginalize the opposition. Hosts regularly mute microphones, shout over callers, disconnect calls and rant afterwards about the caller that can no longer defend himself or his point of view.
I offered Barry the following proposal. If KSFO is interested in a genuine and reasonable discussion of the important First Amendment issues at play, I would be happy to be a guest on their show for 20 or 30 minutes – or however long they desired. I made clear that I have no interest in a radio cage match; I’m not looking for a shout-fest or name-calling. Put simply, I agree that a free and open exchange of ideas would benefit the San Francisco community and I am willing to advocate for my side with the dignity and decorum decent human beings have come to expect from one another.
Barry sharply dismissed my proposal and told me, like anyone else, I could call in if I wanted to.
I was surprised by what came next. Was it true, Barry wanted to know, that I was an Air America reporter. Taken off guard, I confirmed as much, but was genuinely interested with regards to why he would ask such a non sequitur of a question. His purpose immediately resolved when he suggested that since I was working for a competitor of his radio station, it might behoove me to disclose my connection to Air America. I explained that I am not an employee of Air America – instead I have served as a free-lance reporter for them. If I have a story I want to do and I think it fits with The Young Turks radio program, I run it by the show’s host, Cenk Uygur, to see if they have an interest in buying the rights to it. Until tonight, when I related the conversation to Cenk because I’m fully aware the ABC/Disney’s litigious reputation, I had not had a single communication (by phone, email, in person or otherwise) regarding Spocko or KSFO with anyone remotely connected to Air America.
I am disappointed by KSFO’s continued distortions and recalcitrance. They have claimed that there are people (presumably including Spocko and me), “trying to get us fired here at KSFO radio and who are trying to deprive us of a livelihood and who are trying to deprive us of our free speech rights.”
None of this is true. As far as I know, the only thing any of us have done is amplify the voices heard on KSFO. We believe in the free market and the free flow of information. It is important that advertisers know what their brands are being associated with. By spreading the audio clips to an audience that was otherwise unaware of the rhetoric employed by KSFO hosts, Spocko increased the reach of the KSFO voices.
I can only think of two reasons the KSFO hosts would feel less than comfortable that their musings reached a wider audience. They are either ashamed of what they said or they regret the loss of revenue their provocative comments cost them.
After listening to this morning’s show, in which Melanie Morgan called me a “stalker” and ridiculed Spocko as a chicken (with clucks and all), I’m led to believe this is simply a money issue for KSFO. There is no shame or sorrow for the reprehensible things they have said.
Finally, I should note that KSFO has a long history of airing disgusting and violent rhetoric. They know what their brand of “Snuff Radio” is capable of. In 1994 a KSFO host called for “lynching a few liberals” and for listeners to “shoot illegal immigrants who come across the border.” (Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 2/24/95) KSFO fired hate spewing host, J. Paul Emerson in 1995. In 1996, a drunken caller left messages on a state Senator’s answering machine that threatened to kill him and his family. He said he was angered after listening to a KSFO program. (SF Chronicle, 8/16/96).
Hate sells. It is a fact. The only question is what kind of person is comfortable making a living by peddling toxic hate pornography? Doesn’t it take a sociopath to go home and kiss your kids after spouting bilious invective all day long? Aren’t sociopaths usually confined in hospitals? Wouldn’t society be better off if they were?
For further information, feel free to contact Mike Stark at 518 320 8526 or stark.m@gmail.com