Power99’s response to their racist broadcast controversy is a textbook example of corporate weaseling. First, they told the press that the real problem was that they got caught — that they posted the audio clip to their Web site. Then they ducked responsibility by saying the complaints are coming from non-African Americans (duh) and non-Philadelphians.
As pressure mounted, they buried a Web apology on the bottom of the second screen, well below the fold, and refused to apologize on air. And they simply changed the date of an already-planned radiothon and tried to pass it off as a DJ ‘suspension’:
On Wednesday morning, the station broadcast a radiothon for tsunami victims in place of Star and Bucwild. The radiothon was previously scheduled and was only advanced to the show’s slot, Morill said.
Here’s the text of the apology:
The Star & Buc Wild Show prides itself on walking on the edge. On December 15th, we crossed it. We know the pain racial slurs cause and apologize that this comedy segment went too far.
At the same time, it’s also become clear that the abuse of call center workers is more widespread. Check out the Is Your Job Going Offshore? forums (via Times of India):
“… we’re up and running with our call campaign against the BP Motor Club. There are three of us calling on a daily basis to express our displeasure with oursourcing [sic] to the Indian phone center workers. There’s room for you!… Usually, I limit the calls to 60 seconds anyway, so I can call back and really hammer them. I’ve been doing this about 20 minutes a day. It’s great fun!”
Because that’s the rational thing to do when you’re jobless: spend your unemployment benefits on phone calls to India.
You can use the FCC complaint letter below. Here are simple instructions if you wish to draft your own.
Here’s a roundup of news coverage to date:
- Philadelphia Inquirer
- Philadelphia Daily News
- Philadelphia Weekly
- AlterNet
- Hindustan Times
- Times of India 1
- Times of India 2
- Times of India 3
- Times of India column
- Rediff
Previous posts on Power 99: 1, 2, 3
Update:
Asia Media Watchdog has an easy form to complain to the NYC station which is about to pick up Star and Bucwild (via Turbanhead).
More news coverage:
Update 2:
AllHipHop picks up on the story. SOHH, another hip-hop site, says DJ Star actually promised not to do it again, which would be new info (but sounds like a misquote):
Sources say… that station’s head honchos talked to Star and were assured it wouldn’t happen again.
EurWeb quotes station management speaking with the Philadelphia Inquirer as repeating that promise:
… station managers have had “extensive discussions” with Star since learning about the clip Thursday. “It was made clear this is not acceptable, and it won’t happen again,” Morrill told the paper.
For all the hard work that thousands of Indian call centre operators put in, they often have to put up with abject racism from some of their customers oversees… BPO [business process outsourcing] owners say the trend is not new but has definitely become more serious in recent years… Most call centres have now hired psychologists to mentally prepare their employees.
The Inquirer was deceived by the suspension story. See also India Daily’s summary.
Update 3:
The Wall Street Journal editorializes (see Anna’s post).
Sample letter:
[Name]
[Mailing address]
Enforcement Bureau
Investigations and Hearings Division
445 12th St., SW, Room 3-B443
Washington, DC 20554 [Date]
The FCC has defined profanity as including language that “denote[s] certain of those personally reviling epithets naturally tending to provoke violent resentment or denoting language so grossly offensive to members of the public who actually hear it as to amount to a nuisance.”Troi Torain (aka DJ Star) at WUSL-FM called a customer support line for Conair, the electrical appliance maker. Upon finding an operator with an Indian accent, unprovoked, he called her a ‘dirty rat-eater,’ a ‘filthy rat-eater,’ a ‘bitch,’ and threatened, ‘I’ll come out there and choke the eff out of you.’ Torain invoked generic anti-Asian stereotypes from the Vietnam War (dog eaters), abused Indians and Indian-Americans because of the outsourcing trend, and advocated violence against women. Torain should be banned from broadcast for life, and the show should be cancelled. Sincerely, [Signature]
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/obscene.html
Call sign: WUSL-FM (Power99), Philadelphia (owned by Clear Channel)
