In a lengthy May 28 tirade on the Rob, Arnie & Dawn in the Morning radio show heard in Sacramento, California on KRXQ 98.5 FM and Reno, Nevada on KDOT 104.5 FM, hosts Rob Williams and Arnie States verbally attacked transgender children. While discussing a recent story about a transgender child in Omaha, Nebraska and her parents’ decision to support her transition, the two hosts spent more than 30 minutes explicitly promoting child abuse of and making cruel, dehumanizing and defamatory comments toward transgender children. Read the transcripts from GLAAD.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Please contact KRXQ management in Sacramento, California, where the show is produced, and demand that radio show hosts Rob Williams and Arnie States publicly apologize. Call on KRXQ to hold Williams and States accountable for their remarks and establish clear standards to ensure their media platform will not be used to condone or promote violence against any parts of the communities they serve. Maintain a civil tone and language in your contact with the station and staff.
John Geary
Vice President & General Manager
KRXQ-FM
(916) 339-4209
jgeary@entercom.com
Arnie States
On Air Personality
KRXQ-FM
(916) 334-7777
rad@robarnieanddawn.com
Rob Williams
On Air Personality
KRXQ-FM
(916) 334-7777
rwilliams@entercom.com
HT to GLAAD for the info on this horrific segment, and contact info for the station!
The performers in question have responded on air by saying that they were just joking and everyone is too sensitive. Responsible corporate citizens have responded by dropping their sponsorship. These include: Sonic, Snapple, Chipotle, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, McDonalds, Verizon, AT& T, Nissan, and Carl's Jr.
Other sponsors have not dropped their sponsorship. They include:
The New Chrysler
State Farm Insurance
Albertsons (of Supervalu)
Jared (Jewelers)
Wells Fargo
Guitar Center
Mervyns
Red Bull
Sleep Train Mattress Centers
Purina
California Sun Centers
Harley Davidson
UC Davis Health Care System
Tava (a Pepsi beverage)
WaMu
Pep Boys
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Hyundai
Home Depot
A boycott has more power than just giving attention to shock jocks. If no one is paying them to incite hatred, they'll probably stop.
Posted by: meko | June 06, 2009 at 11:43 AM
June 6, 2009
I would love to see current updates of the list of advertisers still patronizing these hate mongers over the coming weeks. This, to avoid bothering those who have already responded to the boycott and pulled their ads.
Please note they carry the iTunes logo on the website for their podcast service, and perhaps Apple would wish to be informed of the boycott.
They are still at it, it seems.
While I am sure their national advertisers are important accounts, I have also written or emailed several of their local ad accounts as well. I would suggest the KRXQ website or live stream as a good source of the advertisers' identities. For example, while The New Chrysler is in the list above, local account Performance Chevrolet, is not. Think about that for just a moment. Our own tax dollars, as represented by the nation's investment in General Motors, is indirectly contributing to speech inciting violence against a minority.
Posted by: Aphrodite | June 06, 2009 at 05:27 PM
GLAAD has been at the forefront on this campaign, doing some amazing work. the latest info is here: http://glaadblog.org/2009/06/07/update-krxq-radio-host-rob-williams-declares-failure/
It looks like they're finally admitting wrongdoing and will be making an official statement on Thursday.
Posted by: CA NOW | June 08, 2009 at 06:41 AM
Well, i don't think this will change anything. With all the energy you invested in putting this out for you "Soldiers" to go in a Hissy fit about.... I honestly can't support something that would challenge free speech cause someone got their feelings hurt.
Posted by: Hatch | June 10, 2009 at 08:03 AM
Sorry, buddy, but "freedom of speech" first of all refers only to the issue of censorship by the government, and secondly, it does not mean freedom from consequences for saying hateful things.
Read this: http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2009/06/09/freedom-of-speech-isnt-freedom-from-criticism-and-its-not-freedom-from-consequences/
before you respond again.
Posted by: tiggrrl | June 10, 2009 at 11:21 AM