Radio Station Pulls Talk Show After Ethnic Slur
MILWAUKEE - A radio station pulled a conservative talk radio show from the airwaves Nov. 8 as members of the city's Latino community continued to protest its host and his use of an ethnic slur.
WISN Radio's parent company, Clear Channel Communications Inc., said Mark Belling's program would return but did not say when.
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Several advertisers have complained or withdrawn ads after Belling used the word "wetback," a derogatory term to describe illegal Mexican immigrants, on his Oct. 27 show about potential voter fraud in Wisconsin.
"You watch the voter turnout on the near south side [of Milwaukee], heavily Hispanic, and compare it to the voter turnout in any other election, and you're going to see every wetback and every other non-citizen out there voting," Belling said.
In a statement, Cindy McDowell, vice president and market manager of Clear Channel's six Milwaukee stations, declined to say whether the company had reprimanded Belling, whose show consistently tops the ratings.
"Everyone deserves a second chance. Mark will return to the air," the statement said.
In a statement aired at the beginning of Belling's 3 p.m. time slot Monday, an announcer said the station adamantly opposes racially offensive language. "As a result of his comment and subsequent actions, Mark Belling is currently not on the air."
The Associated Press could not reach Belling, whose home telephone number is unpublished.
Belling, an occasional fill-in for national conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh, sarcastically apologized for his comment on the air, then joked about it for days, taking calls on whether he needed to apologize and saying he should have used "another mean word" to describe illegal Mexican immigrants.
Around 300 people demonstrated outside WISN's studios Nov. 5, calling on advertisers to boycott his show, and Belling issued a seven-paragraph apology to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Nov. 6.
But Hispanic leaders said it was insincere and too late.
Maria Monreal-Cameron, president and CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin, said Nov. 8 that Belling should lose his job.
"He has every right in the world to free speech. He does not have the right to hate speech ... that right is not protected," she said after meeting with the manager of the local CBS affiliate, which airs a weekly television show hosted by Belling.
Around 50 people protested Nov. 8 outside that station, WDJT-TV, carrying signs saying "Belling must go" and holding a pinata with Belling's face taped to it.
WDJT-TV general manager Jim Hall issued a statement denouncing Belling's comments and saying it was reviewing its contract with him. Hall noted that the comments were not made on his station.
Country Insurance & Financial Services pulled its ads from WISN after it played one during Belling's show last week, spokeswoman Cathy Oloffson said. She said the company had specifically requested the ads not run on Belling's show because of his reputation as controversial.
"We do not condone the use of racially intolerant language and we agree that the comments were inappropriate and unacceptable," Oloffson said.
Carlson Wagonliv Travel also had pulled its ads from Belling's program. Wells Fargo, which advertises with the station but not on Belling's program, also wrote to WISN and Clear Channel to complain.
The Milwaukee County Board adopted a resolution Nov. 8 to pull its radio ads from Clear Channel stations unless the company and Belling take "immediate and sincere actions to make amends for the racial slur."
Peter Earle, treasurer of Milwaukee Area Technical College Board, said he would ask the school at a Nov. 17 meeting To pull about $104,000 worth of Clear Channel advertising on radio and billboards "as long as Mark Belling is on the air."