US radio star fired for obscenity

BBC ^ | 03/05/04 | BBC

[Pikamax]

US radio star fired for obscenity

The segment was broadcast twice on California radio station KCRW A US radio commentator has lost her job after using a four-letter word on Los Angeles station KCRW-FM. Author and actress Sandra Tsing Loh said the obscenity was the result of an editing error in a recorded segment - but the station said it was deliberate.

The profanity occurred during a report on a Bette Midler concert, in which Loh's musician husband played guitar.

KCRW-FM general manager Ruth Seymour likened the incident to Janet Jackson's breast-baring Super Bowl performance.

"It is the equivalent of the Janet Jackson performance piece and there is not a radio or TV programmer today who does not understand the seriousness involved to the station," Ms Seymour said.

Carefully scripted

US broadcasters have come under increasing pressure over indecency and obscenity, with politicians recently recommending fines of $500,000 (£275,000) per breach of rules.

Ms Seymour also rejected Loh's explanation that it was the station's fault for not checking the piece.

"It her responsibility to deliver a program that is ready for broadcast," the general manager said.

Loh's show had the air of a spontaneous comment piece, but was in fact carefully scripted.

"We discussed it and [the engineer] said, 'Say it and I'll bleep it out'," Loh, 42, said.

"It's shocking and I would never have toyed with saying that," Loh said. "Of course I shouldn't say that word on the air. It was never intended to be on the air," the DJ said.

She pointed out she had just finished a five-part series on knitting.

Ms Loh will continue as a commentator on Minnesota Public Radio Marketplace, which is syndicated to more than 300 US stations.

[UB355]

Bub Bye potty mouth

[Incorrigible]

Sandra Tsing Loh = "radio star"?

[EggsAckley]

Star??

Never heard of her till she got fired! LOL!

[SouthernFreebird]

She pointed out she had just finished a five-part series on knitting

What does that have to do with the price of eggs in China.

[davisfh]

Probably trying to emphasize her "softer" domestic side.
"See. I can be nice and do nice things when I'm not
screaming the F word."

[Cicero]

She still works for NPR. No doubt after this auspicious start to her career we'll be hearing more of her.

[Rennes Templar]

"What does that have to do with the price of eggs in China."

Thanks a lot for nothing. My 10th year prune-faced geometry teacher would say that when we gave the wrong answer in class. I knew isosceles triangles inside out and she still gave me a C. I had forgotten about her.(apolgies for the digression)

[Viking2002]

Hey, you can say almost anything on the radio, but if you start fropping the F-Bomb over the airwaves, expect to be shown the door.....

[Ken H]

She pointed out she had just finished a five-part series on knitting.

What does that have to do with the price of eggs in China.

She thought the station was being crewel.

[ozaukeemom]

"Ms Loh will continue as a commentator on Minnesota Public Radio Marketplace, which is syndicated to more than 300 US stations."
Doesn't sound like she has lost much. You would think if she lost her job over this, then Public Radio shouldn't be broadcasting her either.

[The Clemson Tiger]

Never heard of her till she got fired! LOL!

Probably the whole point.

[monkeywrench]

She'll be funded by the public (taxpayer) from now on. Some punishment, indeed.

[TonyInOhio]

I feel a tune coming on...

"Tsing Loh, Sweet chariot, 'comin for to carry me home"

Thank yew, thank yew verah much.

[AmishDude]

Ms Loh will continue as a commentator on Minnesota Public Radio Marketplace, which is syndicated to more than 300 US stations.

Of course she will.

[IncPen]

From Her Bio

Loh began in the mid'80s as a performance artist; her piano concert "spectacles" were covered by such outlets as People, the Wall Street Journal, GQ, Glamour, the Associated Press, CNN, and even in Johnny Carson's Tonight Show monologue. Nearly 1,000 people attended "Night of the Grunion" (March 1989), in which Loh and the Topanga Symphony played a concerto for spawning fish on a Malibu beach at midnight. In "Self Promotion" (March 1988), an assistant flung $1,000 in autographed $1 bills over her as she performed before a stampeding crowd. "Spontaneous Demographics" (September 1987) featured Loh playing a piano abord a flatbed truck in a concert for rush hour commuters on the Harbor Freeway.

[Cultural Jihad]

She thought the station was being crewel.

Ooh! Quit needling us and tying us up in knots, unless you like seeing our knitted brows! ;)

[FITZ]

A five-part radio show on knitting? I can see why she might have felt it needed spicing up with sexual references.

[DentsRun]

She pointed out she had just finished a five-part series on knitting.

Yeah, she said she just made her nephew a shi#%y-a#@ rat-f$@k sweater!

[squidly]

Since Julia Roberts "came out" as a knitter, it's hip.