National Public Radio Station (WEMU) fires Disc Jockey for Supporting George W Bush and the War

AP | 4/4/03 | Reagan06

[Reagan06]

YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) A disc jockey at Eastern Michigan University's public radio station was fired after giving on-air opinions in favor of war in Iraq and refusing to air National Public Radio news.

Terry Hughes was fired Wednesday by WEMU-FM station manager Art Timko.

Hughes acknowledged his opinions were controversial. ''But this is personality radio,'' he said. ''I have nothing but opinions on my show, every show.''

On recent broadcasts of his Sunday night R&B and soul music program, Hughes has spoken in favor of the war in Iraq and President Bush's handling of it while denouncing NPR as biased against the military operation.

''We have a policy that our announcers don't express opinions on matters of a controversial nature,'' Timko said Thursday.

On his last show, Timko said, Hughes cut off four hourly NPR newscasts.

Hughes' on-air comments drew a handful of complaints, while his dismissal had prompted about 90 e-mails ''expressing disappointment, curiosity (and) outrage,'' Timko said.

Hughes had hosted the show for about 20 years, Timko said.

[Reagan06]

Call and Email to Complain

Station Manager Arthur Timko

wemu@wemu.org and/or (734)487-2229

[BureaucratusMaximus]

Hughes' on-air comments drew a handful of complaints, while his dismissal had prompted about 90 e-mails ''expressing disappointment, curiosity (and) outrage,''

Outrage? Oh no! Not outrage!!!

[KriegerGeist]

And NPR & PBS should be continue to be supported with our tax dollars why?

[Dan from Michigan]

Time to defund NPR.....

[PackerBoy]

For me, the rightness or wrongfulness of this depends upon what the DJ's job was. Unless he was hired to provide his honest personal views, then I would think his termination was appropriate if his views did not jibe with those of management or if his actions were unapproved.

Soon he will have another job and be grateful to get away from the Evil (Leftist) Empire - NPR.

[trebb]

''We have a policy that our announcers don't express opinions on matters of a controversial nature,'' Timko said Thursday.

What other topics are worthy of having discussion over? If it isn't controversial, there is no discussion needed.

[Shermy]

and refusing to air National Public Radio news.

What right does he have to do that?

[Cyber Liberty]

Sorry. Refusing to air the scheduled newscasts is reason enough for me to fire this guy's butt, no matter what his views are.

Refusing to follow the staion log is a big-time no-no, even for a NPR affiliate (I know, I've worked commercial and NPR myself).

[Living Free in NH]

It sure would be nice to see their funding yanked.

[Cyber Liberty]

Bingo to your comment. I'd have fired the guy for that, and that alone.

[Johnny Gage]

Mike Gallagher had this guy on his show this morning.

he was asking everyone to email the President of the school and demand that he be put back on.

President of East Mich U

Hughes's website is at: The Bone Conduction Music show

Anything that disses NPR can't be bad.

[RobFromGa]

Sounds like he deserves to be fired. He'll find a better job than NPR, I'd bet.

Defunding NPR is still a good idea, but not because of this.

[Righter-than-Rush]

NPR and CSPAN are kissing cousins. Defund them yesterday.

[m1-lightning]

I bet if Hughes took a more anti-war role then nothing would be said about it from Pimpko.

[Nachum]

What a great career move by this guy. In the matter of a day he finds his name blasted all through the nation's news outlets.

Hmmm, let's see. His job description might look like this:

An announcer who worked for twenty years for a radio station is now looking for talk radio employment. Announcer gained national recognition for having strong conservative opinions. His last employer dismissed him for refusing to play NPR programming. His new fan base is considerable due to the national publicity of his dismissal. Possible ratings coup for next employer....

[Bullish]

After 20 years maybe it's time to get a real job.

[irish_links]

Call and Email to Complain

The reportage suggests that this guy is a discipline problem. I may agree with him, but when he accepted the job with the NPR station he agreed to abide by its work rules. When he elected to violate the work rules and inserted his own views on the air, he put his job in jeapordy. Being right doesn't give an employee license to pop off at will.

His story would be more compelling if he could demonstrate that the station management permits lefties to insert their views into programming.

[irish_links]

"...NPR and CSPAN are kissing cousins. Defund them yesterday....."

True enough for NPR. But, correct me if I'm wrong, isn't CSPAN funded by the cable TV industry as a public service?

[bvw]

Earth Day is controversial. Will they not promote Earth Day now?

[Cicero]

Pretty harsh for a guy who has worked for them for 20 years.

Was this right for him to do? I don't know. Local stations do sometimes drop national programming. I don't know if it's within his purview to make such a decision.

I doubt that he would have been fired for speaking out against the war.