Re: Java Joel speaks out

Subject:

Comments:
: This is directed to Java Joel who obviously still doesn't understand what he did that cost him his job. : Rick Kaempfer and how he wrote '"considered" racial' in the interview. : And Silly Jilly who is at least 50% responsible for taking the racist phone call in the direction it went (she is the one who brought up "three black kids"). : Read this article from Chicago Ed's blog posted back when this happened. It sums it up: : : - : TALKING YOURSELF OUT OF A JOB : There are some jobs where lapses in judgment are just not allowed. We can all easily name a few. A police officer who carries a gun; a surgeon with scalpel in hand; a crossing guard shepherding children across a busy boulevard. How about a guy with a microphone in a radio market of over seven million who finds humor in racism, or doesn't even recognize it when he puts it on the air? : Sun-Times media man Robert Feder wrote several days ago of such a gross misjudgment and the sad but predictable end result. A popular local radio performer with three years of service in Chicago blew himself up with one inappropriate remark. An attempt at humor that wasn't. As Feder explained the errant comment,"a joke deemed racially insensitive by his bosses." : The station is Clear Channel's WKSC-FM 103.5 and the newly unemployed radio guy is Joel Murphy. Known to his listeners as "Java Joel" he was heard nightly at seven. : According to the Sun-Times column it was Murphy's second run-in with his bosses on program content. The previous event cost him a day's pay and a one night suspension. This time it was his job. : I don't feel the need to repeat Murphy's ill-thought attempt at humor and I do concur it was out of order. What amazes me is a guy with three years of Chicago radio experience working for the largest radio broadcasting company in the world wouldn't understand how out of place his "joke" was and the fallout it might create. Was this his attempt at "cutting edge" humor? Is this what it takes to be "cool" on todays radio? : I asked his boss Clear Channel Regional Vice President John Gehron about the firing of Murphy and why it happened. He said "He is very talented and it is a shame. We are in more sensitive times and the pressure on air personalities is greater than ever to self edit themselves. The FCC has unclear guidelines that make things ever more difficult. It takes a new level of maturity to be more than a time / temperature type jock." : Murphy didn't violate an FCC rule with his racial insensitivity but Gehron hit the nail on the head with his references to self editing, sensitivity, and most important, a new level of maturity. : This is just a personal aside and I can't not include it. I worked for some of the greatest radio stations on this planet and I'm not too proud to list them. WLS, WIND, WGN & WLUP. At none of them would it EVER have crossed my mind to inject some humor at the expense of another's race, and no boss would have ever need warn me of it's inappropriateness. : This week includes the national holiday in honor of the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Java Joel should pour a cup of coffee and catch a replay of the "I Have A Dream" speech. Maybe then he might understand why he lost his job. : - : : : : : : Rick: Of course, The Rubber Room came to a crashing halt one day in 2005 over a remark you made that was considered "racial." Now that you've had some time to reflect on that incident, what are your thoughts? : : : Joel: I think what was most criminal about that remark was that is just wasn't funny. This isn't a popular opinion, but I do think there is a place for racial humor...provided it's FUNNY. My comment wasn't funny, but it also wasn't hateful. : : : : What a racist idiot. How was what he said not hateful? If you recall, he (AND SILLY JILLY, CURRENTLY HIS REPLACEMENT ON KISS FM CHICAGO AT NIGHT) made a joke about adopting three black kids and "taking them to the zoo to see where they came from".

Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL:

Enter verification code: