Hollywood Masala

Controversy has arisen over a recent broadcast from Philadelphia`s Power 99 FM radio station.

Please listen to the following mp3 of a phone call made by the morning DJs to a call center operator in India.

http://www.pressedwool.com/Power99_Call_to_India.mp3

Many find this an intolerable act of racism. If you agree, take a moment to email, call -and- write to the management of thestation.

Below is the contact information for Power 99:

EMAIL: loraineballardmorrill@clearchannel.com (News & Public Affairs Director: Loraine Ballard Morrill)
CALL (215) 483-8900 and ask for Thea Mitchem (Director of UrbanProgramming/Program Director) or anyone in the programming department.
If they are not there, leave a msg.

Studio Hotlines:
Philly Area & Local: (215) 263-6699
Worldwide: (800) 669-99FM
Try this number too - (215) 482-7936
Station Address:Power99 WUSL-FM440 Domino Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19128

There are tons of comments on this here: http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/000893.html

Although the radio show host had a point to make about the outlandish process of outsourcing, there was absolutely no need for him to be so outright rude and insensitive to the call recipient. She was simply doing her job. If he really had to vent his anger and frustration, he should have simply targeted the right people, who wouldn't be hard to find...probably somewhere in his physical vicinity. He was very inconsiderate towards her feelings, and also short-sighted and ignorant about corporate control/operations.

The DJs call themselves the "Original Haters". So they are delivering what they are promising their audience.

What's more annoying is ignorant jerks like John Kerry trying to milk the anti-immigrant fever by going on and on about "outsourcing". Thats the kind of irresponsible rhetoric that will eventually lead to Vincent Chin style killings of South Asians or people who look like South Asians.

Google Vincent Chin if you want to know more, but here's a snippet.


It was an unlikely place for a pivotal point in Asian American history. A young draftsman named Vincent Chin was attending his bachelor party at a suburban Detroit strip club called Fancy Pants. With the party in full swing, Chin and Ronald Ebens, a white autoworker, began trading insults across the bar. "It's because of you little motherfuckers that we're out of work," witnesses later remembered Ebens yelling at Chin.


Morons like Kerry and these DJs need to make up their mind. America and the western world at large needs to make up its mind. Is India a country of elephant rides and other such "third world" stereotypes regularly used to depict India, or is it a competitor to the "first world" countries being indeed very capable of doing the work they do?

I still can't believe the South Asian community did not strike out at Kerry when he spouted his anti-immigrant venom. Sigh.

Ciao!
Nikhil K

Oh I listened. And I responded to Power 99. With venom.

I'm from Philly. I was able to make something of myself and now and am in a position to help the economy in that struggling town. But why? If they don't shed their racist ways, why should I encourage them in any way, shape or form? Be it financial or moral.

America needs this slap in the face like a donkey needs honey. We are at a sensitivce time in our history as a country and our international reputation is at an all-time low. And then comes this idiot. This bigot. This misogynist. As if we don't have enough people in power positions in this country spewing violence and hatred and total irregard for human compassion. And then this.

What to do? Send letters. Have everyone send letters. If you think they will fall of deaf ears, you haven't felt the power of petition. Trust me. That station is a blip on Clearview's (their parent company) radar. Enough of an outcry will be heard. And the goal doesn't have to be to have the station shut down entirely (which wouldn't be very likely anyway), but to have those two morons fired. Their voices don't deserve to be heard on the airwaves. And the fact that their show's tagline is "hatred" just says it all. Why do we need that? Why does anyone need that? I'm no boyscout, but I'm also no hate monger.

Anyway. That's my two cents. Spend it how you will.

Danny F.

No one should be subjected to this kind of behavior. Radio station should be fined allowing this to happen & DJ to be fired for such language . I have filed a complaint with FCC and you can do the same if you choose to..
Rajeev Chhibber
How to Contact the FCC

To Contact the Commissioners via E-mail

Chairman Michael K. Powell: Michael.Powell@fcc.gov
Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy: Kathleen.Abernathy@fcc.gov
Commissioner Michael J. Copps: Michael.Copps@fcc.gov
Commissioner Kevin J. Martin: KJMWEB@fcc.gov
Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein: Jonathan.Adelstein@fcc.gov


To Obtain Information via E-mail

General information, inquiries & complaints: fccinfo@fcc.gov
Freedom of Information Act requests: FOIA@fcc.gov
Comments on FCC Internet services: webmaster@fcc.gov
Elections & political candidate matters: campaignlaw@fcc.gov


To Obtain Information via Telephone

1-888-225-5322 (1-888-CALL FCC) Voice: toll-free
1-888-835-5322 (1-888-TELL FCC) TTY: toll-free
(202) 418-2555 TTY: toll
(202) 418-0710 FAX
(202) 418-2830 FAX on Demand
(202) 418-1440 Elections & political candidate matters
FCC Phone Directory


United States Postal Service First-Class Mail, Express Mail & Priority Mail

Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20554

From: Rajeev Chhibber
To: loraine@power99.com
Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2005 7:52 AM
Subject: Re: Your concerns


Dear Loarine,
Others also received the same standard reply as i did. This was not a slip of a tongue incident. This was a deliberate act of insult & racism at worst by a group of people as one can hear them laughing.
Being a SAG and AFTRA union actor I am all for freedom of speech but such incidents make it a clear that FCC should impose a major fine, station radio station should offer on air and by other media ways an apology , People involved & DJ should be FIRED. No Ifs, Dos or Buts about it.
No slap on the wrist.
Rajeev chhibber
----- Original Message -----
From: loraine@power99.com
To: rkchhibber@hotmail.com
Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2005 7:29 AM
Subject: Your concerns


Dear Rajeev


You are not alone. I take your concerns very personally about the language you
write about in your email and my collegues here were also very concerned. At
WUSL - we don't condone the use of offensive language of any on the air or in
the hallways. I can assure you this: our General Manager and Program Director
have discussed this situation with the the people in question and I am
confident nothing of this nature will happen again. They have also reprimanded
the staff and reminded them that posting such material on our station's Web
site is not acceptable and will not happen again. I deeply regret the distress
this may have caused you, your friends, family, and colleagues. Power 99 fm has
the reputation as being the community radio station and this is what my work is
all about. Again I apologize to you personally for this and I understand your
point of view. I appreciate your taking the time to let me know your thoughts
and rest assured - we have taken action.

Loraine Ballard Morrill
News and Community Affairs Director
Power 99 fm

From: Rajeev Chhibber [mailto:]
Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2005 12:56 AM
To: MORRILL, LORAINE
Subject: Deeply disturbed by your DJ
Importance: High



Hi,

I am deeply disturbed by your DJ's call comment to operator in India, Calling
her F word & using words like *** are demeaning and a insult to all
Americans .

Please listen to the following mp3 of a phone call made by the morning DJs to a
call center operator in India.

http://www.pressedwool.com/Power99_Call_to_India.mp3

This is nothing but racism at worst. You must take action by an apology &
termination the DJ who said all this.

People like that do not deserve to be on the air.

Do you as a radio station condone such behavior... listen to people at the
station laughing in the background.

Please reply

Rajeev Chhibber

Hello People of all nations, colors and origins!

There is nothing more amusing than a moral claim of a "higher society" being challenged by one of that very society's own rotten apples.

I for one never believed that America is even half the country it aspires to be, and those aspirations are pretty high and hard to achieve, by any standards.

We shouldn't judge this country by the worst it produces, but please acknowledge that racism is as American as apple pie, and cannot be tackled by counter hatred.

Neither can this DJ fool stop outsourcing or change any other of the realities of the increasingly global economy the world has started to live in. The normal course of events in this connected world will decide the fate of this station, the future of this ill-informed hatred monger and his like.

Expressing outrage over this event is good, but questioning the high and mighty notion that America somehow provides the moral scale for humanity will work even better. Do so at every available opportunity, and don't forget that racism was LEGAL in America not so long ago.

BSK.

These DJs are entertainers and what they are doing is entertainment. Nasty perhaps, but entertainment nevertheless. They have an audience for what they do. Afterall, we DO go to watch a film such as "Silence of the Lambs" and ooh and aah over it for a decade afterwards.

And they aren't the first. There have been a myriad number of DJs blasting Indians specially here in the Jersey area. And guess what? On one of the shows I heard, most of the callers (non-indian obviously) told the DJ to shove it - its a company's prerogative to improve its bottom line was their take on it. Those callers made my day and made me proud to be a part of this country.

And who are we kidding with all this "activism"? Where the frig was it, when John Kerry used my frigging tax dollars as he went on national TV and hogged the bandwidth talking about those non-deserving brownies stealing all the jobs...?

Where were you, people? Wasting your time speaking out against that other presidential candidate...? Fat lot of good that did. But the damage John Kerry did will have a long-lasting effect and its repercussions will be felt by immigrant generations to come. Americans don't care about anything as much as they care about losing their jobs. Just pray the GDP doesn't dip down too much... because when it does, immigrant heads will roll.

But why such a strong political thread on HollywoodMasala? It'd work better on a blog or what have you...

Bring back the entertainment!

;-)


Ciao!
Nikhil K