Deejay Keeps On Shocking ‘n’ Rolling

“We apologize this morning for Jay Thomas . . . .”

“Power 106” bus billboards on RTD chariots seen throughout the city advertise a generic apology for morning drivetime personality Jay Thomas, whose East Coast-style brickbat humor often hits below the belt in the tradition of such “shock jocks” as New York’s Howard Stern and Washington’s “The Greaseman.”

But recently, the station genuinely has been having to apologize for Thomas.

Recently, for instance, he rattled on about the sexual needs of women, prompting a flurry of complaints.

Controversy is not new to Thomas.

He provoked Southern California’s Arab community months ago by identifying an upcoming song as: “Walk Like an Egyptian, Smell Like an Arab.”

Thomas pleads that he just wants to have fun.

“I’m silly. I’m immature. But I have a blast doing this,” he said during an in-studio interview conducted during a short break in his show. “I want to wake people up in the morning, get them going.”

He switched on a toy that simulated the sound of a bomb exploding, airing it for his audience in a demonstration of just how it is that he “gets them going.”

“I want them to laugh, get the news, the traffic, and have fun too,” he said, adding: “And at 5 or 7 in the morning, who cares?”

Faris Bouhafa, for one. The director of public relations for the Arab-American Anti-Defamation Committee in Washington raised the same questions of propriety and taste that have been leveled against Thomas by the Anti-Defamation League of the B’nai B’rith in the past, when Thomas has made questionable remarks about Jews.

“These shock jocks are dehumanizing people,” Bouhafa said. “These deejays frequently make racial jokes, which may seem funny to other people, but it has long-term effects. This is where a lot of the stereotypes come from, like blacks who are not as productive as whites or who don’t live as good a life as whites.

“I hope we and other ethnic groups can grow to the point where jokes like that become impractical and unprofitable,” he said. “It’s our airwaves too.”

But Thomas’ humor doesn’t seem to offend the bulk of KPWR’s listeners. Tracy Negrin of Bell Canyon, for example, said she likes the station anyway.

“I like Jay Thomas. Sometimes he says things that are off-color or gross, but I take it to be funny,” said Negrin, 32. “It has a good mix of Top 40 during the day, but in the evening it’s disco, and that’s when I don’t listen to it.”