MEDIA / KEVIN BRASS : Radio Talk Show Hosts Go a Few Rounds on Ethics

A workout room at the M. Larry Lawrence Jewish Community Center was the unlikely site as four key players in local talk radio debated the ethics of their profession last week and took a few shots at each other in the process. And it seemed the participants were eager to go a few rounds.

XTRA-AM (690) morning talk show host Mark Williams was on hand to continue his admitted efforts to gain publicity by attacking his major rivals at KSDO-AM (1130). Instead, Williams’ form of crusading talk radio--he is part of a nationwide coalition of talk show hosts advocating causes--became the major topic of discussion.

“I don’t know that I can be so arrogant to say we are leaders of people,” KSDO’s executive producer, Gayle Falkenthal, told the crowd of about 35 people. “We’re a mirror for people.”

Part of the so-called Tea Bag Rebellion, in which talk show hosts throughout the country encouraged listeners to send tea bags to their representatives in Congress to protest a proposed congressional pay raise, Williams believes a talk radio host should be a catalyst to action. His hero is KFI’s Tom Leykis, who recently garnered publicity for advocating the destruction of Cat Stevens records after the Salman Rushdie incident.

“I say give people the extra piece of information: what they can do about” an issue, Williams said at the Thursday give-and-take.

Beyond the personal squabbling--both Williams and the KSDO contingent were privately looking forward to the opportunity to aim a few barbs at the competition--the forum accented the schism developing within the talk show industry. Every radio market has at least one talk show host trying to inflame listeners, but most stop short of using the air waves as vehicles for change.

Williams said he simply reflects the views of his listeners, but he is more than willing to make suggestions. For example, last week he advocated sending someone to Panama to assassinate Gen. Manuel Noriega.

The Tea Bag movement “borders on a ‘get the posse together,’ vigilante movement,” said KSDO afternoon host Stacy Taylor, whose on-air politics often come across as an on-air Attila the Hun. “A talk show host is not elected to lead the masses.”

Poor Clark Anthony of KFMB-AM (760) was the fourth panelist. His homey show has little to do with the intense shows hosted by Taylor and Williams.

“Clark relieves stress, I create it,” Williams said.

There was one area where Williams and the KSDO representatives could agree upon--the growing popularity and impact of talk shows in general.

“It’s reflecting that people feel more and more disenfranchised from the forces controlling their lives,” Williams said.

Sports guy Jim Laslavic, who has played behind Ted Leitner at KFMB-TV (Channel 8) for the past six years, is moving to KNSD-TV (Channel 39) to become sports director. He starts July 5, replacing Bobby Estill, who never quite caught on in San Diego. Estill will stay on the air through June. General Manager Neil Derrough said: “Jim brings to us what we always talk about being. He brings a straight no-nonsense sports style with instant credibility to the station.”

In the depositions for ex-reporter Bob Donley’s wrongful termination suit against KGTV (Channel 10), lawyers for Channel 10 raised the issue of a 1987 incident when an advertiser, a car dealer, called to complain about Donley. The station basically told Donley to stop harassing the car dealer. The car dealer was Tony McCune, and Donley was investigating the alleged prostitution operation making headlines then. Though no charges have been filed, McCune has since been linked to the case by court documents.

“McCune called, and I called him back,” News Director Paul Sands said. “He was appalled at the way he had been treated on the phone, that he had been threatened (by Donley). He didn’t say, ‘Don’t do the story’ or anything about getting Bob. He was just (angry). We talked to Bob and said we don’t operate that way.”

Sands said there was not enough information available for a story at the time, long before McCune allegedly gave money to a suspected madam.

The two extremes of media coverage of the McCune story: In one of his “Perspective” pieces, Channel 10’s Michael Tuck chastised the media for overzealous coverage of McCune. “Reporters sold the public a lemon on this one,” Tuck proclaimed. San Diego Union cartoonist Steve Kelley drew a cartoon depicting McCune soliciting prostitutes. “Would you buy a used car from this man?” one of the prostitutes says.

XTRA-AM (690) Sports Guy Lee Hamilton is talking to Channel 39 about doing a sports phone-in show after weekend baseball games during the summer. Nothing has been set, Hamilton says.

The renewal of Channel 8’s operating license has been held up by complaints filed by the NAACP and the National Black Media Coalition charging that the station has discriminated against blacks and other minorities in its hiring practices.

Channel 10 is marketing a video of Jack White’s “San Diego Remembers: The War Years” series. Available at Blockbuster Video, the price tag is $19.95. It is believed to be the first time a San Diego station has marketed a video of a news series.

The three stations vying for the right to air Padres games will meet with team officials again Wednesday. The decision is expected within the next couple of weeks.

Issues & Politics: the Magazine for Concerned San Diegans,” is a good-looking, slick new 32-page magazine focusing on local politics. “I envision it as a cross between the California Journal and Campaign and Elections, nitty-gritty campaign stories,” said publisher-editor Mike Ribant, a Republican and former stockbroker. Among other features, the first issue includes an interview with Lucy Killea, an analysis of local companies susceptible to takeovers and a listing of bills introduced by local assembly members. The magazine, with a first press run of 5,000 copies, will focus on subscription sales, Ribant said.

A press release touting the 40th anniversary of KFMB-TV is full of blooper stories from some of the many employees who have worked at the station for more than 20 years, such as the time a personality doing a commercial for ginger ale spit out the drink on the air. Bob Lopez, now director of “Sun Up,” recalls having to drive a car into the studio during a live broadcast. The studio immediately started filling with exhaust fumes, causing everybody in the studio, including announcer Ray Wilson, to choke.

Channel 39’s General Manager Neil Derrough on recently chosen News Director Donald Shafer, currently in Tucson. “He’s a news junkie. He comes from a very hard-news background.”

Billboard Magazine has added KKLQ (Q106) to its programming listing of the “top 24” stations in the country.