Talk Radio Host Alleges Censorship : Broadcasting: Karen Tyndall says she was taken off the air at KORG-AM because her show criticized the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

Karen Tyndall, whose midday program on Anaheim all-talk radio station KORG-AM was been off the air since Feb. 12, is claiming that she is a victim of censorship over a Jan. 31 show in which she joined callers and guests in lambasting the Orange County Board of Supervisors on issues ranging from malathion spraying to the naming of the new terminal at John Wayne Airport.

Tyndall said one supervisor, Don R. Roth, complained about the program, and that she subsequently was told by station management to stop discussing the board on the air.

KORG vice president and general manager Bob Wood said Friday that the Jan. 31 program had nothing to do with the decision to take Tyndall off the air. Roth could not be reached for comment.

Wood said that Tyndall, who had been on KORG for two years, was not a salaried employee of the station but “brokered” her 11 a.m.-to-1 p.m. weekday slot, buying the time from the station and lining up her own advertisers.

As management was not ready to add her to the payroll, Wood said, it was deemed “not fair” to have her paying for the show out of her own pocket.

Wood said the station is hiring a new program director and contemplating other changes, and may ask Tyndall to rejoin the station once its plans are firm.

Tyndall said she had been promised a salaried position with the station since last October, and was told a final contract would be ready to sign Feb. 15. But on Feb. 12, she said, she was told to “take a couple of weeks off.”

The station has been telling callers that Tyndall is on “temporary hiatus.” Tyndall said she has not heard from the station since her show was pulled. The show, which focused on local news topics, has been replaced by syndicated programming.

KORG and sister station KEZY-FM were purchased last year for $15.1 million by the New York-based ML Media Partners. When the Anaheim Broadcasting Corp. agreed to sell the stations, ML officials claimed there were no plans to change the format of either station. KEZY is a Top 40 station. The 10,000-watt KORG switched formats in February, 1989, from Christian programming to all-talk with an emphasis on Orange County.