Talk-Show Host Suspended for Racism : Radio: An Alabama man refused to accept black callers on his show after a purse-snatching incident. He apologized.

A radio talk-show host was suspended indefinitely for banning black callers after a colleague’s car was broken into. He later apologized on the air for his “emotional, spur-of-the-moment decision.”

Tim Lennox, host of a live, weekday show on WERC-AM, refused to allow black callers Wednesday and was suspended Thursday by the station’s general manager, who let him back on the air briefly to apologize.

“I want to sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended by my actions,” Lennox told his listeners. “Anybody who has listened to my show for 14 years is aware of my liberal outlook.”

Lennox, 40, who is white, said he had been upset because a black man broke into a station employee’s car and stole her purse Wednesday, just before the start of his two-hour show.

Lennox he “made an emotional spur-of-the-moment decision to accept only calls from white listeners.”

The general manager, Berkley Fraser, also apologized on the air Thursday.

Fraser said he didn’t know how long Lennox would be suspended. “It will give us at least the weekend to sit down and calm down and see what the emotion was that got him off on that tangent,” he said.

Lennox said he was proud to have been part of the first integrated talk show in Birmingham some years back.

“None of that excuses yesterday’s show, but it might provide some perspective for what happened,” he said.

Fraser said the station encourages free expression with live programming and “unfortunately, mistakes do occur.”

Callers during the Wednesday show talked about their experiences as crime victims and how to prevent becoming a victim. But nearly half were critical of Lennox for banning blacks, the Birmingham Post-Herald said.

About 60% of Birmingham’s 284,000 residents are black and about 40% are white.