Loh rejects a return to KCRW

Sandra Tsing Loh just said no. The humorist, who has become an improbable player in the exploding battle over broadcast decency, turned down an offer Monday to return to her former station, KCRW-FM, which apologized for her firing and said it was prepared to air her commentaries in a better time slot.

Late last week, station General Manager Ruth Seymour apologized to Loh and reversed her decision to terminate the commentator for using a four-letter obscenity on KCRW-FM (89.9). But Loh turned down the station’s offer Monday, citing what she called a “toxic” environment there.

Seymour’s change of heart comes after Loh had received an outpouring of support from her fans and at least some KCRW subscribers who threatened to withdraw their support from the station following her dismissal. (Like other commercial-free public radio stations, KCRW gets the bulk of its funds from listener contributions.) Some of her friends in the local print and online media community also planned a “No Loh, No Dough” party for Loh this Thursday, saying that the station was cowardly in firing her. The slogan referred to efforts to get subscribers to not renew their KCRW membership unless Loh was reinstated.

But Seymour said there was no pressure, financial or otherwise, to hire Loh back. Instead, she explained her latest decision by saying she was not aware of all the facts when she dismissed Loh on March 1, one day after the strong obscenity was broadcast twice in a prerecorded segment of Loh’s weekly “The Loh Life” segment.

Seymour said she met last week with Loh’s engineer, Mario Diaz, who told her he had accidentally left the word in while editing the piece. She said that Loh, who had recorded the piece a couple of days earlier, had instructed him to bleep the word for comic effect before it was broadcast and that the two had used the system previously.

“Sandra didn’t tell me this before,” said Seymour, who left for vacation immediately after the incident and didn’t return to the station until last week.

“She didn’t realize it was important to let me know that she and her engineer had done this before. I thought it was just a one-time deal. If I had known they had done this before, I would have had safeguards in place. It was an accident waiting to happen.”

Seymour is frequently credited for turning KCRW into a public radio power but is also known for her sometimes abrupt personnel moves.

After speaking with Diaz, Seymour said, she contacted Loh on Thursday and, after apologizing, offered to reinstate Loh’s show. After considering the offer over the weekend, Loh decided to turn it down, even though it included moving “The Loh Life” to 6:40 p.m. Wednesdays during National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” instead of the Sunday morning slot where it had been moved several months ago.

Loh said she was considering offers from other NPR stations interested in airing her show.

“I will never set foot inside KCRW’s studios again,” Loh said Monday. “It’s a personal statement of how badly I was treated. That place is toxic ground for me. Other than that, I wish them well.”

Loh, who had been at the station for six years, said she was hurt not only by Seymour’s dismissal but also by the lack of support for her from others at the station. She said she had always felt that KCRW stood for free speech and independent thought.

“With the exception of Harry Shearer, who did a very funny bit on his Sunday show, not one of my friends or associates at the station contacted me with a word of condolence after I was fired,” she said. “There just seemed to be this culture of fear there.”

Supporters of Loh said some listeners, angered by the dismissal, threatened to withdraw their financial support of KCRW. But station insiders said that many of those threats came from people who had never supported the station.

Asked about her reaction to Loh’s decision, Seymour said, “I’m sorry. But it’s her decision.”