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Howard Stern's bad joke about the Air Florida crash

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Equal Opportunity Offenders

By Frank Ahrens Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, February 27, 1999; Page C1

Doug "Greaseman" Tracht made a final appearance on WARW this week ... in a taped apology that was played about once an hour during his morning time slot. (File)

The morning after an Air Florida jet crashed into the Potomac River in 1982, killing 78 people, radio shock jock Howard Stern – then with DC-101 – called the airline and inquired about the price of a one-way ticket from National Airport to the 14th Street Bridge. Stern was fired a year later, but after a salary dispute. He soon moved to New York and became a nationally syndicated radio superstar, adding books, TV shows and a movie to his multimedia empire. On Wednesday, Washington deejay Doug "Greaseman" Tracht made a racist comment referring to the dragging death of James Byrd Jr. in Texas. One day later, he was fired. He suddenly became radioactive – few in local radio would discuss him for attribution yesterday, fearful that the damning power of his slur would rub off. For the most part, though, talk radio remains a wide-open frontier, with few boundaries set by taste or propriety. The more controversial hosts – such as Stern and Rush Limbaugh – are the most successful. But there are still some land mines, and they are often triggered by a race-based comment. Wednesday morning, Tracht stepped on one. Several radio consultants and executives contacted yesterday said that Tracht, 48, who worked for Classic Rock 94.7 (WARW-FM), was fired not only because of what he said but because of when he said it – just one day after Byrd's killer was found guilty of murder. "Any great comedian will tell you the most important part of a joke is timing," said Joe Madison, program director at black talk station WOL-AM. "And I don't mean in delivery, but in whether this joke should or should not be told at this particular time. His timing was awful." It's the old comedic saw: Humor equals tragedy plus time. President Lincoln's assassination is fair game. But Martin Luther King's – which Tracht tried to mine for humor in 1986, sparking protests and bomb threats to DC-101, where he worked at the time – is off-limits. Tracht's firing sparked conversations in Rockville office building elevators, Popeye's restaurants in Northwest Washington and radio stations in Lanham. It exposed racial hatred and misunderstanding in both black and white listeners, Madison said. His callers were fearful that Tracht's joke was an endorsement and encouragement of race-based violence. "What the Greaseman did is so dangerous because the atmosphere we live in is very toxic," Madison said. "The slightest spark can generate hate." WARW officials and Tracht maintained their public silence yesterday. A spokesman for CBS Radio in New York, which owns WARW, said the network would have no further comment beyond Thursday's statement announcing Tracht's firing. In talk radio – as in television, movies and other pop culture media – much is made of where the "line" is for determining acceptable public discourse. The Federal Communications Commission has decency standards – lists of words and phrases that stations are forbidden to broadcast. But radio folk say that even the FCC's standards are gray. For instance, one radio executive remembers how surprised he was when, in 1971, that the FCC didn't fine his station for playing the Rolling Stones song "Bitch." "In any given city, the line is and should be at a different spot," said Walter Sabo, a leading talk radio consultant. "It can and should be driven by the needs and tastes of each community and a lot of common sense." The Washington area has more than 50 radio stations. But the ratings are dominated by the ones that play black-oriented music – WHUR, WPGC, WKYS and WMMJ. Those stations turned the heat on Tracht during their popular Thursday morning drive-time shows, while white stations largely ignored the incident. WOL spent most of its broadcast day on the subject Thursday, urging action from listeners and outraged callers. In turn, WARW – as well as the Falls Church sheriff's department, where Tracht was a volunteer deputy – was inundated with calls. Some Tracht fans in Internet discussion groups have suggested that if Tracht were black and had said the same thing about a white man, he'd still be employed. Though that is unlikely, radio consultants said, there is an underlying truth. "It's a little bit more understandable why there may be angry black deejays or talk show hosts," said Michael Harrison, editor of Talkers magazine, a trade publication that covers the talk radio industry. "It's not totally acceptable but it's still more understandable." WOL occasionally airs callers who spout anti-white and antisemitic comments. Usually they are reined in by the hosts. But WOL seeks to serve the black audience, said Tony Washington, a general manager at Radio One, which owns WOL, and sometimes that means airing flammable comments and allowing its broadcasters some license, such as when host Bernie McCain spent much of Thursday morning trying to determine which law enforcement agency Tracht worked for as a volunteer. Tracht is often compared to Stern and, in Washington, the two aired opposite each other in morning drive time, with Stern's syndicated show broadcasting on WJFK (106.7-FM). Stern's show has been consistently controversial over the years, and he, too, has come under attack from those who feel he is racist – as well as misogynistic, xenophobic and otherwise misanthropic. But the same rules don't apply to Stern, many say. "There's Howard and there's everyone else," Sabo said. "He is so much more skilled and talented than everybody else, it's not a level playing field." Stern survives attacks, Sabo said, because he is egalitarian in his criticism of racial and ethnic groups – and most critical of himself. Also, his male sidekicks often tell the more offensive jokes, and he has a black partner – Robin Quivers – who gives him a sort of immunity when he does racially flammable material, laughing at most of his bits but disagreeing with others. And there's another reason Stern goes on while Tracht did not, even though both worked for CBS. "Stern makes more money for them," Harrison said. Stern's show is heard by about 9 million listeners a day, making it the third-ranked talk show behind Limbaugh and advice show host Laura Schlessinger. Tracht's show was not syndicated. Which may be the bottom line on the Tracht firing: Though he maintained a loyal fan base, Tracht was no longer the ratings force he had been during his heyday with DC-101 in the 1980s. It may have not been a difficult business decision for WARW to fire him. The station is perceived as having done the right thing, nervous advertisers – wary of boycotts – are assuaged, and the station is relieved of his salary, which likely was into seven figures. And it may not be the end of the line for Tracht, who is regarded, even by his detractors, as a big talent. Other controversial deejays, fired for their remarks, have resurfaced in other cities, after serving suitable penance. "He ultimately might be fine for it," Harrison said. "All that might be remembered is that the Greaseman got a lot of publicity and someone else will hire him." © Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company Gcapitalg (talk) 16:42, 30 July 2023 (UTC)