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In early January I was forwarded a sound file that had been posted by an employee of Power99 FM in Philadelphia, on its website. Power99 is a station that targets a listening audience of Hip-hop/R&B listeners (i.e. a largely BLACK audience). The
RJs Star, whose real name is Troi Torain, and Bucwild (aka Timothy Joseph) are of African American origin as well. In the file, Star
& BucWild, hosts of 'The Star & BucWild Show' make a racist and abusive prank call to a call center in India. Troi Torain started by inquiring about a product known as Quick Beads. An Indian call center employee who identified herself as Steena took the call.
Before we go any further, I would like you to read the transcript.
NARRATOR INTRO: Wakeup with Star and Buc Wild in the mornings of Power 99 FM.
STAR: I'm going to play this call from earlier before we get out of here. This is the, uh, call that I made to -- I thought it was a company here locally. Not that I was surprised.
(laughter)
STAR: I saw this infomercial about, uh, what are these things called again? Oh, the, uh...
FEMALE VOICE: Bead? Oh shoot.
STAR: Anyway, let -- let's just play the call. I was surprised when I got somebody on the line in East India. These little beads that I saw. Little white kids, uh, a little machine that puts them in their hair.
FEMALE VOICE: Mm'hm.
STAR: Play it.
(tape begins)
STEENA: This is Steena. How may I help you?
STAR: Hi, Stain-a, you say?
STEENA: Yes.
STAR: (in fake Indian accent) Yeah, I called and I just got hung up on. I'm calling from America about the quick beads for my daughter's, uh, hair. Quick beads.
STEENA: Okay. May I have your ZIP code please?
STAR: 10274.
STEENA: 10274?
STAR: Yes. Get it right. Now are you in India? Because I just spoke to someone in India who hung up on me.
STEENA: Thank you. I am from India, ma'am.
STAR: Okay. So my call is being outsourced to India.
STEENA: That's right.
STAR: In... in regards to my six year old, white American daughter who wants to get the quick beads like Serena and Venus Williams.
STEENA: Now. I'll definitely place an order for that. See...
STAR: What's that?
STEENA: ...in the ad, she called to place a quick bead of
counier. To ensure proper handling...
STAR: Ma'am, I don't know what the hell you're saying. Hang on a second. Let me try and get something straight here. The quick beads, like Venus and Serena Williams, that to advertise to -- to the white kids on television. This call has been outsourced to India?
STEENA: That's right.
STAR: Well, ma'am, what the eff would you know about an American white girl's -- uh, uh -- hair? And quick beads.
STEENA: Just to inform you, ma'am, we're a national chain services company. And we're just taking calls on the opposite...
STAR: Listen, bitch! Don't get slick with the mouth! Don't you get slick with me, bitch!
STEENA: Now if you continue to speak this language, I will disconnect the call.
STAR: Listen to me, you dirty rat eater. I'll come out there and choke the eff out of you.
(laughter)
STAR: You're a filthy rat eater. I'm calling about my American six year old white girl. How dare you outsource my call? Get off the line, bitch!
(laughter; end of tape)
STAR: Pull it up.
(laughter)
STAR: Heard they listen well out there.
Perhaps what made it even more offensive was the fact that this was a re-run and hence a premeditated, “yes let’s play it again and get our cheap thrills” broadcast. This segment was aired on 15th December 2004 but it was only when the link was placed on the website that both the media and the Indian community world wide became aware of it.
When I wrote to Loraine Ballard Morrill, News and Community Affairs Director Power 99 FM, she responded by sending me the standard response others said they
received (guess she did a lot of cutting and pasting in the days that followed the furor). Her email said “You are not alone. I take your concerns very personally about the language you write about in your email and my colleagues here were also very concerned. At WUSL - we don't condone the use of offensive language on the air or in the hallways. I can assure you this: our General Manager and Program Director have discussed this situation with the people in question and I am confident nothing of this nature will happen again.
“They have also reprimanded the staff and reminded them that posting such material on our station's Website is not acceptable and will not happen again. I deeply regret the distress this may have caused you, your friends, family, and colleagues. Power 99 fm has the reputation as being the community radio station and this is what my work is all about. Again I apologize to you personally for this and I understand your point of view. I appreciate your taking the time to let me know your thoughts and rest assured - we have taken action.”
This email was sent to me on 9th January, and the only action taken was that the employee who had posted the link on their website was supposedly going to get some sensitivity training. Subsequently as angry emails and phone calls continued to pour in, by 11th evening,
Clear Channel, the station's parent company and perhaps the largest owner of radio stations in the US, decided on suspending the show and the Djs -for ONE WHOLE DAY. A public apology was posted on their website, which if you blinked you’d miss.
It said “The Star & BucWild Show
prides itself on walking on the edge. On December 15th, we
crossed it. We know the pain racial slurs cause and
apologize that this comedy segment went too far.”
By the way what you see above is the exact size of the font this apology was written in and I’m not surprised several of my friends couldn’t find the apology at first glance. The latest email I received from Loraine was sent to me on the 14th. I had mentioned to her that it is not only the African American community that listens to the show and that I had received calls and emails from people there as well who were not African American..
In it she said, “There may have been reaction in Philadelphia - but I simply did not receive very many emails from here (as if that was the only consideration upon which action against the RJs or what should go on air depended). You know you are speaking to someone who understands where you are coming from. What I do for the station primarily is all our community outreach - for which we are well known in the area. In fact on Wednesday we raised $30,000.00 for Tsunami relief - something we had planned to do before all this. I will say this - what you and others have said has reached us in a very fundamental way and it has made a difference that we believe will have a lasting impact.”
My response to her was that it should not require angry emails from Philadelphia to make decision makers at the station realize the difference between integrity, decency and dignity and the lack of it when they choose or approve material that is be aired or posted on the internet. Her raising funds for Tsunami does not make her station's insensitivity any less, and especially when this is not the first time etiquette has been breached.
If the people at the helm including her really understood where I'm coming from, crude humor like the one displayed frequently at
Power99, would not have been a recurrent fact. Not only does it reflect badly on the African
Americans (pointing to both people from the community who listen in and people who deliver), it is a big step back in the community's efforts to earn the respect of others.
There are several African Americans married to Indians, and some of them were profoundly embarrassed. While working on a story on the African American community, my preliminary round of interviews brought home a very pertinent point. No matter how hard an African American tries to get ahead, the respect that other ethnic minorities receive today from mainstream America, is still a luxury for an African American. A brain surgeon and a very successful businessman said to me with tears in their eyes that while they have achieved so much, each day when they walk out of the door they know their day will not be like that of any other American. They see that discrimination when a patient refuses surgery, they see it when they try to help a stranded driver on the highway-the fear in his eyes as a black man approaches to help, is witness to the fact that there is a lot of work that needs to be done.
Encouraging such broadcasts, is slipping back very badly especially when the world has become a global family and even more so because the Indian American community though a minority has become very powerful and influential especially with the infusion of 3rd generation Indian Americans, at the White House and other government offices.. For members of a community that boasts of stalwarts like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela and a new young inspiring leader like Barack
Obama. Power99 cannot consider itself empowered by such derogatory and shameful humor. I love a good laugh just like any one else, but not at the expense of anyone's dignity, not by stripping someone so insensitively. I told her to ask the brass hats at the station and her self just one question- when was the last time all of them really looked at the mirror and liked what they saw in all honesty.
As far as Star is concerned, he calls himself "the Hater" and claims on his site "he has the audacity to be unconstrained by neo-conservative intellectual influence” and that “Hate is one of the truest natures of mankind.” Crossing the lines of decency or humanity is nothing new to him. On August 27 2001 Mr. Hater of the "Star and Buc Wild Show Featuring Miss Jones" (on Emmis Broadcasting's WQHT Hot 97, the top urban/hip hop/R&B station in New York) announced singer Aaliyah's death, and went on to play an audio clip of a plane crashing and a woman screaming right before the "crash and burn" explosion. His
co-host Miss Jones, was for once very offended, cursed him and walked out. For the remainder of the show, Star reiterated he is "The Hater" and went on to play the sound effect at least four more times.
An article written by April R Silver brought home the fact that the apparent apathy of the people who listen in, people at the top and the sponsors who encourage such crudity and tasteless humor calling it a “reality based show” rules the day just because it brings in the big bucks.
Well, what is truly real in these so called “Reality Shows” may I ask? How often have you heard people mocking the untimely death of a young talented artist who was supposedly very gracious and likeable, or that matter any life lost, in real life? How many of us are laughing at the Tsunami tragedy? How many reality based shows have looked unreal and over the board to regular viewers? Pretty much all of them..
Hot 97 reportedly became the number one radio station in the market, on the slimy shoulders of the “shock jock”. “From 6 to 10 am, a listener could wake up to obnoxious skits ranging from
"coochie tightening cream" commercials, to crude jokes about "erect cocks" and anal sex, to the constant degrading and humiliation of women… Star went on to call his mother a bitch on the air.” Wrote Silver and added, “It soon become obvious that the more people complained, the more fuel was pumped into the engine. As a matter of fact, Star wore his suspensions from the job like badges of honor, delighting in the attacks on him. The ratings continued to climb.”
Silver points out very aptly, “Despite all that is right and uplifting and sacred about hip hop, something has been real wrong for more than a little while. We live in a society where "nothing exceeds like excess" and getting paid is always a good thing...all day/every day. It's now as though anything can be justified for the paper chase, as long as it pays well. But in the process, we are losing our minds, to say nothing of our souls.”
People like Star are not self created monsters in general. They are created today in the name of novelty consumerism. “A desire to go against the establishment,” is a favorite
phrase of these so called unpalatable rebels without a cause and companies like Clear Channel pump in millions of dollars to encourage such verbal diarrhea. Torain was suspended after the Aaliyah incident. The clause in his Emmis contract has kept him off New York radio until this year. I’m told Torain's former New York employer Emmis has been trying to block his new
WWPR-FM (Power 105.1) gig which begins on the 17th of January-the day we celebrate Dr Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday- in New York (also a Clear Channel radio station). Clear Channel has evidently coughed up a cool $17 million to sign Star and Buc Wild to the morning lineup. Apart from that Star can be found at Hartford’s WPHH Station.
Today especially post September 11, where hatred has already caused the society to be so divisive, where the world hates America and what it stands for- when all of us should be working towards healing old wounds, we allow hatred, racism and crudity to flood the airwaves and the internet to create new ones. The community leaders were made aware of this evident breach of media etiquette. I personally sent an email to several political and community leaders in Georgia and outside, as well as the Justice department, the FCC, and the leaders included current blue eyed boy Bobby Jindal and Kumar Barve from Maryland, Narender Reddy our Presidential Elector from Georgia, to name a few.
While the response and support has been very strong and others like Subash
Razdan, who acted instantly offering help and support, ( “the first time we have had something like this," according to Loraine)- this is not where the buck should stop. It’s just been a week, but I will
be watching the response of all these leaders and others and will keep you posted on what finally happens. Will we act, will our representatives act or will we pass the buck on to others?!
It is a perception that the Indian community is very individualistic-each is out for himself. As long as personal aspirations are fulfilled, all of us become ostriches with our head in the sand when it comes to common causes and need for instant aggressive action. Strangely the malady seems to afflict a lot of Americans as well. The African American community isn’t any better or else why would programs like the Star and Bucwild show still be on the air?
A few weeks ago an unknown Indian woman was publicly humiliated on the air. What if it happens to be your mother, your sister, your wife or your daughter? And I don’t care what race you are- will you be able to sit on your already expanding apathetic rear ends, with the same complacency?
If nothing else, just remember this- if we don’t respect ourselves, no one else would, if we don’t speak up, our voices will never be heard, if we leave the work half done, we will be left with a legacy of shame, and regret. And not one of us will be able to look in the mirror I wanted Loraine and her team at Power99, to look into with pride. If you can’t spread love, at least don’t allow hate to rule..in the end its shadow will destroy and destroy indiscriminately.
I will end with an email my friend Ajit wrote to the FCC and the radio station which says it all.
“I was shocked and saddened that in today's divisive climate, an American radio station actually found it tasteful to broadcast this horrible and RACIST attempt at “entertainment". I am an American of Indian origin. On the other side of the globe, 160,000 of my South Asian brethren are dead. Millions more are facing immense hardship in the wake of catastrophe... it absolutely SICKENS me that this type of ignorance is allowed to breed, especially in a country that already has such poor perception in the court of world opinion.
As we approach Dr. Martin Luther King's Birthday, are we as a nation still so far removed from the concept of understanding that a Black man can insult a woman of color overseas calling her a "filthy rat eater"? and it’s okay? How is it that in 2005 a radio station targeting a listening audience of Hip-hop/R&B listeners (i.e. a largely BLACK audience) can be so irresponsible? What exactly is the message to our brother and sisters here when a station plays songs extolling the virtues of love (like the Black-Eyed Peas' "Where is the Love?") but puts NONE of it in practice? I actually heard this broadcast on a REPLAY, which evidently means that the DJs found it so funny that they REBROADCAST it again (almost as if to say,” If you missed this gem, here it is AGAIN!!")
I myself have had DJ experience at WCBN, the local University of Michigan college radio station. If I had placed a prank call to a woman in the Sudan, a place torn by genocidal war crimes and torture, mocked her accent, insulted her by calling her names, threatened to "choke the F--- out of her and called her a "dirty rat eater"... What would that make ME?
It doesn't take a PhD in Communications to understand that this is just not in good taste, nor is it responsible broadcast behavior. You'll never hear prank calls to survivors from Auschwitz, the family of a lynched Black man or the family of World Trade Center victims. Imagine a Country Music FM station phoning the ghetto housing projects to make fun of the inhabitants, their accents, their eating habits. It just doesn't happen. This is 2005, right?
Hm.
I love the idea of free speech. It makes this country great, but freedom without responsibility is ultimately crippling this nation. I'm not talking about Janet Jackson's breast making a cameo appearance during the Super Bowl. Look at the fervor and attention that raised. That is far less damaging to our children than something like this, in my opinion.
Ignorance is expensive... and Power 99 should pay.”
Please write/email/phone Clear Channel Corporation. I’m told letters written on actual paper or faxes are the best option as emails can be overlooked, but paper is a physical presence. The addresses and fax numbers are given below:
Power99 WUSL-FM
440 Domino Lane
Philadelphia, PA 19128
General Business Line: 215-483-8900
Fax: 215-483-5930
Director of Urban Programming/Program Director: Thea Mitchem
Operations Manager: Todd Shannon
General Manager: Dave Allan
Clear Channel Communications
200 Basse Road San Antonio, TX 78209
Phone: 210-822-2828. Or send an email to Loraine@power99.com
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