Supporters: Radio host used racial slur against Obama
Don Day | June 12, 2008Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama claim KBAR-AM host Zeb Bell referred to the Illinois Senator as the “black Negroid Barack Hussein Obama.”
The Rupert radio host Bell claims he didn’t say it – but admits a guest on the show made “inappropriate remarks.”
Once again a local radio station is in deep waters….
Ahhh, the Magic Valley; home to hypocrites and haters and 100 years behind.
I heard the actual broadcast and Zeb’s guest, the anti-immigrant Frosty Woolridge uttered the words in question. I also used to host a show with Zeb nearly 9 years ago. Thank goodness I don’t anymore. He is the single reason I became a Democrat! He is a black eye to our business. I will say though, that he LEASES the time on the station, and that he is NOT an employee.
Who the hell names their kid Zeb??? He could be a Kennnedy and with a name like Zeb he’d be destined to be a right-winged wacko!
His real name is Ron (could be wrong on the first name, but the rest is right) Zebel. When he started out in radio back in 1969 at KLIX, fresh out of radio school, he separated his last name and went by Zeb Bell.
El Chupa (Ben),
You should have been doing your own radio show at the time that the comments were made by Frosty Wooldridge, right? And isn’t it the same thing that you got in trouble for about a month ago over at Minico, where Kim had to make a public apology for you, but you ‘yourself’ never made the public apology for stirring the ‘racial pot’. So if you didn’t… why should Zeb?
FYI, I never stirred the racial pot. I only demanded respect for all flags, whether they be American or Mexican. Zeb, on the other hand, has created racial tension for sometime now. He opposes the Minidoka National Monument, arguing that the US should not be ashamed of what we did to the Japanese in World War II. By his own admission, (I have the tape) he held an immigrant at gunpoint and fired a shot at him this winter after he inadvertently crashed into his garage after hitting some ice. He has consistently attacked Mexican immigrants and as recently as a week ago called Arabs “camel jockeys,” and that he would love to “see their turbans float to the top as they drown in their own oil.” I on the other hand, have attended a number of human rights conferences in the state, have taken in part in public protests in favor of human and immigrant rights. Such a comparison is unwarranted.
Let’s see Gina…….what does one thing have to do with the other. Fact is, Zeb said what he said and he should apologize but he wont. We all make mistakes and sometimes we have to cop to them. Lets hope Zeb does the right thing.
Gina…be careful what you aim to stir up ’round these parts. People aren’t afraid to call baloney on something they don’t appreciate.
elchupacabras….So it was you who created the original flap. Then your on here telling me you are not “connected to the hispanic community.”
SHEESH!!! Thanks Gina!!!
“Roger” I never said that I wasn’t connected to the Hispanic community. I am. No doubt about it. What I am not connected to is racism.
Roger………….please dont start this up again !!! you came out on the wrong side last time and you will come out on the wrong side this time!!
What this boils down to is a host that has no control over his guests, and is too cheap to get a delay or someone back at the station was asleep at the switch. A quick dump out would have alleviated all of this, and it would have been a non-issue. Bottom line is: Shaky host + bad guest = worse show.
I saw this clown on the TV news. It’s funny how guys like this act like the brave populist on their shows but when they run into opposition, suddenly they claim to have been “taken out of context” and try desperately to dodge the bullet.
Like I learned back in my high school days, all bullies are cowards.
For Stripes: Zeb has a very good board-op who has to sit through his BS day after day uncensored. (He is one of the best in the industry and state for that matter, and has been the recipient of a number of broadcast awards.) But his hands are tied. In fact, the only board op that has been able to stand Zeb was Gina. (There have been probably a dozen since 2000). He is ruthless on them. That is the way Zeb demands it be. Zeb leases the time and protects it like a Nazi storm trooper. If the board operator cuts him off, NO MATTER WHAT THE REASON, Zeb gets out his pen and paper and creates a major ruckus with management, complaining that it is a left-wing conspiracy out to silence his big mouth. (I’ve run it for him as well in the past, and I would much prefer a proctology exam.) Guest Frosty Wooldridge always frothes the same anti-immigrant (and now anti-African American) bile on his weekly segment with Zeb. Unfortunately, because he refuses to go to the studio to host, he sends a phone feed. I digress: because he leases time, he thinks he is greater than the Almighty. Listening to him, makes you think you are tuning into the Deutsche Welle some 50+ years ago under ol’ Adolph’s hand.
Chupa…
Wow, that poor dude! I do have a couple of questions, though.
1. Is he using a plain POTS telephone feed, or is it a dedicated line so it sounds studio quality? If it is a regular phone feed, who the hell could stand that?
2. Even though Zeb leases the air time, it would still fall upon the board-ops responsibility to uphold the best interest of the station. I might be wrong, and someone correct me if I am, but a station must act in the best interest of the public. Doesn’t sound like that is happening. And, if the op dumped him, Zeb probably wouldn’t even know the difference. Look, our show I have to keep my ears open all of the time, and I’m not afraid to dump whether it’s the hosts or the guests/callers. And as far as our weekend shows, they might pay for the hour, but they are to be responsible, and understand that if they say, or a caller/guest screws up, they get the ‘ol dumparoo.
Believe it or not, he is on a POTS line and it sounds like (you fill in the blank.) Worse yet, if the board op dumps him for some reason, Zeb gets on the phone and asks listeners to call him live on his cell phone and then he starts bitching and moaning like nobody’s business. It’d be nice to have an obscenity delay, but then again, you’d have to dump the whole damn program! The engineer has had fun trying to conference in three POTS lines at the same time to keep the guy happy.
Wow, sounds like the station needs to grow a pair and start making some demands. It’s not like there is a lot of choice, but if they piss too many folks off, they’ll go to a music FM. A POTS line?? Damn, couldn’t they mix in a MARTI? Someone at the station needs to take charge of this, and lay down ground rules. You cross the line, you get dumped out, period. He might be paying for the time, but the station reserves the right for content.
Ben, You’re way too young to know the pains of a “prostate exam” OR you have a doctor who likes you “in that way”. PSA all the way! I LOVE that blood test. okay, you can now return to your regular programming.
Boy, I see some really thin ice in this whole thing. We have delays on our FM’s, and we don’t even have talk shows! It’s just in case of what might slip out when running a contest. And, the “dump” has been used a few times. As stated earlier, management needs to step up and do a few things to protect that license. And then stand behind the person that exercises the judgement to dump something. It’s a sticky situation — under the FCC rules, Zeb has nothing to lose. It’s the station that takes the hit if the $%&# hits the fan … er, I mean, air.
And POTS? Plain, un-enhanced POTS ? OK for a ball game, or a temporary thing, (if you don’t have any other choices) but for a regular show? Pony up for some kind of codec if you aren’t going to put in something other than POTS.
In this country we are fortunate enough to be able to discuss issues freely and without fear of the government curtailing our speech. Then we have the issue of political corectness. Having said that I want to make it known that I do not support or agree with Mr. Bell’s or his guest’s views. I do however believe that he has the right to say (on-air) whatever he wishes as long as no obcinity laws are broken. Weather we agree with it or not is beside the point. If you don’t like it turn the channell, don’t do business with his sponsers, call in to the show and debate the issue with him or simply do nothing. The fact still remains that his “Freedom of speech” is guranteed under the constitution of the United States of America. Be it politically correct or not!
Now you expect to be able to voice your opinions and views. You have that right. Just because we don’t always agree with sombody does not mean that they should be silenced. In order for us to be able to enjoy the benifit of free speech we have to tolerate the views of those whom we don’t agree with.
In closing I wish to first, apologize for my spelling, and second say weather we like what Mr. Bell or his guest said or not he has the right under the constitution to speak his mind and this whole scuttle-butt(yeah it’s a technical term) is much ado about nothing!
Not to belabor the point Unsung Majority…but what Zeb and his guest both said wasn’t just ’speaking their minds’…it was spouting/using racist and racially insensitive terms. While I would agree your point that free speech is valid, I also believe we have to draw the line somewhere when someone such as Bell incites hate, intolerance and racist comments on a daily basis. You wouldn’t yell fire in a crowded theatre if there wasn’t one, nor would you call a black person a “negroid” to their face. At least Mr Bell has not yelled ‘fire’…yet.
My point is not that what they said was right or “politacaly correct”. It’s that they have the right to voice thir opinion protected under the constitution. We live in the most diverse world that time has ever seen. It is a forgone conclusion that we are going to have differing views. Just because you don’t agree with someone or think they are off base dosen’t mean that they should be silenced.As for the “yelling fire” analagy I don’t see how that is relavent. And there are some people that would call an African-American a “negroid” and they should be prepaired for the conciquence. Mr. Bell is facing the conciquencees right now. He is under a microscope and has to weather the storm and answer for what he said. But, he still has the right to say what he wishes! If his comments are affecting the station adversly then I believe it is up to managment to relieve Mr. Bell of the show. (that is the right of the station owner). Then Mr. Bell will be forced to find another forum for his views should he desire, he has that right. With rights come responsabilitys, one should be respectful and tolerant of opposing viewpoints, thats what “Grown-ups” do. Some people are not that way and we can’t make them be tolerant or respectful. We can only do our best with what we have and TOLERATE the rest.
This brings up the question of freedom vs. responsibility. Sure, we all have guaranteed rights under the Constitution, but for every action there are consequences. Those are two inseparable principles. I should also add that when freedom is abused by certain entities, the proverbial “leash” is tightened, and things start to roll in the other direction. So it behooves a host to comport himself/herself in a responsible manner, or we all suffer. Why do you think there is talk of bringing back the Fairness Doctrine? It is simply because too many radio hosts have spewed non-stop partisan drivel without taking into consideration the opposite side.
We as broadcasters need to be vigilant in trying to be fair and avoiding pernicious, potentially damning remarks that make us look like the south end of a north bound jackass. If we fail to do so, we only invite more regulation and less freedom. We also need to take a moral stance against certain ideals and/or characters who foment hatred in effort to preserve *our* freedom of expression.
In short: you screw up- you should pay the consequences!
I agree with chup, you have the right to say what you want BUT you should/could be held responsible for your actions/words.It’s your right to say what you want, it’s our right to tell you how we feel about what you said
As a long time listener of Zeb Bell I do not believe Zeb would make inappropriate remarks as to race or gender. I believe him to be a nobel and considerate person. I believe left thing individuals are making false and malicious statements about him.