Just caught a short report on Charlotte's local news at WCNC 36, not up on the site yet, about the firing of a Conservative Radio talk show host, one Jeff Katz.
Don't know him and never listened to him, frankly conservative radio and tv news shows give me a freakin headache, and I don't get headaches, no news just blathering opinion, which we find way too much all over the span of the mainstream outlets now, as they say "like assholes, everyones got one!".
As it wasn't up on the WCNC TV news site I visited the Charlotte Observer where I found this:
Jeff Katz, whose conservative zeal and verbal swordsmanship have been a mainstay of afternoon drive time for two years, was fired Monday by WBT-AM (1110).
Rick Jackson, WBT general manager, said he could not discuss the reason.
Which is also what the TV News report stated, and the only hint given for the possible firing was this:
In 2007, a local Muslim group called for an advertising boycott of his show, complaining Katz spewed hateful remarks about their religion.
Could that be the reason, or just one of many? Are we going to start seeing a return towards journalism and discussion, respectable debate of idea's and ideologies? Could what has been sold as conservative opinion blathered over the public owned airwaves actually be turning to real conservative ideal's and not hate talk and the drum beat of fear?
Maybe maybe not, but we can hope we start seeing and living in a more civil society with moral standards, can't we!
Katz, 44, was named to the “Heavy Hundred” list of top talk show hosts in the nation by the radio trade magazine Talkers this year, but his combative nature with callers who disagreed with him led to occasional on-air friction.
Katz will be replaced by Tara Servatius, a Creative Loafing columnist. The paper 'Creative Loafing' went defunct, from my understanding, not to long ago as did the many found in cities around the country. I'm north of Charlotte so only was able to grab it on rare occasions, but it's still online as I'm sure the others are as well.
is there a trend starting, hopefully, towards real journalism with facts not conjecture? Maybe this description of Servatius may shed a little light, at least on the local scene here in Charlotte:
Jackson said Servatius, who comes from a journalistic background, will bring a new style to the afternoon shift.
“She spends hours combing through the files researching her points,” he said. “People want facts rather than someone spouting an opinion. We may see a new kind of a talk show host in Tara.”
Hummm, sounds abit Maddow or KO, and a some others, style. Or a shift to what most NPR type discussions are, you know real journalism, real debate.
Apparently this afternoon Charlotte can find out abit more as
Jackson said he and Bill White, WBT's program director, will go on the air Tuesday in Katz's afternoon shift to talk to listeners about the change.
“It's kind of a face-the-music thing for us, for people who want to call and vent,” he said.
Could that last sentence be another hint into the firing, maybe after he might have been carrying the hate/fear message way to far? Will other outlets start seeing the "face-the-music" meme?
You can stream the station live and listen in this afternoon, this Katz spot was the 3PM to 6 PM EST slot, to find out more.
Lets hope it's a trend that cleans up the airwaves and the 'Change' we need in that area of this Society!!
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