Nova Ushuaia
15-05-2004, 22:29
Radio station fires DJs who joked about beheading
Berg's screams broadcast with laughter, music
Friday, May 14, 2004 Posted: 7:14 PM EDT (2314 GMT)
PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) -- Two disc jockeys were fired after playing an audiotape of the beheading of American Nicholas Berg by militants in Iraq and cracking jokes about the grisly death.
Listeners called the radio station to complain after hearing Berg's screams followed by the DJs laughing and playing musical accompaniments.
The DJs, known as Marconi and Tiny, were fired Thursday from their morning show perch at Portland's KNRK-FM, which is owned by Pennsylvania-based Entercom Communications Corp. Station employees would not release the DJs' legal names.
The station's manager broadcast an apology, saying: "The actions of the KNRK news morning show were insensitive, inappropriate and repulsive. On behalf of Entercom Portland and KNRK, I apologize to our listeners."
One of the DJs apologized on his Web site, posting a statement that read, "I have become so numb to the horrific things that happen in this world that I sometimes forget there are still people who feel. I in no way meant to be insensitive to anyone. My comments on this were inapropriate" (sic).
Berg's headless body was found Saturday in Baghdad. Three days later, video posted on an al Qaeda-related Web site showed him being decapitated by hooded, armed men.
My opinion is this: They deserved to be fired for being ungrateful assholes who insulted the family of a humanitarian aid worker who was wrongly beheaded for trying to make the world a better place. Maybe those disc jockeys should be sent to the front lines in Iraq.
Berg's screams broadcast with laughter, music
Friday, May 14, 2004 Posted: 7:14 PM EDT (2314 GMT)
PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) -- Two disc jockeys were fired after playing an audiotape of the beheading of American Nicholas Berg by militants in Iraq and cracking jokes about the grisly death.
Listeners called the radio station to complain after hearing Berg's screams followed by the DJs laughing and playing musical accompaniments.
The DJs, known as Marconi and Tiny, were fired Thursday from their morning show perch at Portland's KNRK-FM, which is owned by Pennsylvania-based Entercom Communications Corp. Station employees would not release the DJs' legal names.
The station's manager broadcast an apology, saying: "The actions of the KNRK news morning show were insensitive, inappropriate and repulsive. On behalf of Entercom Portland and KNRK, I apologize to our listeners."
One of the DJs apologized on his Web site, posting a statement that read, "I have become so numb to the horrific things that happen in this world that I sometimes forget there are still people who feel. I in no way meant to be insensitive to anyone. My comments on this were inapropriate" (sic).
Berg's headless body was found Saturday in Baghdad. Three days later, video posted on an al Qaeda-related Web site showed him being decapitated by hooded, armed men.
My opinion is this: They deserved to be fired for being ungrateful assholes who insulted the family of a humanitarian aid worker who was wrongly beheaded for trying to make the world a better place. Maybe those disc jockeys should be sent to the front lines in Iraq.