KSFO (AM)

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KSFO
Broadcast area	San Francisco, California
Branding	"News Talk KSFO 560 AM"
Slogan	The News and Views You Won't Hear Anywhere Else
First air date	1955
Frequency	560 (kHz)
Format	News/Talk
Callsign meaning	SFO is taken from the airport code for San Francisco International Airport
Owner	Disney/ABC
Website	www.ksfo560.com

KSFO is a conservative talk radio station in San Francisco, California, USA, broadcasting on 560 AM. It is owned by ABC Radio, a division of the Walt Disney Company, which has announced that it would sell its ABC Radio holdings (including KSFO) to Citadel Broadcasting. The sale is expected to close by the end of 2007.^[1]

Contents 1 Background 2 Controversy and criticism 2.1 Criticism from the DNC (1995) 2.2 Bloggers and Advertisers 2.2.1 Background 2.2.2 Advertisers' responses 2.2.3 Shutdown of Spocko's blog 2.2.4 Spocko's response 2.2.5 KSFO's response 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Background

Despite being located in a very liberal region, the content of the station's programs is solidly conservative with show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh, Melanie Morgan, Sean Hannity, and Dr. Laura Schlessinger. One of its few moderate talk shows is its night-time show, Coast to Coast AM. The station also broadcasts Oakland Raiders football games throughout the season.

It was not, however, always a talk station. In its heyday, starting in 1955, it played music, sports, and, particularly memorably, rebroadcast antique radio shows at particular times of the year. At the time, the station was owned by Gene Autry's Golden West Broadcasters and called itself "the world's greatest radio station." The station's news department earned national and international journalism awards for coverage of the Peoples Temple massacre in Jonestown, Guyana^[2] and the assassinations of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk by former Supervisor Dan White.^{[citation needed]} Newscasters, sportscasters, and DJs from KSFO played an annual softball game to benefit the Police Athletic League; the No-Stars' arch-rivals were Reno Barsocchini's VIPs.

Memorable broadcasters of KSFO's history include Lon Simmons, Don Sherwood, Jeff Skov, Aaron Edwards, Jim Lange, John Gilliland,Gene Nelson, and Dan Sorkin. The station's history included stints as the flagship station for both San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics baseball (although at different times) and Stanford University football. A history of KSFO in the heyday of Don Sherwood (1950s and 1960s) can be found in Laurie Harper's biography "Don Sherwood -- The World's Greatest Disk Jockey."

Its early morning schedule since 1997 has included a trio of humorous, hardline, and vitriolic conservatives, Lee Rodgers, Melanie Morgan, and Officer Vic; the former two being the major contributors to the show, and the latter one covers weather and traffic and often contributes political satire. It was the former flagship station for Michael Savage, and some of the conservative hosts at sister station KGO who were not well received by that audience have subsequently hosted shows on KSFO, such as David Gold and Savage.

[edit] Controversy and criticism

[edit] Criticism from the DNC (1995)

In 1995 Dan Fowler, then Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, sent a letter to constituents condemning KSFO's so called "hate speech":

"In San Francisco, radio listeners on KSFO recently heard talk show hosts speak of 'lynching a few liberals' and encouraging listeners to 'shoot illegal immigrants who come across the border.'"^[3]

In this letter Fowler urged citizens to:

• "send letters to your local newspapers calling for an end to these efforts to incite violence;
• "call your local radio stations and tell them that you want the purveyors of hate to be held accountable for their remarks;
• "call or write to your elected officials and tell them you want them to work toward ending these efforts to destroy our communities; and,
• "organize local efforts in your communities to protest against the irresponsible media outlets that put this garbage on the air."^[3]

[edit] Bloggers and Advertisers

[edit] Background

Beginning in 2005, the liberal blogger "Spocko" began recording shows on KSFO and posting excerpts of these shows on his blog as examples of what he viewed as hate speech; he began a letter-writing campaign^[4] to advertisers on KSFO, alerting them to these examples and urging them to withdraw their support of the station. Some of Spocko's examples include:^[5]

• Host Melanie Morgan, "We've got a bull's-eye painted on [House presumptive Speaker Nancy Pelosi's] big, wide laughing eyes." (November 14, 2006)
• Lee Rodgers on Indonesia, "Indonesia is really just another enemy Muslim nation…You keep screwing around with stuff like this, we're going to kill a bunch of you. Millions of you." (October 25, 2006)
• Morgan, on New York Times editors: "Hang 'em." (June 27, 2006)

[edit] Advertisers' responses

Some advertisers, including Netflix, MasterCard, Bank of America, and Visa, withdrew their support from KSFO.^[6]

[edit] Shutdown of Spocko's blog

On December 22, 2006, Spocko received a "cease-and-desist" letter from ABC lawyers, insisting that he remove audio clips of KSFO radio hosts claiming that he had violated copyright law. On January 2, 2007 his Internet service provider, 1&1 Internet, complied with the cease and desist letter and took down his website.^[7]

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has agreed to defend Spocko against threats of a DMCA SLAPP suit. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a successful history in defending against legal assaults on fair use and the first amendment, as exemplified by the Barney case.

News of this spread through blogs including Daily Kos and The Spotlight Project, eventually reaching large audiences at social news sites like Slashdot, Digg, and Reddit.^[8]

[edit] Spocko's response

Spocko's statement on the controversy:^[9]

"Advertisers should be able to decide if they want to keep supporting this show based on complete information. We already know that management at ABC and Disney support these hosts, which means that the ABC/Disney Radio brand now apparently includes support for violent hate speech toward Muslims, democrats and liberals."

[edit] KSFO's response

KSFO primarily defended itself by criticizing Spocko for acting anonymously and claiming many of his quotes were taken wildly out of context, and that they had previously apologized for several of the cited instances.

On June 29, 2006, Melanie Morgan responded to the San Francisco Chronicle regarding her "Hang 'em" comment:

If he [New York Times editor Bill Keller] were to be tried and convicted of treason, yes, I would have no problem with him being sent to the gas chamber... It is about revealing classified secrets in the time of war. And the media has got to take responsibility for revealing classified information that is putting American lives at risk. ^[10]

On January 12, 2007, KSFO responded to the criticism by dedicating three hours to airing its side of the controversy, and posted the audio on its website.^[11][12]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• KSFO 560 AM Official Website
• 1995 Democratic National Committee letter condemning KSFO hate speech
• Blog post explaining controversy over hate speech on KSFO
• Spocko's Statement on the Controversy
• Example of Spocko letter to AT&T Advertising VP
• San Francisco ISP Shuts Down Website After Disney Complaint; Studio Briefing; January 5, 2007
• ABC shut down blogger who criticized violent rhetoric on one of its radio stations, January 9, 2007 from Media Matters for America
• Mike Stark's blog. Lots of information regarding the latest controversy