KQRS and the Mea Culpa that Wasn’t
Sunday, November 11, 2007 at 1:15 pm
- 8 Comments
When KQRS morning show DJs implied that a high suicide rate among native American teens was the result of incest, station managers were quick apologize. To make amends, they promised to hire native American interns and invite members of the Red Lake Chippewa and Shakopee Mdewakanton communities as guests during the state’s top-rated morning show. The move earned managers praise from the Star Tribune for their “swift and expansive response.”
But a new billboard, pointed out by Minnesota Lawyer Blog, suggests the station perhaps wasn’t so contrite in its apology. In addition to its vaguely racist billboard announcing “We insult you in English” (a reference to the morning show’s past jabs at Somali and Hmong immigrants?), this one seems to boast about the station’s legal bills.
The gag, I guess, is that they need high listenership (and the ad revenue that comes with it) to afford their harried lawyers. But as the Disney-owned station is loaded, my guess is their motives are more cynical. The ad is a bid for more attention from the vocally anti-intellectual, those who tune in just to hear rudeness that, we’re to believe, is quasi-libelous. KQ, in short, wants to keep cashing in on the decline (or sustained bottoming-out) of civility in America. Yee-ha.
Shock jocks invented hot air, and time will tell if the escape of said gas is what we mistook for an apology from KQRS. When we hear an on-air mea culpa, Clyde Bellecourt yukking it up with Tom Barnard some morning, and an announcement about its new roster of native American interns — or a billboard advertising all three — that’ll be the first step toward trusting the station’s sincerity.
8 Comments
Comment posted November 11, 2007 @ 2:14 pm
Billboard There Before Controversy? I’m not 100% positive, but I believe the billboard with the ” Our lawyer is always busy” slogan was there before the dust-up over the Native American comments.
Comment posted November 11, 2007 @ 2:40 pm
Could be… The one I saw (near International Market Square, visible from 94) is new this week.
Comment posted November 11, 2007 @ 3:13 pm
Same old, same old media apology? Public apologies can be pretty meaningless at times when rotten rhetoric reflects the inherant ignorance embedded in the public figure or figures so involved. I could suggest Bellecourt and Joudain in the same good spirit, invite the two respective jocks up to Red Lake for a day of not surfing, but waterboarding before the lake or hell freezes over. An apology doesn’t carry a lot of water considering the swamp-shock history of these two dudes…and if I have gone overboard here,yes, I do apologize.
Comment posted November 11, 2007 @ 8:55 pm
Calling KQ “disney owned” is somewhat misleading KQ is owned by Citadel Communications. Disney does own 57% of Citadel, true, but it is considered a separately managed company for FCC purposes.
Comment posted November 11, 2007 @ 8:14 am
Billboard There Before Controversy? I'm not 100% positive, but I believe the billboard with the ” Our lawyer is always busy” slogan was there before the dust-up over the Native American comments.
Comment posted November 11, 2007 @ 8:40 am
Could be… The one I saw (near International Market Square, visible from 94) is new this week.
Comment posted November 11, 2007 @ 9:13 am
Same old, same old media apology? Public apologies can be pretty meaningless at times when rotten rhetoric reflects the inherant ignorance embedded in the public figure or figures so involved. I could suggest Bellecourt and Joudain in the same good spirit, invite the two respective jocks up to Red Lake for a day of not surfing, but waterboarding before the lake or hell freezes over. An apology doesn't carry a lot of water considering the swamp-shock history of these two dudes…and if I have gone overboard here,yes, I do apologize.
Comment posted November 11, 2007 @ 2:55 pm
Calling KQ “disney owned” is somewhat misleading KQ is owned by Citadel Communications. Disney does own 57% of Citadel, true, but it is considered a separately managed company for FCC purposes.
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