In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

WRKO Fires Host Who Called for "Eradication" of Palestinians

The Boston radio station WRKO-AM today announced that it has fired one of
its talk show hosts, John Osterlind also known as "Ozone," following
comments calling for the "eradication" of the Palestinian people. On August
19, ADC President Mary Rose Oakar wrote to WRKO Program Director Mike Elder
urging that Mr. Osterlind be dismissed when the suspension
was completed.

On August 12 around 6 a.m., a caller to the morning drive program on WRKO-AM
cho-hosted by Mr. Osterlind suggested the "eradication of the
whole Arab race." Mr. Osterlind expressed interest in the eradication of the
Palestinian people, and opened up the phone lines to discuss this
program of "eradication." His co-host, Mr. Peter Blute, made significant
efforts to urge Mr. Osterlind to retract his comments or drop the subject
of "eradication" of the Palestinian people altogether. Mr. Osterlind was
suspended without pay for two weeks, pending further review of his
relationship with the station. Today he was dismissed.

Former Congresswoman Oaker wrote to WRKO on August 19, "Certainly, we
commend your action in removing Mr. Osterlind from your airwaves as
quickly as possible following this outrageous eruption of bigotry and hatred
against an entire people. However, we also strongly feel that it
would be unwise, and even irresponsible, to return him to broadcasting after
the two-week suspension is concluded in a few days. We believe that the only
appropriate response to Mr. Osterlind's genocidal tirade is his dismissal as
a broadcaster for WRKO. There can be little doubt that had his call for
'eradication' been directed towards most other national or ethnic groups,
had he directed them, for example, towards people of
African, Jewish, Irish, Italian, Japanese or Hispanic descent, his career as
a radio talk show personality would have been at an end on August
12. It is not in any way more acceptable or less offensive to direct a call
for "eradication" towards the Palestinian people than toward any of these
communities. It is evident that. Mr. Osterlind is unfit to be entrusted with
an open microphone on one of the oldest and most respected AM radio
stations in the United States. We urge you to seriously review and terminate
Mr. Osterlind's employment by your station."

ADC thanks WRKO-FM for their proper decision on this matter. Comments such
as these have no place in the broadcasts of any American radio station.
_______________________________________________
The Announcement List of the Anti-Discrimination Committee
adc-updates@adc.org
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