Petition Targets KCMO 710 Talk Radio

By CAROLYN SZCZEPANSKI

A political shock jock outraged the local Muslim community — but the Kansas City station that carries the explosive radio personality appears unwilling to address residents concerns.

Last October, Mahnaz Shabbir, a local activist, journalist and diversity consultant, was shocked to hear a segment on The Savage Nation. Hosted by Michael Savage, a controversial conservative commentator whose syndicated program boasts 10 million weekly listeners and airs on local talk radio station KCMO 710 each evening.

In the past, Savage had advocated forced conversion of Muslims to Christianity and making the construction of mosques in the United States illegal. In this clip, though, he called for all Muslims to be summarily deported without due process. Shabbir says she believes strongly in free speech, but Savage spewed rhetoric that was grossly inappropriate for public airwaves.

“When someone’s spitting out the words with such hatred in their voice, oh my God, it feels like someone’s hurting you — physically hurting you,” she says.

Shabbir sent a letter to the station’s management outlining her concerns about such hate-laced speech and how it could pose dangers to the local Muslim community. Many other local residents did as well. All they got was a stock e-mail response that The Savage Nation does carry a disclaimer at the start of the show and that a KCMO 710 employee would forward their input to the national agency that syndicates the program.

She tried to follow up with the station to spark some type of debate. But aside from that original response, she says, the management hasn’t returned her calls or correspondence.

Shabbir isn’t alone in her frustration with KCMO 710’s silence on the issue. The Interfaith Coalition Against Bigotry is circulating a petition aimed at 710’s management. Shabbir says they’re not asking them to pull the Michael Savage show, and they’re not asking area listeners to boycott the station’s programs. They just want to have a meeting with management to start a dialogue.

This Sunday at 5: 30 p.m. they’re holding a event at the UMKC University Center, bringing together community leaders like former Kansas City council member and mayoral candidate Alvin Brooks and Rabbi Scott White, to energize the petition effort.

No word on whether any 710 employees will show up. The station’s program director, Chris Hoffman, didn’t return calls from The Pitch, either.