Anti-gay Radio in the SF Bay Area?

Shame on San Francisco classical radio station, KDFC 102.1. They have betrayed a huge portion of their loyal listeners. Once again they have thrown gay and lesbians under the proverbial bus. KDFC is the one of the top three radio stations in SF and the most popular classical station in the country. They are a large media supporter of the arts in the bay area providing advertising, in-kind trade, PSAs and calendar listings. But they care more for the money they can get broadcasting the deceitful, hatful, fear mongering lies of the “Yes on Prop 8” campaign. They played the “Yes on 8” ads three to five times an hour. I never heard the station air a “No on Prop 8” commercial. The “Yes” ads call for removal of constitutional marriage rights for a group of California citizens. It denigrated and disparaged a minority group. It promoted intolerance, bigotry, and discrimination. It was commercial hate speech.

KDFC was instrumental in supporting a despicable campaign of lies, misinformation and fear mongering. They approved and aired ads that deceived the public into thinking that same-sex marriage would hurt children and punish churches.

I contacted the station manager and requested that they stop playing fraudulent advertising, the station manager, Bill Lueth, refused. He says although many may find the ad to be “repugnant”, they feel “it is inappropriate for us to filter them in any way”. I responded with the questions: How can you justify accepting money for repugnant and fraudulent advertising? Would you accept similar ads that called for restricting rights for Jews or blacks or of another race or minority? I sure hope not. Why do you allow the bashing of gays and lesbians on your classical musical station?” I have not heard back.

I also filed a complaint with the FCC. They have an on-line form here.

Every arts organization in the Bay Area (symphony, ballet, theatre, museum, etc.) advertises or does promotional give-aways on KDFC, presumably because the station is so cultural. I recommend contacting these arts organizations and their executive directors to let them know that their organization is helping to support a radio station that ran an aggressive "Yes on 8" campaign to take rights away from gays and lesbians. Maybe they can put some pressure on the station to change their homophobic ways. At the very least it could start a dialogue on educating them on the consequences of their questionable decisions and policies.

This is not the first time that the classical station has shown it bigotry towards the gay community. In January 2005, KDFC refused to sell advertising to the gay dating service "8 Guys Out," while taking advertisements for the heterosexual dating service "Table for Six". Wikipedia also reported that: "In March 2007, KDFC pulled an ad critical of the Christian Right. The advertisement for a book by Chris Hedge was tailored to play only in the Bay Area to promote local appearances by the author. Bill Lueth, KDFC's operations and program director insisted that pulling the ad was not a free-speech issue. ‘We don't have any issue with their right to advertise this book. It simply doesn't fit the expectation of our listeners on this particular radio station,’ Lueth said."

Until early 2008, the station use to be owned by Bonneville, which is part of the Mormon Church. They are now owned by a company called Entercom Communications, the forth largest radio company in the US. I don't know why the station is still beholden to homophobic Mormon values.

We use to listen to the station from 6 am until mid-day, five days a week. We have now switched to KQED, a PBS station and to KFOG and KNGY. After being a loyal listener for many years, I refuse to listen to the station anymore.

[Entry revised and updated 2/09.]UPDATE: Local radio personality Michael McGurk and family were contributors ($250.00) to the Yes on 8 campaign to discriminate against gay and lesbian couples. McGurk is presently Production Director at KRTY/KLIV radio. He has also been a radio DJ for KPEN, KEZR and KARA.

[Updated again 10/09]
In May 2009, KDFC laid-off their only openly gay DJ, John Evans. He use to be the afternoon drive time host. He is now doing news on KCBS 740 AM.
In September 2009, “Energy 92.7” (KNGY-FM), a San Francisco station that targeted the gay community, was sold. The entire staff including out morning team Fernando & Greg were fired. The gay friendly radio station and its staff were big supporters of GLBT events and non-profits organizations throughout the Bay Area. Fernando & Greg were even listed in Out magazine’s list of top 100 most influential people in gay culture. Their morning show was the first commercially broadcast gay morning show in the US.

[Update 1/10] In November 2009, Fernando & Greg's morning show found a new home at "MOViN 99.7" in San Francisco.

During the weeks leading up to the election, I killed the Google Ads I had running in the right column. They kept displaying a fraudulent “Yes on 8” ad. I don’t know how to change the settings so I don’t get anti-gay ads on my blog.