F-Worded on the Radio

March 5, 2004 9:07 AM

Screw Howard Stern. But Save Sandra Tsing Loh!
The radio culture wars have claimed an unlikely victim, and an unlikely victimizer (America's favorite NPR station, KCRW).
posted by wendell (33 comments total)

And wash Laura Ingraham's mouth.
posted by inksyndicate at 9:08 AM on March 5, 2004

Apparently she not only used , but she used it as a verb! (gratuitous self-link on image)
posted by wendell at 9:09 AM on March 5, 2004

My comment above was supposed to apply to Ms. Loh, but apparently it applies to Ms. Ingraham too. (And Ingraham's LA station just put up billboards for her... Hee hee!)
posted by wendell at 9:14 AM on March 5, 2004

Sandra Tsing Loh was way funnier before Jackie the Jokeman left.
posted by emptybowl at 9:17 AM on March 5, 2004

"It is the equivalent of the Janet Jackson performance piece"

Performance piece?? The whole super-bowl brouhaha is now being referenced as "the Janet Jackson performance piece"?? I though JJ was a performing artist, not a performance artist! :-)
posted by anastasiav at 9:29 AM on March 5, 2004

Well at least our children will be safer.
posted by callmejay at 9:33 AM on March 5, 2004

I'm glad that this country is finally recognizing that saying "f*ck" is much, much more damaging than, say, ordering the invasion of a sovereign nation.

I'm quite sure that moral wretch Clinton didn't see things that way!
posted by clevershark at 9:50 AM on March 5, 2004 [1 favorite]

iraq hadn't been a sovereign nation since it lost the first gulf war.
posted by techgnollogic at 9:59 AM on March 5, 2004

LA radio will be a little emptier without The Loh Life. It's also strange that KCRW (greatest radio station on the planet), which usually has a pretty progressive stance on things, didn't just let her off with a slap on the wrist. Ruth Seymour! What's happening to you? Don't make me take my yearly pledge back!

On a side note, Jon Stewart apologized on Monday for saying "fuck" on the previous Thursday's show. He usually cusses on the show, but they bleep him out. Apparently someone was asleep at the switch. Funny thing is, I swear I watched that show and never even noticed, becuase, really, who gives a fuck?
posted by eyeballkid at 10:17 AM on March 5, 2004

This sadens me greatly.

Let's sing a rousing spiritual on her behalf:

Tsing Loh, Sweet Chariot, Gettin' Kicked Offa The Air....
posted by jonmc at 10:18 AM on March 5, 2004

(side side note, if you've ever listened to KCRW and The Books' "Thought for Food," doesn't General Manager Ruth Seymour sound exactly like the woman complaining in "Enjoy Your Worries, You May Never Have Them Again.")
posted by eyeballkid at 10:23 AM on March 5, 2004

Was Ruth Seymour the reason Joe Frank left, too?
posted by shoos at 10:33 AM on March 5, 2004

Although the quirky, uneven cadence of Loh’s delivery makes it appear that the segments materialize in her mind as she walks into the recording studio, they are carefully scripted, she said.

I don't think it fooled many people. This style is the only thing on the radio more obnoxious to me than a Morning Zoo Crew. Still-- for shame, KCRW.

Aside: Did I imagine it, or did Ben Stiller manage to say "fuckin'" on the Oscars when describing his outfit in the skit with Owen Wilson?
posted by 4easypayments at 10:43 AM on March 5, 2004

Is the OC Weekly article just a very badly written joke, or bad writing, or a bad joke?
posted by DenOfSizer at 11:04 AM on March 5, 2004

4easypayments - I heard that too, for sure. I was quite surprised the 5-second-morality-delay didn't work on that one.
posted by tristeza at 11:10 AM on March 5, 2004

Loh drives me up the wall with her snark and the way she looks down on, well, everything. But it blows that she got the boot. KCRW won't be getting my pledge money this year. I expect wussy behavior like this from Clear Channel, not NPR.
posted by RakDaddy at 11:30 AM on March 5, 2004

What I don't understand is how the station didn't know Loh's piece contained an unbleeped "fuck" before it was broadcast. Didn't anyone other than she listen to it before it went out on the air?
posted by deadcowdan at 11:33 AM on March 5, 2004

"Screw Howard Stern"? Why? Don't tell me people on MetaFilter are shocked out of their little gourds by his naughty language and flagrant violations of polite convention. Yes, he's gotten a lot less funny over the years, but are you aware that since the Clear Channel thing he's started attacking Bush on every show and telling his listeners (far more numerous than Sandra Tsing Loh's) to do whatever it takes to get him out of office?
posted by languagehat at 12:01 PM on March 5, 2004

Mi>Jon Stewart apologized on Monday for saying "fuck" on the previous Thursday's show.

So let me get this straight. He said "I'm sorry for saying 'fuck' on last Thursday's show."? On the Monday show?

God, Americans are a scream...
posted by 327.ca at 1:08 PM on March 5, 2004

As in "I'm sorry for saying the word fuck last thursday. I promise to never say fuck on air again, as fuck is never appropriate to say. Again, I'm sorry for saying the word fuck."
posted by drezdn at 2:05 PM on March 5, 2004

Ruth Seymour's "explanatory" email that I just received in response to my protest message yesterday is a particularly galling piece of self-justification -- it basically "there's a witchhunt going on, so we have to make sure they don't come after us and take away our license, which they could totally do in a second, you know!" Ugh.
posted by scody at 5:41 PM on March 5, 2004

And wash Laura Ingraham's mouth.

For something her sidekick said? C'mon. I've never heard her schtick, thank you, but Take Back The Media is pushing one pathetic campaign there.
Quel lame.
posted by y2karl at 5:55 PM on March 5, 2004

Hatman, didn't you see the [sarcasm] tag on my FPP?
posted by wendell at 7:51 PM on March 5, 2004

I saw the show where Stewart said 'fuck' (actually, I think he said 'fuckers')...he said it a number of times, most of which were bleeped. I did notice that they didn't bleep it the one time and was a bit surprised. Of course, I merely blamed it on our lax Canadian broadcast standards, not realizing it wasn't bleeped in the original airing either.

As for the apology, he apologized for using the word without actually mentioning the word.
posted by filmgoerjuan at 9:15 PM on March 5, 2004

"Screw Howard Stern"? Why? Don't tell me people on MetaFilter are shocked out of their little gourds by his naughty language and flagrant violations of polite convention.


I wouldn't be surprised if someone on metafilter was shocked by him, but I doubt most are. Personally, I just find him annoying and boring.

To be honest, though, I don't think there's anything I'd like enough to put up with the ads on commercial radio. The ads on NPR are bad enough.
posted by electro at 10:58 PM on March 5, 2004

wendell, I don't know how to tell you this, but your sarcasm tags came off in the wash last week. Ever since then, you've been going around with your statements hanging out bare nekkid. Sorry to be the one to let you know.
posted by languagehat at 6:32 AM on March 6, 2004

The very title of this thread implies that somehow Loh's speech is more valued than Stern's. I can't wait until the FCC hires an arbiter of taste.
posted by girard31 at 9:00 AM on March 6, 2004

Great. The FCC just fined me $27,000 for dropping my [sarcasm] tag during the Super Bowl. At least I didn't lose my [non-sequitur] tag, or I'd be shut down for sure...

Meanwhile:
Howard Stern, sounding grim and depressed, said Friday that he expected to be forced off the radio within three months, the victim of a political and financial campaign driven by religious conservatives. He urged listeners to vote against President George W. Bush in revenge.
posted by wendell at 1:54 PM on March 6, 2004

As someone who was fired twice by Ruth Seymour and her Iron Whim ... I feel Sandra's pain.

I wouldn't be surprised if she pops up somewhere else on local radio before too much longer. I sure hope so, because otherwise I'll really miss her commentaries.
posted by chuq at 1:35 AM on March 7, 2004

Remember, I warned you, if you're going to use the word "chuq" on the air, don't use it as a verb!

Considering Sandra used to do commentaries on KABC (way back when the talk station had Liberals), I think she might end up back there if Ken Minyard has any influence left (which he probably doesn't). Otherwise, I expect her to pop up on Prairie Home Pasadena (KPPC), as part of their ongoing KCRW-envy.
posted by wendell at 2:00 PM on March 8, 2004

This thread's probably dead and scrolled off by now, but in case anyone's still here, let's enjoy a little Ruth Seymour schadenfreude moment, shall we:

KCRW PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: March 15, 2004
MEDIA Contacts:
For KCRW: Sarah Spitz [phone]
For Sandra Tsing Loh: Allan Mayer, Sitrick And Company [phone]

KCRW RESCINDS DISMISSAL OF SANDRA TSING LOH

SANTA MONICA, March 15, 2004 -

KCRW and Sandra Tsing Loh have released the following joint statement:

KCRW-FM and Sandra Tsing Loh announced today that the station has decided to reverse its decision to take Loh off the air after an indecent word was inadvertently broadcast during one of her taped commentaries. But Loh has turned down General Manager Ruth Seymour's invitation to resume "The Loh Life" on KCRW.

"When I made the decision to cancel 'The Loh Life,' I was not in possession of all the facts regarding this unfortunate incident, specifically that it had been Sandra's practice to leave instructions for her engineer to bleep out certain words, and that this practice had never before gone awry," said Seymour. "I regret having jumped to conclusions about what happened and for erroneously accusing Sandra of an 'intentional' breach of our broadcast standards."

"I appreciate the station's willingness to acknowledge that it was wrong to cancel my show as well as its invitation for me to return," Loh said. "And while I do wish KCRW well, I personally don't think I could be comfortable working there anymore."

(Heh. Of course, what Ruth really regrets is all the bad press she got.)
posted by chuq at 7:44 PM on March 15, 2004

Great she was invited back. Hope she finds a decent outlet.
posted by shoos at 9:16 PM on March 15, 2004

Hey, I predicted right! Sandra Tsing Loh joins KPCC
posted by wendell at 12:18 PM on March 27, 2004