LOL according to conspiracy crackpot Alex Jones.
It, It's a Conspiracy: KJFK Gives Alex Jones the Boot
BY
LEE NICHOLS
Add one more conspiracy to the list. Alex Jones -- who is either Austin's great exposer of truth or a black helicopter conspiracy nut, depending on your worldview -- has been canned from his evening talk show on KJFK (98.9FM). Jones, who hosted
The Final Edition -- so named because you never knew when the government might show up at the station to force you off the air -- was instead forced off by station management last week. And the reasons for his ouster certainly have the elements of intrigue for which Jones is famous. The libertarian Jones first made a name for himself a couple of years ago (see "Media Clips," Aug. 7, 1998) with his programs on access television, speechifying about and presenting video of what he says are the violations of our freedoms and the stepping up of martial law in our country. He eventually landed on KJFK, still something of a fledgling in Austin's talk radio scene, having switched to the format in 1996.
There, he drew even more attention, especially in championing the cause of the Branch Davidians and in his insistence that they had not committed suicide in the Waco debacle but had been attacked by government agents, charges which gained some credibility once the Texas Rangers released its information about evidence from the 1993 incident. He drew attention from major national media outlets for trying to help the Davidians rebuild their church at Mt. Carmel.
By all accounts, including KJFK's own in the
Austin American-Statesman (the station did not return my calls), Jones was not hurting for listeners. In fact, he won this year's "Best of Austin" poll as radio host, voted by
Austin Chronicle readers. However, station operations manager Brian Billeck told the local daily that Jones' viewpoints made the show hard to sell to advertisers. (Sports show host Mike Konderla, on the other hand, was fired on the same day, reportedly for low ratings.)
Jones and his supporters contend that is bunk, and maintain that advertisers are actually pulling out in response to his being canned.
"It was purely political, and it came down from on high," says Jones, referring to KJFK's owner, the Times-Shamrock company. "I was told 11 weeks ago to lay off Clinton, to lay off all these politicians, to not talk about rebuilding the church, to stop bashing the Marines, A to Z." Jones makes similar charges in a press release on his Web site,
http://www.infowars.com.
Billeck told the daily that Jones was not censored but told to "broaden" (the
Statesman's word) his topics.
"Jim Loftis, the CEO of the radio division [of Times-Shamrock] patted me on the cheek -- he never talks to me, he's never around -- and says, "We want you to talk about sex and relationships,'" Jones says. "I thought it was a joke, and he said, "You've got an unscheduled meeting, go to it.' Suddenly, I'm told I've got an early meeting with the station consultant [Don Davis] who'd been doing these long airchecks with other people, and he goes, "Well, we don't need much time with you, Alex.'
"He looked at me and goes, "This will only take a few minutes. Number one, you may have a lot of listeners' -- which has been proven -- "but we are sick of the Clinton bashing. We're sick of the political politician bashing' -- I bash Bush more than Clinton lately -- "and this rebuilding the church thing, this is kooky.'"
Jones also says that KJFK general manager Mark Stacey said, "Look, you quit talking about rebuilding that church or you won't be on the station."
Jones added that Stacey, an ex-Marine, was angered by Jones' criticisms of the Marine Corps.
Jones maintains that he was a major advertising draw for the station, and a source close to the station who asked to remain anonymous agreed. He also maintains that he was "No. 1 in every demographic" in the ratings. A look at the latest Arbitron ratings do indeed show that his time slot was beating KLBJ-AM, the station's only real rival in Austin, although stations in other formats were rating higher than KJFK.
Jones also charges on his Web site that he is being attacked in "an e-mail campaign we know has been launched from KJFK to spin their self-destructive and incredible behavior."
Jones says he will continue his other broadcasting ventures, including his access television shows and another radio show that he does out of his house which is syndicated to "about 35" AM, FM, and shortwave stations through the Genesis Communications network, and which can also be heard over the Internet, 11am-2pm on his Web site.
KJFK has replaced Jones with the syndicated call-in show of Los Angeles host Tom Leykis, whose style fits in much better with the juvenile and sophomoric bathroom and locker-room humor for which the station is known (KJFK is the local provider of Howard Stern).
Personally, I'm sad to see Jones gone. Although I disagree with many of his beliefs -- why would the corporate controllers of our nation impose expensive martial law on a populace of non-voting couch potatoes who are already completely compliant anyway?
-- I still at least appreciate the fact that he was tackling political topics, and from a different perspective than the right-wingers who dominate talk radio (such as G. Gordon Liddy, also heard on KJFK). And unlike much of the so-called "black helicopter" crowd, he isn't racist -- he saves all his ire for government and corporations.
Interestingly, this controversy has spilled over onto the airwaves of KVET's
Sammy and Bob Show. Seeking another outlet to spread their message now that Jones is not on Austin airwaves, callers have flooded Sammy Allred and Bob Cole's morning talk show with calls, usually to be ridiculed and hung up on by the cranky duo.
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http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/column?oid=oid:75039
