Fuck Entercom. They're destroying American music, and if they weren't called out for this one they wouldn't have apologized.

I mean, it sends a good signal, and it's a great action that GLAAD and the trans community have organized against them. They completely deserve it. But I don't really feel any sympathy for any of the companies here, they're all set on destroying America... grumble grumble.

I'll take my hippie-ness elsewhere.

But on this subject, seriously, good work to everyone who's been working on this. This sort of ridiculous transphobia's been going on too long in all sorts of media.

Before we go lauding this statement and whatever they may say on Thursday, let's not forget the the most basic reality of talk radio: It's a business, and because it's a business, this is really all about money.

First and foremost, at least ten sponsors, including biggies like McDonald's and ATT have pulled their ads on the station. That has to be a major financial loss for the station.

Second, these people clearly thought that bashing trans children was an acceptable topic for their show. The fact is, as little as a few years ago probably few outside our own community would have noticed or cared.

Michael Savage, Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, and many others have bashed transpeople with impunity for years, but they get away with it because through syndication of their shows they probably generate far more money for their employers in a day than this little local show probably generates in an entire year.

Add to that the fact that the Dana Rivers case, which happened in Sacramento about six years ago, had sensitized local listeners to transgender people and our lives. Also add in the media coverage of the Gwen Araujo case, which happened in the nearby San Francisco area.

Bottom line reality:

What these people did might have seemed like a good idea from a show content point of view, but from a business point of view, it was nothing less than astoundingly stupid and dangerous to the station itself.

They completely misjudged the sensibilities of a large portion of their listenership and probably their own value to their employer.

Apparently, a lot of Californians now have a lot less tolerance for this kind of bigotry, particularly after Prop 8 and the relatively recent murders of Gwen Araujo and Larry King.

In addition, they seriously misjudged the reaction of the LGBT community. After Prop 8, this community, especially in California, has finally decided that it's mad as hell as we're not going to take it anymore.

As with Dr. Laura, we're now smart enough to realize that complaining to station management accomplishes nothing as long as the show continues to generate sponsorship money.

By successfully going after the show's sponsors, the free-flowing money tap was likely cut down to relative trickle, no doubt prompting station management to tell Rob Williams that he'd better fix this but quick or his show would be replaced with a better income generator, one that doesn't cause big-money sponsors to avoid advertising on their station. It worked for Dr. Laura and it's likely working here as well.

So, make no mistake that this apology is a sudden change of heart or anything truly positive or progressive. What we're seeing here is a man desperately trying to save his job and those of his co-hosts before it's too late, before their bigotry costs their station so much revenue that they'll have no choice but to fire them in the interest of protecting the station's profitability.

Again, like everything else in commercial media, in the end it's all about money, not about social responsibility. Yes, it's a great thing that the tide is flowing our way (this time), but let's not kid ourselves that in the end this is anything other than protecting business interests.

Isn't it amazing what losing a lot of advertisers will do?

Before you go off half cocked and say "fuck Entercom" you might want to know that this transgender employee who transitioned on the job at Entercom has been treated very well by the company. Yes, enough that I am willing to stand up for them and take heat for it.

Remember also, RAD is syndicated and merely rents studio space from Entercom and the show is aired on one Entercom station. It is also aired on a station owned by a different company in a different market.

RAD are uneducated fools and deserve the backlash to teach them a lesson about transgender people and what we won't stand for, but don't shoot Entercom in the process. They are a transgender-friendly company and I am proud to work for them.

Kelley,

Respectfully... Without even getting into the rest of it... Words mean more than actions? Just a thought for you. What was experienced on that show were mere words. I've experienced actions.

I've taken a lot of heat for what I have said but I will stand by it. I don't speak for them BTW, I speak for me. One day everyone crying censorship is going to wish they hadn't.

Kelli