Dear Shelley,
We are in support of our troops in the Middle East with a program to send
hours of Y98 on CD to soldiers. We are also airing station ID’s with
snippets of the President’s speeches from the past couple of weeks. Neither
of those features are intended to express a pro-war spin by the station.
I’m certain comments fly that are in support of our action, and against it,
depending on who’s behind the mike. I’m not censoring the personalities. I
let them know that our purpose is to play music and make people’s day a
little brighter, so I wouldn’t expect much politcal rhetoric on a station
like ours.
I’ll check into what happened last week, and see if it was out of character
for us. If so, I’ll address that with the person on duty.
War is ugly. We all do not agree that this war is just. I just returned
from Europe, where the spin on the war is very different. They hear and
speak different words, and see different pictures than we see. I learned
from the people there that wherever you may go, whatever you may believe,
this is America’s war. As I was frequently reminded, as an American I
represent it, support it or not.
Shelley, I respect your freedom and desire to speak your mind. If what you
hear on Y98 is driving you away, I’m sorry to lose a valuable listener. I
hope you’ll come back for the music and companionship we provide.
Thanks for the message.
Smokey Rivers
VP/Programming
Infinity Broadcasting, St. Louis
KEZK-KMOX-KYKY
(phone number omitted – Shelley)
E-mail: srivers@cbs.com
