More on Michael Graham

This morning I received a "group response" from Chris Core, WMAL's veteran evening drive-time host. The complete text of Chris's note states:

this is a group response to all the michael graham e-mails i am getting. i like michael. he is a friend of mine. there is more to this story than has been made public, and should probably stay private as it is a touchy personnel issue, and not my business to share. nobody at wmal is happy we all had to go through this. i will continue to do the best job i can at six each tonight [sic]. i hope that you will listen. chris core.

Historically, I have had a great deal of respect for Chris -- he's proven over the years to be clear-thinking, independent-minded, well-spoken, and trustworthy. This note, however, is extraordinarily disappointing. I expected from Chris something other than a time-honored "there's-more-to-this-but-I-can't-tell-you" cop out. Better mind your manners, Chris. You may well be next. Although I won't be listening, I'm sure CAIR will be.

Also, I have news for Chris: saying that "nobody at WMAL is happy we had to go through this" evinces a fundamental misunderstanding of this situtation. It's far too early to speak in the past tense -- WMAL will be undergoing "this" for quite a while. As Michael said, he was fired for expressing views with which a great many of WMAL's listeners agree.

The listeners I spoke to said they felt betrayed by my suspension because the vast majority of them agree with me on the subject of Islam. By labeling my statements as unacceptable, these listeners felt that WMAL management was insulting them, too.

He's dead right. Firing Michael on the basis that his views are unacceptable is a direct attack on the views of many of the station's listeners. I doubt the listeners will quickly forgive the insult. My suspicion is that WMAL will grow to regret bowing before the greivance-mongering thugs at CAIR.

Lastly, in case anyone's interested, here's a link to a list of email contacts for WMAL's advertisers, which was posted in the comments over at Radio Equalizer (I am curious as to how it was obtained, but obtained it apparently was). If, like me, you are tuning out WMAL, it would seem appropriate to let the advertisers know that their advertising dollars will no longer reach you.

It's 11:06 am and WE ARE (still with) Michael Graham . . .

More: So this is what traffic looks like, huh? Thanks, Brian.