http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/19/102924/418

Milwaukee talker fired after misguided 'humor' about killing
Sat May 19, 2007 at 10:16:47 AM CDT

A right-wing talk show host on Wisconsin's biggest radio station was fired Friday, three days after juxtaposing a question about a 4-year-old girl's murder with sound effects of a chicken squawking.

Liberal blogs had called for an apology from the Milwaukee station, WTMJ-AM, and the host, Jessica McBride, for her misguided attempt at humor.

Instead, the station announced that McBride is off the air, to be replaced by the syndicated Dennis Miller show. Station management said the change had been in the works for some time, but acknowledged that McBride's Tuesday night segment "contributed to the timing of it." The station's general manager said,"We felt it was in the best interest of the station and Jessica to make the move right now."

Four-year-old Jasmine Owens was killed by a drive-by shooter Monday night while she was skipping rope in front of her home. She was not the intended victim. The killing sent shock waves through the city, which fears the approach of a violent summer.

Against that backdrop, McBride launched a segment on her show Tuesday night called, "Left Side of the Moon," in which she said she would invite liberal guests to debate her.

She "invited" a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist, Eugene Kane, with whom she's had a running feud and disagreement on crime, race, and other issues. Kane had declined an "open invitation" to appear on the show and was on vacation this week.

McBride's juvenile gimmick was a segment in which she purported to ask Kane questions, with a chicken squaw substituted for his reply to each question. (Pretty hilarious stuff, if you're in the third grade.)

One of her questions was about Jasmine Owens:



The program itself sparked no controversy, but McBride was so proud of the segment that she posted an item, complete with an audio link, on her blog on WTMJ'S website.

Blogger Jim Rowen was the first to speak out about it. When Journal Sentinel columnist Tim Cuprisin called the station manager about it, the item was declared "inappropriate" and taken off the website.

Other blogs, including one devoted to McBride's missteps, began on Thursday to call for an apology.

Friday night, WTMJ pulled the plug on McBride.

McBride, a former Journal Sentinel reporter, is a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee journalism instructor and writes a column for a suburban newspaper. She presumably will resume her own blog, which she exchanged for the WTMJ-sponsored site when she began as a part-time, night time host a year ago.

'You can't quit me, I'm fired'

Submitted by xoff on Sat, 05/19/2007 - 11:46am.

Clueless McBride speeded up departure

Radio is a tough business. It can be cruel. No two-week notice. You'll find out at the end of your shift that it's time to clean out your desk.

The decision to replace Jessica McBride had been in the works for some time, WTMJ management says. There is no reason to doubt that. She apparently had a small audience, and deservedly so.

But the station's general manager also acknowledged to columnist Tim Cuprisin that McBride's failed attempt this week to incorporate the drive-by killing of a 4-year-old into a comic routine(!) hastened her demise.

She may have been on the way out, in other words, but not this week.

McBride herself clearly didn't have a clue she was going anywhere. She introduced her disastrously unfunny "Left Side of the Moon" feature on Tuesday night, saying on the air and on her blog that it would run on Tuesdays and Fridays in the future.

Actually, it only ran once, and that was the segment with a chicken sound effect substituing for Eugene Kane. Kane, who was on vacation, won the "debate" by a knockout without even being there.

It speaks volumes to McBride's lack of judgment -- and how clueless she truly is -- that she not only did the tasteless segment Tuesday night but was quite proud of it. So proud that she didn't just broadcast it, but wrote about it on her blog and posted a link to the offensive audio.

If she hadn't done that, she might have stayed out of trouble. It was the post that caught the attention of Jim Rowen and other bloggers, before station management listened to it, found it "inappropriate," and took it down.

She may have been gone in a week or two, or in a month, anyway.

But McBride has no one to blame but her tone-deaf self for accelerating the date of her exit.

Dennis Miller is an improvement? As far as I'm concerned this is a step backwards, the fewer markets he's in the faster he's completely off the air and might be replaced by someone who's actually funny.

You haven't heard the 'local "talent"' on the Milwaukee talk radio. Remember, this is the market that keeps sending Sensenbrenner back to DC.