By now, everyone's heard and read probably more than they want to about Michael Savage and his patently hateful autism speech. There have been letter writing campaigns, and some of his advertisers (Home Depot, Sears, Budweiser) have pulled their sponsorship over the public pressure. However, his show is still being carried by the vast majority of stations it was on two weeks ago.
I thought I'd share with you the story of my local station, WINA 1070 in Charlottesville. A local radio host, Coy Barefoot, has a six year old son with autism, and he talked about Savage's comments briefly on his show. In the next few days, the station was bombarded by letters and phone calls from local residents demanding that the show be pulled.
Clarification: Michael Saav
After a few days of this, the show was pulled. The radio host responded to his listeners with one of the most heartfelt, sincere, and moving radio segments I've ever heard. I highly recommend giving it a listen here. The lesson? Not only can we do something to remove this type of hate from the radio, but it has a real, significant impact on the lives of others in our community. Comments like Savage's can make those targeted feel alone and besieged, and the power of a community that says "we will not tolerate this" cannot be overestimated.
Clarification: Michael Savage's show was pulled, not Coy Barefoot's.