Emmis breaks up KLBJ, Austin’s Todd & Don Show, after the “wetback” protests.

That’s considered to be a particularly objectionable term of derision by many Mexican-Americans, and Don Pryor kept employing it on last Tuesday’s show…

Wetback? What broadcaster in his right mind is using that kind of language in 2009?  The answer is: too many under-qualified, poorly trained, lightly supervised talk show hosts.  The recent spate of similar incidents — hosts berating Hispanics as VD-carriers, joking about beating transgender teens, doing their show in blackface after Obama’s election — I’m beginning to wonder whether the fault lies with management.  Even the best talent needs guidance, feedback and a clear set of rules and expectations.  Are today’s often overworked and/or under-qualified talk PDs able to provide all that support to their hosts?   Owners and GMs should think about that — for the sake of their stations, and the talk format itself.  Later this year the FCC will start to get serious about its “localism” rules, which could easily become a first step toward content regulation by the Commission.  When that process begins, every one of these idiotic comments will be entered as evidence that talk radio must be “brought under control.”

According to press reports, the FCC’s analysis of  broadcast news focuses on a range of issues, including media consolidation, the business challenges facing traditional electronic media, and the rise of blogging and other “new media.”  Of special concern to talk radio: The still-secret report examines the “quality of journalism” and the role of “opinion journalism” in the broadcast media.

The FCC report was initiated by Commissioner Michael Copps, a long-time critic of broadcast news.  But the study also reflects the agenda of Free Press, which dislikes “opinion” radio and advocates an eat-your-spinach approach to news.  This is from their website:

“News outlets across the country have replaced real reporting with celebrity gossip, sports and weather. And instead of fulfilling their obligation to inform the public, the massive conglomerates that decide most of what we read, see and hear every day serve us junk news and mindless commentary that is cheap to produce.”

How much influence does Free Press have at the FCC?  A lot.  Copps is clearly a fan — he spoke at a recent FP gathering — and FCC ChairmanJulius Genachowski earlier this month tapped Free Press staffer Jen Lewis to serve as his personal press secretary.

The storm clouds continue to gather over the FCC…

Hmmm.  Wonder if she supports the FCC’s pending “localism” rules?

KRXQ will recover from this episode, and may even regain the sponsors who fled in terror, including Verizon, Nissan,Chipotle and Bank of America.  But the Entercom-owned station may not be the only victim of this jaw-dropping lack of judgment.  The story has has gone national, and in the re-telling, the KRXQ morning show has become “conservative talk radio.”  At least that’s how influential Washington writer and blogger Andrew Sullivan described them in a blog post that tied the KRXQ crew’s comments to support for torturing terror suspects.

Said Sullivan in a post entitled The Talk Radio Right : “I suspect the medium is the problem. The cocooned echo-chamber of shock jocks takes what might have been conservatism and turns it into some ghastly expression of contempt for others unlike themselves. It’s easy to see how this kind of attitude can embrace torture…”

And this sort of publicity is the last thing talk radio needs as the Obama FCC begins to power-up.  Take it from someone who covered the Commission for seven years: This incident, along with WTKK-FM/Boston talker Jay Severin’s bashing of  Hispanic immigrants, will come back to haunt broadcasters when the FCC’s “localism” policies begin moving through the approval process later this year.

Two observations:

– Don’t make the mistake of comparing this incident to a political talk flap, such as that involving Rush Limbaugh’s expressed desire to see the Obama agenda fail.  The KRXQ crew was talking about hitting and verbally tormenting children.  Co-host Arnie States initially told the media that he and his team were joking, as if that would somehow make it less reprehensible. 

– This incident is foretold in the Rob, Arnie and Dawn section of KRXQ’s website, where they make this tiresome  promise: “If we haven’t offended you yet, don’t worry… we will.”   Yeah, yeah, whatever. 

The KRXQ dust-up provides yet another reminder that trading in offensiveness is like juggling chainsaws — there’s a limited audience for it, and you can easily lose a leg.  Best to leave it to the pros.