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.”