Mueller Lake Park Outdoor Amphitheater
Dudley and Bob's Limbaugh/Imus-like Rant
RECEIVED Mon., April 16, 2007
Dear Editor,
It's an interesting coincidence that Louis Black chose this week both to comment on Rush Limbaugh’s bigotry and mean-spiritedness and to congratulate Dale Dudley on his 20-year tenure at KLBJ [“Page Two,” April 13]. I say that because I have been boycotting the Dudley and Bob Show and indeed, all of KLBJ for more than a decade now because of a truly hateful Limbaugh/Don Imus-like exchange on their morning show in October of 1995. The two men were comparing their rock-only station to 96.7 KHFI (now KISS FM), which has always played every kind of popular music from rock to R&B, rap, and dance music. This latter part of their rival’s playlist was the focus of their derision and prompted the deejays to begin an extended rant on how dance music was solely for people who liked to bend over and take it, so you had to be gay to listen to that kind of music, and thus KHFI’s listeners were all fags and people who liked to “take it in the butt.” I was astounded that they actually went into this level of scatological detail in the morning, when kids are on their way to school. Of course, the real reason behind the attack was that as I recall, KHFI’s morning show was kicking their ass in the ratings, so it was actually Dudley and Bob who were getting, well, you know. But, like Imus’ sexist/racist comments, their comments about the alleged sexual orientation of their rival’s listeners was utterly irrelevant and impertinent to the matter at hand and just an occasion for some puerile humor and cheap shots. Thirty years earlier, I imagine their ilk were using the N-word to refer to listeners of R&B music. Now that Imus is off the air, perhaps his kind of radio show, with its daily doses of bigotry, bullying, and meanness, will no longer set the tone for morning shows nationwide or set an example for our children of what constitutes acceptable public discourse.
It's an interesting coincidence that Louis Black chose this week both to comment on Rush Limbaugh’s bigotry and mean-spiritedness and to congratulate Dale Dudley on his 20-year tenure at KLBJ [“Page Two,” April 13]. I say that because I have been boycotting the Dudley and Bob Show and indeed, all of KLBJ for more than a decade now because of a truly hateful Limbaugh/Don Imus-like exchange on their morning show in October of 1995. The two men were comparing their rock-only station to 96.7 KHFI (now KISS FM), which has always played every kind of popular music from rock to R&B, rap, and dance music. This latter part of their rival’s playlist was the focus of their derision and prompted the deejays to begin an extended rant on how dance music was solely for people who liked to bend over and take it, so you had to be gay to listen to that kind of music, and thus KHFI’s listeners were all fags and people who liked to “take it in the butt.” I was astounded that they actually went into this level of scatological detail in the morning, when kids are on their way to school. Of course, the real reason behind the attack was that as I recall, KHFI’s morning show was kicking their ass in the ratings, so it was actually Dudley and Bob who were getting, well, you know. But, like Imus’ sexist/racist comments, their comments about the alleged sexual orientation of their rival’s listeners was utterly irrelevant and impertinent to the matter at hand and just an occasion for some puerile humor and cheap shots. Thirty years earlier, I imagine their ilk were using the N-word to refer to listeners of R&B music. Now that Imus is off the air, perhaps his kind of radio show, with its daily doses of bigotry, bullying, and meanness, will no longer set the tone for morning shows nationwide or set an example for our children of what constitutes acceptable public discourse.
Julia Spencer
