A recent incident outside Clear Channel’s KYLD radio station has raised significant concerns about the company’s commitment to the public interest, as well as its policy regarding the behavior of its on-air employees.
On the morning of September 22, approximately 80 individuals gathered for a peaceful protest outside Clear Channel’s San Francisco headquarters, which houses KYLD and KMEL. The demonstrators were calling attention to the growing concentration of media ownership, urging broadcasting companies to better serve the public interest. As you are likely aware, Clear Channel controls around 900 radio stations across the United States, making them a dominant player in the industry.
However, the response from KYLD employees was anything but professional. According to multiple eyewitnesses, two members of the KYLD “Doghouse” morning show confronted the protesters, escalating the situation into a hostile altercation. The on-air personalities verbally assaulted the demonstrators with insults, pushed at least three of them, and even threatened to physically assault others. Among the insults shouted were “f*** you,” “f*** off,” and “take a shower, you smell.” In the chaos, one of the building’s glass doors was damaged, though it remains unclear whether this was the result of protester action or the actions of the station employees.
Ironically, the behavior exhibited by the KYLD crew is a stark example of the very issues that the protesters were highlighting—the corporate-driven, profit-focused nature of the media industry, embodied by Clear Channel, the largest radio company in the country.
The individuals involved in this altercation were identified as Dan “Elvis” Lay and Joseph “Big Joe” Lopez of the Doghouse show. Despite multiple inquiries to KYLD management, the names of the staff involved were not confirmed. Their behavior, however, fits a disturbing pattern. The Doghouse show has a long history of inappropriate and offensive content, even prior to Clear Channel’s acquisition of KYLD. For example, the Doghouse crew has ridiculed and humiliated a person with a disability, referred to as “Hammerin’ Hank,” and once aired a segment of live oral sex during hours when children were likely listening. These actions are just a few examples of the show’s consistent disregard for public decency.
The troubling history of the Doghouse crew does not end there. In 1997, Joseph Lopez was arrested for encouraging listeners to vandalize a city sign in Castro Valley, and charges are pending after Lopez and another crew member staged a fake escape from prison in 2000, causing public panic. In another incident, the crew made a crank call to a woman in Oregon, falsely claiming that her daughter had been injured, which led to a lawsuit for the distress they caused.
This violent and abusive behavior displayed by KYLD’s on-air staff on September 22 is therefore not an isolated event. It is a reflection of the type of content Clear Channel is willing to pay for and broadcast to its audience.
As an organization that participated in the September protests against the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), which included the demonstration at KYLD, we are requesting an official explanation from Clear Channel regarding the actions of its employees. We also ask that Clear Channel release its policies and standards for on-air behavior.
Above all, we are writing to remind Clear Channel that the airwaves are a public resource. The license to broadcast is a public trust, which comes with the responsibility to serve the public interest. By publishing its rules for on-air conduct, Clear Channel would provide the public with greater insight into how the company believes it should fulfill its responsibility to the public interest.