Apr 11, 2007 6:24 pm US/Eastern
Disc Jockey Fired For Having Callers Imitate Imus
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STROUDSBURG, PA (CBS/AP) ―
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Gary Smith was fired after using Don Imus' slur as the "Phrase That Pays."
93.5 WSBG
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Radio show host Don Imus waits for the Rev. Al Sharpton's radio show to begin, where Imus talked about charges that he made racially charged comments in a recent broadcast April 9, 2007, in New York City. On his morning show April 4, Imus referred to the R
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
A radio station fired its longtime morning DJ Wednesday after he encouraged listeners to repeat talk-show host Don Imus' racially charged comments in an on-air contest.
Gary Smith told
WSBG-FM listeners to call and say "I'm a nappy-headed ho" for Tuesday's "Phrase that Pays" contest, said Rick Musselman, executive vice president of station owner Nassau Broadcasting Partners L.P.
Musselman said three of the listeners who called were awarded tickets to a NASCAR promotion at a local club.
Station management reviewed a tape of the broadcast of the "Gary in the Morning" show and fired Smith, Musselman said.
Smith, a Passaic, N.J. native, was one of the radio station's most popular and prominent disc jockeys.
Musselman said that Smith was fired and not suspended because he uttered the slur in a premeditated manner, "with full knowledge of the reaction to Don Imus' use of the exact same phrase."
The nationally syndicated Imus was suspended for two weeks by CBS Radio and MSNBC after he called members of the mostly black Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos." Civil rights groups have demanded his firing.
Smith has an unlisted number and could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
WSBG 93.5, a 3,000-watt rock station, is based in Stroudsburg, about 40 miles northeast of Allentown. The Princeton, N.J.-based Nassau is privately held with more than 50 radio stations in the Northeast.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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