Clear Channel's Kim Bryant Defends Racism

Rick Delgado, the producer who was fired from Hot 97 for his role in their infamous anti-Asian/anti-African/anti-human Tsunami Song, is now producer of KYLD's morning show in San Francisco.

In response to complaints, Clear Channel's Regional Vice President Kim Bryant (kimbryant@clearchannel.com) sent out the mind-boggling statement pasted below. It basically translates to "We know Rick Delgado is racist, but that's okay with us because he has 'great contacts.'"

Here is Kim Bryant's defense:

Thank you very much for contacting us with your concerns. I want to personally assure you that the Wild 94.9 Morning Show will in no way be representative of the broadcasting approach Mr. Delgado - who is now an off-air contributor - was previously involved in.

Please understand the following:

Official statement from KYLD Program Director Dennis Martinez:
The new Wild 94.9 Morning Show is "Strawberry In The Morning" featuring Strawberry, a long-time personality of Wild 94.9 and Fay Carmona from Miami. These are the only two key personalities of the show. Other members of the morning show off-air team include Rick Delgado, who has is an experienced radio producer, and who has the contacts to book major market guests and talent.

There have been some questions regarding the hiring of Rick Delgado as part of this off-air team, and we'd like to emphasize that Rick brings to the table great connections, and that is the sole function he was hired to fulfill. While Rick Delgado was previously part of a
controversial morning team, and involved in some inappropriate on-air
bits, neither of those two facts are true today, nor are they useful in the San Francisco Bay Area radio market.

Strawberry: "I'm very excited about my new morning show on Wild 94.9. I have worked over a decade on building this station in various jobs, and I personally take a great deal of pride in the light-hearted, community friendly, entertaining and music oriented programming we provide. Fay and I are committed to making mornings fun and interesting. We have an off-air team that will help provide us with great guests to create the market's best morning show. And as long as its my name on the show, it will be respectful and representative of the Wild's tradition of rallying the community together, and never divisive, unkind or unfair."

I sincerely appreciate your email, and please know we take your
concerns very seriously.

Sincerely,
Kim Bryant,
kimbryant@clearchannel.com

Thanks to Davey D for passing this along.