KKFT-FM Axes Sean Savoy Show

So there's all this buzz and outrage over KKFT-FM canceling minister and "spiritualist" Sean Savoy's radio program, House of Savoy on Sunday evenings, allegedly according to Savoy "because he interviewed an LGBT advocate".

Of course everyone is jumping on the bandwagon including the ever predictable GLAAD which is doing one of its "howling dogs barking" campaign at the radio station and station owner Jerry Evans (no relation thank you very much) for the "firing" and accepting at face value that the reason the show was axed is Savoy's explanation.

GLAAD and others even go to the extent of calling this "censorship". Funny that coming from GLAAD which has a "NO AIR" hit-list of those who shouldn't appear in the media because of their views of all things LGBT.

Though it could be true (with no comment from station management at the time of this posting) what most likely no one has even bothered to notice except for myself because I worked in the radio biz is this one little note of fact.

Savoy's show which has been labeled as a "public affairs" program started airing in September 2011 with his show now canceled in August 2012.

That's a year's run folks and perhaps ... oh dare I say it .... Savoy's contract was only for a year and was not extended ? But because the station is a "FOX News affiliate" and practically all its programming line-up is conservative talk radio makes the reason for Savoy's alleged firing for de gay all the more palatable for the LGBT fire and brimstoners. Also "public affairs" programs often air at the "whim" of station owners and/or management.

So outraged is Savoy he has decided to officially come out of the closet.

Gee .. it took this for him to kick open the door ?

Now the last I knew anyone in radio (or other media), on-air or behind the scenes unless you're union or have an excellent contract (even that can have stipulation clauses for firing) can be axed at anytime, such is the nature of the beast. To wit I say .... hey Sean grow up and grow a pair of big ones.

It wasn't fair that in 2006 over 120 of us at CBS Radio got downsized, and it may not be fair you got axed either, but before everyone automatically concludes that Savoy's reason for getting the axe is true there may be more to the story after all we haven't as yet heard both sides of the story.

So I'm sorry you lost your one night weekly gig but as the great Linda Ellerbee use to say, .... and so it goes.

Welcome to radio Sean ... you're getting more than your fifteen minutes of fame ... or could that be the intent all along in getting this story out to de gay press and cut/paste copycats while you "look for a new home" for your show.

Only Savoy and the management at KKFT-FM know for sure.

UPDATE - 9/3/12 - I've invited Sean to an interview on my upcoming radio show on BlogTalkRadio to clear up any misrepresentations which apparently I and others have/are taking on this.

I look forward to his acceptance of this invitation to hear "the rest of the story".

UPDATE - 9/4/12 - In case you haven't heard it, this is the interview which caused so much consternation for station owner Jerry Evans to cancel Sean Savoy's weekly program.

On Wednesday (9/5) I hope to talk with Sean about doing the Focus On The Rainbow blogtalkradio show in a week or so. If that happens I will also certainly ask KKFT-FM for their side too, as unlikely that will be. But in any case we can at least hear Sean's side of the story, complete and without speculation or misrepresentation as to what and why his show was canceled.

UPDATE - 9/07/12 - I'm pleased to announce that Sean Savoy will be talking to this writer on the new BlogTalkRadio show version of Focus On The Rainbow.

The tentative broadcast date will be Wednesday 9/19 at 12:30 AM (Tuesday 9/18 at 9:30 PM).

As we get closer to the broadcast date there will be a posting about the program and what listeners can expect from Sean Savoy and this writer.

Focus On The Rainbow on BlogTalkRadio premieres Wednesday 9/12 at 12:30 AM (Tuesday 9/11 at 9:30 PM) with an open topic show for listeners to call in and discuss LGBT topics.

All broadcasts are 30 minutes in length and LIVE without commercial interruption.

The Correct Blame For Janesville WI

Much ado is being made about Vice-President hopeful Paul Ryan and his blaming POTUS Obama while others are blaming former President Bush for the General Motors plant in Janesville, WI closing.

While all things are semantics and spin in politics particularly at election time, the blame for the plant's closing can neither be put at the feet of Obama nor Bush but squarely at the feet of General Motors.

The plant which was scheduled to close by 2010 assembled gas guzzler vehicles and GM was not of the mind to retool the plant in favor of more economical vehicles and saving jobs.

I doubt very much that the former workers of GM and other businesses affected by the plant's closing in Janesville care to see their economic plight being used for political folly and talking head media banter, both Liberal and Conservative.

Whether Ryan misspoke either on purpose or perception of when the plant actually closed, the point which needs to be made, one which the residents of Janesville would agree, it's all about jobs. Who made what promises, who did or did not deliver, and who can or can't do a better job will all weigh in this election.

As the old line goes, it's the economy stupid. Not about political rhetoric spoken at a political convention. Just ask the good folks of Janesville, WI.

Dr. Kildare .. Another Day At The ER

You know you've been to the hospital too many times when folks recognize you.

Last night at work I started getting a severe pain in my lower right abdomen which wouldn't go away. I've called out sick from work as many do, but have never in three years left work early .. until last night that is.

What started as a feeling of "pressure" on my bladder about 6:30 PM developed as a gawd awful pain in my abdomen within three hours.

So before 10 PM off I went home and no matter whether sitting, standing or trying to lay down it wouldn't stop. Now I have a prescription for nausea for a stomach ailment which started back in March (have since found out through testing, that for whatever reason my liver is dumping too much bile off/on and my stomach doesn't get rid of it) but I opted not to take it (ER said smart thing to do) as I wanted to see if I got "all the symptoms" that something other than abdominal gas was the culprit.

By 11:00 PM I threw in the towel after vomiting started and called 911.

So off I went to yet another visit to the hospital.

A Cat Scan showed a kidney stone, 2 mm in size (which is small enough to avoid surgery but large enough to cause pain as it travels), had left the kidney and is working its way through the plumbing to the bladder and then eventually out. At the time of this writing I presume it's still between the kidney and the bladder as the stone tends to be a slow mover, the larger the stone the slower and longer it takes to finally pass.

At that news I was relieved as I was afraid my appendix was acting up and getting ready to burst. After two hip operations and an angioplasty last year for a heart attack I was not in the mental state of mind to go through another surgery.

It's reported by the National Kidney Foundation that more than half a million people go to ER's each year for the pain and suffering of kidney stones. Many folks including myself who experience the onset of a stone starting to pass from the kidney into the urinary tract on its way to the bladder and its eventual exit out of the body is "the worst pain they have ever felt".

I thought that too until I severely dislocated my hip in 2011, but let me tell you the pain from the kidney stone ranks in the top three of my recent experience of pain with the heart attack comprising part of the painful trio.

The symptoms as described in the link above, pain comes in "waves" which can last between 15 to 60 minutes and often (as mine) worsen and become prolonged. The pain can be in the back (where the kidney is) abdomen and/or groin and can be accompanied by painful urination. The coup-de-gras for the symptom of a stone is the onset of nausea and severe vomiting .. let me tell you, you cannot help yourself (ergo why I didn't take the nausea pill). I think I may have made some folks sick in the ER when I had my final (before they gave me the meds) bout what with all the noise I was making bringing up bile and having dry heaves.

So finally here's what I'm getting at in the opening paragraph.

One of the EMTs last night also came last year when I had the heart attack. The gal who did the Cat Scan was the same one who did my head, abdomen and hip the night I had the car accident before they realized how much damage I'd done to the hip and subsequently shipped me off to Yale-New Haven hospital.

Some of the folks in the ER recognized me, in fact one jokingly said "oh no, not you again, what happened now ?".

I leave such an impression on folks.

So it is that for the time being I'll not be posting as I am right now as when the pain hits again and I take a pain med which helps the pain but also as it does to everyone throws you for a loop, I'll be in no mood (or coherence) to do any writing.

For those who may say something, I had a kidney stone 10 plus years ago so I know what the next couple/ few days (took a week last time) will be like until the bastard stone passes through.

One good thing about the pain meds in the ER, when you go there you're so miserable it's like "I WANT MY MOMMIE" .. after they injected pain killers I was high as a kite and a chatterbox who would not shut up until the meds made me groggy enough to nod off.

Pharmaceuticals .... it's a wonderful thing.

Governorship Next For Neil Giuliano

Out and proud former Tempe, AZ mayor and head of GLAAD is now out and about touting his book The Campaign Within with some speculating that Neil Giuliano's political days may be far from over.

Giuliano who is currently head of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation said at a recent event in New York, "What I’m doing now is listening to a lot of folks in Arizona, and there is a need for leadership, especially in the Democratic Party."

"We need other voices in Arizona, so it’s not a definite yet, but I want to see how I can make a different, further contribution."

That's giving some to wonder if he might throw his hat in the ring for Governor sometime or perhaps even Congress which would delight the Rainbow crowd but what about the Mormons and the likes of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, but then he does like pink.

While Giuliano said he's happy to be in San Francisco and with his work with the SF AIDS Foundation, others speculate he may take a look at a run at the US Senate sometime in the future what with R-Senator Jon Kyl retiring and if the Democrats can't win the seat in November. The Demos haven't sent a senator to Washington, DC since 1998.

For now of course this is all "a hope, wish and a prayer" for those in Arizona who have taken a liking to the multi-time elected official but it would be a hoot and then some if an openly gay Governor, Congressman or Senator was elected in the "conservative" Grand Canyon State.

It just might make the ultra-conservatives decide to take a header off the Grand Canyon rim.

Read the full article about Neil Giuliano written by Winnie McCroy at EDGE.