John Kobylt - FishbowlLA

NHMC Takes Its KFI Fight to YouTube

Richard Horgan — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 08:30:38 +0000

Although the latest ratings have KFI AM 640 awash in market-dominating numbers, the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) is not giving up its fight against weekday personalities Rush Limbaugh, John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou.

In a recent telephone interview with rbr.com, organization president Alex Nogales called once more for Clear Channel to sack the hosts of “The John and Ken Show.” The NHMC has also shared a new video to support its ongoing efforts:

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Former KFI Host Defends LA City Council Resolution

Richard Horgan — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:30:13 +0000

Freelance radio columnist Richard Wagoner has a good write-up about LA City Council’s passage last week of a resolution condemning racist and sexist comments on AM-FM talk show airwaves.

Wagoner rightly reminds that since this issue falls under FCC jurisdiction, the March 21 resolution is “essentially meaningless.” Nevertheless, KFI has issued a statement of support for the resolution, which was actually backed in-chamber by former KFI station personality John Ziegler. From the article:

Ziegler, a KFI host from 2003 to 2007, has expressed concern about John and Ken for several years. “As someone who has been falsely accused of making racist statements in the past, I am very hesitant to accuse anyone of such a thing, but I do believe that John Kobylt is a racist,” Ziegler said in an earlier interview.

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Another Day, Another KFI Radio Host Flashpoint*

Richard Horgan — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:15:41 +0000

Following the very contentious recent on-air pronouncements of John Kobylt and Rush Limbaugh, this is the last thing KFI 640 AM management in Burbank want to be dealing with. But thanks to a bulletin from the Black Media Alliance, they will be.

At around 8:40 a.m. this morning, Bill Handel uttered the words “dumb ass women” while discussing Kansas’ new abortion law, House Bill 2598, which if passed, will require women to hear the fetal heartbeat before a procedure. As soon as he said it, colleague Gary Hoffman jumped in with the comment, “You just stepped into it once again… Whatever you just said is going to be taken so completely out of context…”

Not exactly. As far as the BMA is concerned, context is immaterial. Here’s the organization’s reaction statement:

The line was crossed yet again on Clear Channel’s number one radio station in the second largest media market in the country, Los Angeles’ KFI 640 AM. And again this “imaginary line” keeps being crossed at the expense of women.

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KFI’s John and Ken Return From Suspension

Marcus Vanderberg — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:47:34 +0000

They’re baaaaack.

KFI’s John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou return Monday afternoon following a 10-day suspension for their derogatory comments towards the late Whitney Houston.

The general consensus is split on whether John and Ken should have been suspended for their comments in the first place.

Regardless, I plan on listening to the first segment to see if they discuss their suspension.

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KTLA’s Sam Rubin Calls Out KFI, John and Ken

Marcus Vanderberg — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:03:50 +0000

KTLA entertainment anchor Sam Rubin delivered a wonderful tw0-minute analysis of KFI’s suspension of Ken Chiampou and John Kobylt for their insensitive comments towards the late Whitney Houston.

This is where you could normally watch the video on this blog … but it appears KTLA.com isn’t big on that whole embed code concept.

Alas, head over to their website to view the video from Friday morning as Rubin tears KFI’s management and the conservative talk show duo a new one.

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BREAKING: KFI Suspends John and Ken for Whitney Houston Comments

Richard Horgan — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:30:01 +0000

You knew this might be coming, given the frequency with which KFI 640 AM weekday afternoon hosts Ken Chiampou and John Kobylt like to ruffle feathers. Today, officially, the pair’s incendiary, ratings-chasing ways have finally caught up with them.

From a bulletin issued this afternoon by radio industry trade magazine TALKERS:

The Orange County Register’s Gary Lycan tips TALKERS that KFI is suspending the hosts for comments about Whitney Houston…

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KFI’s John Kobylt Makes Up New Insult

Richard Horgan — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:00:10 +0000

The gang at Media Matters for America (MMFA) continue to keep a close ear on the controversial musings of KFI 640 AM radio hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou. Every other week, or so it seems, the website is reporting about the pair’s latest crossing of the politically correct vocabulary line.

But Monday’s broadcast of “The John and Ken Show” may have broached dangerous new ground. Per Media Matters, Kobylt made up his own word as he connected the issue of welfare to that of an infamously subsidized California solar-panels company:

“These kids are largely dropping out of school. I mean if you look at LA the dropout rates are 60 percent. So we pour in all this medical care, food stamps, all these welfare benefits, then free education, and it goes on for 15 years. And then somewhere in the middle of high school they drop out and they go take a crap job, or not, and then–What did we put that money in for? What did we invest in?”

“This is like Solyndra. All these kids are little Solyndrites.”

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Terri-Rae Elmer Signs Off at KFI

Richard Horgan — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:30:07 +0000

It’s been a long run at KFI 640 AM for Terri-Rae Elmer. She joined the station in 1983, hosted an all-female morning show from 1990 to 1993 (“TNT in the Morning”) and segued to “The John and Ken Show” around the time that O.J. was chased down the freeway in a white Bronco.

But tonight, without warning, it all came to a sudden end. At the close of the program, hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou solemnly announced that their beloved news reader and sidekick is moving on effective immediately.

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Jorge-Mario Cabrera Fires Back at John and Ken

Marcus Vanderberg — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:00:37 +0000

Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles spokesman Jorge-Mario Cabrera fired back Thursday at John Kobylt and Kenneth Chiampou, saying the radio duo’s apology from earlier this week was, “a well-calculated, manipulative, and insulting public relations stunt meant to appease the opposition.”

KFI’s John and Ken apologized Monday for giving out the cellphone number of Cabrera on-air, resulting in reportedly hundreds of threatening phone calls and messages from listeners.

As a result of their actions, the National Hispanic Media Coalition launched an economic boycott against the show and KFI.

“If Clear Channel is sincere about establishing respectful dialogue with immigrant communities in Los Angeles, they should stop berating coalition members which include more than thirty respectable organizations,” Cabrera wrote on The Huffington Post. continued…

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John and Ken Apologize to Jorge-Mario Cabrera

Marcus Vanderberg — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:08:56 +0000

John Kobylt and Kenneth Chiampou apologized to Jorge-Mario Cabrera Monday on KFI for giving out his cellphone number on-air.

“We have been trying to tell Jorge that we here at the John and Ken show, we apologize for the hateful or any illegal calls that he received,” Kobylt said. “We’ve tried to contact him in person. In fact, I called him last week, got his voicemail. He hasn’t called back.”

As a result of John and Ken’s actions against Cabrera, the National Hispanic Media Coalition launched an economic boycott earlier this month against KFI.

NHMC director of communications Rosalia Tenorio told FishbowlLA the organizations and its allies (LULAC, NCLR, and CHIRLA) “will not settle for nothing less than John and Ken’s dismissal from KFI.”

Along with the apology, KFI released a statement in hopes of setting the record straight regarding the NHMC boycott.

After the jump is KFI’s statement:

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John and Ken Respond to Latino Boycott

Marcus Vanderberg — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:58:50 +0000

On Friday’s John and Ken show, the KFI duo discussed the ongoing boycott led by the National Hispanic Media Coalition.

Vons, Ralphs, Verizon FIOS and AT&T Wireless all pulled their advertising last week from the show that reaches 1 million listeners.

The NHMC and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) also started an online petition asking Clear Channel Radio to yank John and Ken off the air.

“Nothing on the show is changing,” said John Kobylt. “We’re going to talk about illegal aliens all we want.”

It looks like this battle isn’t ending anytime soon.

After the jump is the entire John and Ken segment where they discuss their recent opposition:

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Vons, Verizon FIOS Pull Ads From KFI’s John and Ken

Marcus Vanderberg — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:56:18 +0000

Vons, Ralphs, Verizon FIOS and AT&T Wireless have all pulled their advertising from the John and Ken show on KFI, according to Alex Nogales, president and CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition.

The NHMC held a peaceful demonstration outside the Clear Channel office in Burbank Thursday, where Nogales provided an update to the media on their “Take John and Ken Off the Air” campaign.

John and Ken are under fire after giving out the cellphone number on-air of Jorge-Mario Cabrera, an immigrant rights activist for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

A handful of smaller organizations have also pulled their advertising, but an announcement on those companies isn’t expected until next week.

“They are concerned about the backlash from John and Ken telling their viewers that this occurred and to go picket them,” Nogales told FishbowlLA. “We will wait until we have a mass in terms of the smaller advertisers and that will probably happen by next week.”

The NHMC are looking into possible legal options as well. “We have our attorneys looking at privacy laws here in the state of California to see if we can go that way,” Nogales added. “We have our DC lawyers going to the FCC to see if we have a case over there.”

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Former John and Ken Victim Stands Up for KFI Duo

Marcus Vanderberg — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 17:53:10 +0000

Local social commentator Jasmyne A. Cannick is no stranger to the wrath of John and Ken.

Cannick’s cellphone number was read on-air and posted on the KFI website in 2005 over a protest she organized against the death penalty and execution of Stanley “Tookie” Williams — similar to what immigrant rights activist Jorge-Mario Cabrera went through last month.

Cannick wrote an op-ed Monday for the Daily News on how to handle the conservative duo.

Her advice? Drop the boycott and focus on registering voters:

“I understand why Jon and Ken did it. Had it been my show, I’d have done the same thing. As a professional communications director and press secretary, these types of things just come with the territory.

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Latino Rights Groups Want KFI’s John and Ken Fired

Marcus Vanderberg — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 21:32:41 +0000

KFI’s John Kobylt and Kenneth Chiampou, better known as John and Ken, are a conservative lightning rod of controversy to say the very least.

But the radio shock jocks might have finally crossed the line after giving out the cellphone number on-air of Jorge-Mario Cabrera, an immigrant rights activist for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

The National Hispanic Media Coalition is teaming up with the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials and the National Immigration Law Center in an effort to get KFI to fire John and Ken or face a boycott of the station’s sponsors.

Cabrera received more than 400 phone calls from people opposing the California Dream Act, which would make state financial aid available to undocumented immigrants and out-of-state students attending state schools.

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