Brand director issues apology on CKNW

[groundskeeper willy]

The thing I'd like to know is when Chris Pandoff, who wears the big-boy 'President' hat at Corus in Toronto, will finally do something about Ian. The number of boneheaded moves that Koenigsfest has done over the years is mind-boggling, yet he somehow always manages to put on his Teflon-coated jacket and remain unscathed while others pay the price (usually with their jobs).

If there was an effective and efficient manager sitting in that CKNW Brand Manager office, these types of incidents would never happen; instead, the station sounds like they're desperately throwing s**t at the wall and hoping that something sticks.

Jeff and Drex will, at best, get a verbal warning from Ronnie, though most likely they'll probably be given a handful of contra restaurant GC's as a reward for being 'edgy' and delivering fresh print / TV / social media exposure for the stations.

[radiofan]

From Global BC's website ...

CKNW apologizes for morning segment

By Staff Global News

This morning Chris Gailus and Squire Barnes were involved on a simulcast discussion on CFOX and CKNW. The content of that discussion was offensive, inappropriate and caught both Chris and Squire off guard. Chris, Squire and Global News in no way supports this kind of conversation.

Ian Koenigsfest, brand manager of CKNW explains:

“This morning on CKNW there was some very inappropriate comments and suggestions made that were offensive to many of our listeners. I would like to apologize for that and assure that those comments will not be repeated on this radio station. I would also like to apologize to Chris Gailus and Squire Barnes, who are hosting the CKNW Morning Show this week, for being put in an awkward situation from which they were unaware, and assure them that such a situation will not occur again.”

CFOX issued this apology:

“We would like to take this opportunity to apologize to listeners that were offended by our conduct during our broadcast on CFOX this morning.

“We recognize now that the segment we did with the CKNW morning show and Global personalities was in tremendously poor taste to not only women, but all members of our community.

“We hold our colleagues at CKNW in the highest regard, as we do our media friends at Global television. We are sincerely regretful that our thoughtless actions have potentially tarnished their reputations.

“We recognize that this may have damaged any trust you have with us, and for that we are immeasurably sorry.”


© Shaw Media, 2014

http://globalnews.ca/news/1730886/cknw- ... d12dafe01c

[radiofan]

From Wednesday's Province ...

'F---, Kill or Marry': CKNW issues on-air apology for ‘offensive’ comments on earlier broadcast

BY STAFF REPORTER, THE PROVINCE DECEMBER 16, 2014

A Vancouver radio station offered an on-air apology Tuesday, within hours of a controversial joke on a live broadcast that morning.

A segment of CFOX’s Jeff O’Neil Show recorded Tuesday morning had been billed as the “historic” first simulcast between two Vancouver-based radio stations, and was broadcast on both the modern rock FM station CFOX and AM news station CKNW. Both stations are owned by Corus Entertainment.

CFOX host Jeff O’Neil hosted Global TV personalities Chris Gailus and Squire Barnes, who have been sitting in this week hosting a CKNW show.

During an informal conversation while they were apparently drinking beers in the studio, the topic turned to Gailus and Barnes’ preparation for an interview with federal Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau, scheduled for later that morning.

O’Neil jokingly suggested Gailus and Barnes should ask Trudeau a hypothetical question in a game of “F(***), Kill, or Marry.”

O’Neil prefaced his proposed question by saying: “I don’t know if listeners from CKNW are familiar with this sort of thing. But it’s all in good nature, all in good fun.”

The CFOX host continued, telling Gailus: “We have a potential ‘F, Kill or Marry’ for Justin Trudeau. You can use that if you want.”

“For those people who don’t understand the premise, we will leave that to your imagination,” said O’Neil, before suggesting Gailus ask Trudeau who he would ‘F, Kill or Marry’ and naming three prominent Canadian women: Health Minister Rona Ambrose; Laureen Harper, the prime minister’s wife; and Michaelle Jean, the former Governor General.

“So disrespectful,” Gailus said, as the question was proposed. The Trudeau interview aired without incident on CKNW later that day.

But reaction to O’Neil’s irreverent joke was swift on social media, with several Twitter users, including local media figures and politicians, criticizing the segment and demanding an apology. Within hours, the incident was being discussed on the Simi Sara Show on CKNW.

Sara said the morning’s simulcast was already “getting a lot of attention for how offensive it was. And, I believe, rightfully so.”

Sara’s show featured CKNW brand director Ian Koenigsfest, who said he missed the broadcast when it aired, but had since “reviewed the tape and, on reflection, I personally don’t find that funny. I think it’s offensive to women and, at the first opportunity I have now, I want to apologize to the women and men who listened to CKNW who heard that this morning. It’s certainly not in the spirit of this radio station and I offer an unreserved apology for that.”

At that point, Sara added: “We just want to make it clear that as a radio station here at CKNW, we don’t condone that in any way, shape or form.”

Audio of the O'Neil - Gailus exchange was available online earlier on Tuesday, but was taken down later in the day.

Hours after CKNW’s on-air apology, CFOX had not issued an apology or comment on its website or by Twitter.

Just because you don't find something funny or appropriate that a comedian said, it doesn't mean you get to demand an apology #CFOX @CKNW

— drex (@drex) December 16, 2014

But that changed at 6:15 p.m., nearly ten hours after the segment initially aired. CFOX issued an apology on its website, recognizing the segment was in "tremendously poor taste to not only women, but all members of our community."

"We would like to take this opportunity to apologize to listeners that were offended by our conduct during our broadcast on CFOX this morning," the apology reads.

"We recognize that this may have damaged any trust you have with us, and for that we are immeasurably sorry," it concludes, signed by The Jeff O'Neil Show and CFOX.

Early on in Tuesday morning’s simulcast, several minutes before CFOX host O’Neil made the controversial joke, he said: “If we don’t screw this up, this could be a regular thing.”

Tuesday afternoon, TV anchor Gailus tweeted: “I was caught completely off guard by an offensive and disrespectful segment on morning radio today. It was not funny and it was #NOTokay.”

© Copyright (c) The Province

http://www.theprovince.com/touch/story.html?id=10658560

[radioman]

And so now we will wait and see if C-FOX management backs up their apology with at least an on-air dressing down of their offending morning host or hopefully, at best, firing him. Or is their apology just empty rhetoric and it's business as usual--pandering to the lowest common denominator?

[slowhand]

It would be more interesting if someone complained to the CRTC assuming it is still a violation of regs to simulcast co-owned AM and FM stations. A supposedly minor violation could be enough to disqualify CKNW from getting their new downtown FM. They withheld a license for UBC's station for forgetting to turn off their carrier current when they first required licensing.

[Tape Splicer]

A friend of ours took the dog for a walk the other day. The dog ended up rolling in the doo of another dog... this doo was all over the animal. It took a long time and effort to clean the doo off the dog and make it presentable again.

What will it take to clean up the doo that "fox" and the not so "top dog" rolled in today?

Some one should remind the black tower that they are signatories to CBSC codes of conduct... this stuff sounds way out of bounds re the codes.

[Alan A]

I'm wondering how the RTDNA will feel about their president after this fiasco? The other hat he wears is Brand Manager at CKNW.

http://www.rtdnacanada.com/ABOUT/presidents.asp

[Blabbermouth]

The sad thing is they're probably high fivin' each other in the black tower thinking they're getting lots of press and being edgy. But really it's just more moronic, uninteresting radio content that no one is buying anymore. That station is doomed and whoever can't see it is an idiot (or running the place).

[Coolcat]

This is what happens when you have a buffoon like IK running this station. To actually think the simulcast should have happened speaks to his ineptness. The station needs a full scale housecleaning starting with the Brand Manager and then most of the idiots he has on the air all day long parading as major market talk show hosts.
The fact that every time someone goes on holidays now they have to play musical studios with hosts that shouldn't be there shows you what an idiot IK is.

[Fillinguy]

The whole thing is just plain and simple. avoidable and unfortunate. Honestly I haven't listened to CFOX for about 10 or 15 years, when I was forced to by co-workers. (I have a vocation apart from my radio stuff to put food on the table). I didn't care for the tone of the morning show then, and it sounds like it's no better now. NW just makes me sad. When I was a pup at BCIT I used to have such a high regard for the people in New West (both stations) Not just Frosty, but Rick Honey and the remarkable news team as well. Across the way Doc, Brian... it was a great time in my opinion for the company.

What the heck happened?

[kal]

Apology #2

This morning at 7:06 IK appeared once again on air to, as Chris Gailus put it, "address the elephant in the room." This time the apology was not to the audience but rather to Gailus and Barnes personally. It was a very brief appearance and concluded with the words "a line was crossed and it will not happen again." That was it. It wasn't explained what had been done to ensure that boundary wouldn't be crossed again.

[Stn Brk]

What is unclear is if Jeff O'Neil's little 'all in fun' game is a regular feature of the CFOX morning show. I'm wondering if it is, because of a line in Koenigsfest's initial apology stating that such behavior would not occur again on 'this radio station' meaning CKNW.

I agree with several other posters - a few people need to be fired here starting with Koenigsfest. This broadcast not only crossed the line when it comes to broadcast standards - it's hate mongering. It's promoting hatred and encouraging violence against women. Totally unacceptable.

I'm surprised no one has called for a police investigation into O'Neil.

[syntheticsound]

I'm surprised no one has called for a police investigation into O'Neil.

That would be asinine.

This whole thing has been blown out of proportion. Yes, simulcasting CFOX & CKNW was an utterly stupid idea by management but saying it was a sex crime or a criminal investigation should be launched, c'mon. O'Neil and crew have being asking such questions; Cut or Uncut, Last time one masturbated, and the list goes on. Long before this incident, and no one raised a brow. What a lot of you seem to miss, mostly likely because the fact you have never listened to CFOX or their morning show is that Gailus has appeared on the show quite a few times, he has also been asked that the F, Kill or Marry question before. So his #NOTOkay hashtag and disapproval of such a question, is simply BS. I'm no fan of O'Neil, I can't stand the misogynistic attitude of the show and I feel him personally, is stale. However he was doing his job of a wanna-be "shock jock". You can debate if such content should be on the radio, if they should be fined, licenses be revoked. The fact is this question has been asked multiple times before and no controversy was created. Why? Because they tried to combine two different demographics that simply do not mash well together.

[Jim Walters]

If O'Neil has a history of this sort of material, why the hell would anybody in the NW management team allow the simulcast to go ahead? Why is he even employed?

Anyone with half a brain should have known what to expect.

A simply apology doesn't cut the mustard on this one.

Maybe once a few letters to the CRTC and CBSC find their way to Corus HQ looking for answers and explanations, John Cassaday and Chris Pandoff will get off their butts and there will be some major housecleaning at the Black Tower. The cluster manager, along with CKNW and CFOX brand managers, along with O'Neil should be shown the door with no payouts.

Great stuff from a station that promotes Pink Shirt Day. Perhaps they should look at a spokesperson who is a bit more sensitive than wannabe comedian DORX.

Kudos to Vista for seeing through this clown following the Christy Clark incident.

I hope Corus treats this much more serious matter in the same way.

[Karen]

If O'Neil and his crew have been doing this type of material for some time and there have been no complaints from listeners, it tells me the average CFOX listener has a very low IQ.