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February 11, 2000/5 Adar 1 5760, Vol. 52, No.23
Airing faiths
Radio talk jock hosts forums about religion
CHRIS GARIFO
Staff Writer
From left, Imam Abdur-Rahim Shamsiddeen of Masjid Jauharatul-Islam, Rabbi Robert L. Kravitz of the American Jewish Committee and Bonnie Rock of Phoenix Friends Meeting-Quaker join talk-show host Bill Straus for a roundtable discussion on religion during the Jan. 19 broadcast of Straus' Place on KXAM (1310 AM).
Photo by Mark Gluckman
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Wanted: Zoroastrian. Must be articulate and willing to talk about personal faith to a radio call-in audience that spans the greater Phoenix area. A sense of humor is a plus.
Radio talk show host Bill Straus might write such a classified ad to round out a panel for a monthly religion roundtable he hosts on "Straus' Place," his call-in show that airs 1 p.m.-4 p.m. weekdays on KXAM (1310 AM).
"If anybody knows a Zoroastrian, I want to know about it," Phoenix native Straus, 50, says after lamenting, "I can't find one."
Straus began holding the roundtables in November after he attended his first meeting of the Interfaith Action Coalition, a local group of representatives from 12 religions that supports interfaith understanding and respect. Straus, a member of the board of the American Jewish Committee, is the AJC representative to the coalition.
"After (that meeting), I would have been blind not to see the possibility that was there," he says. "I had a feeling (the religion roundtable) was going to be good; it's been way better than I expected."
For the roundtables, Straus invites three representatives of their respective faiths to talk to his audience about those faiths.
"I direct (the discussion) and I'm perfect because I know very little about all these religions," he says. "The one thing I ask them all to forgive at the very beginning before we start the show is, if it seems like I'm na‹ve - because I'm not acting - I really am na‹ve about a lot of this."
Since the roundtables began, Straus' guests have included a Roman Catholic priest, a Baha'i, a Sikh and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On Jan. 19, Straus' guests were Rabbi Robert L. Kravitz, executive director of the American Jewish Committee in Phoenix; Imam Abdur-Rahim Shamsiddeen of Masjid Jauharatul-Islam; and Bonnie Rock of Phoenix Friends Meeting-Quaker.
Straus says one thing he's learned from the shows is "how much we all have in common. ... We're all stunned by the similarities. It slaps you in the face. I could fill a page with similarities I didn't realize."
Kravitz confirms that "there are some major threads that tie us all together, that we all preach and teach. The golden rule is certainly one of them. There are common core values that we all have within our traditions, from wherever they come. They are universals and they transcend specific religions."
Straus says the shows are meant to be purely instructional, so he steers clear of the confrontational interplay he enjoys with some guests during his regular call-in shows. That upsets some of his regular listeners.
"I have some very strong pro-choice beliefs," Straus says. "In one show where we had the Mormon gentleman, a caller called up and said, 'Well, why aren't you rebutting your guest's views on abortion?' And I told him that would be for another show ... I didn't invite them in to debate what they believe, I just want to know what they believe. In another context, absolutely, I'd be happy to argue with them."
While Straus says the roundtables' purpose is to help educate listeners about the various faiths, he doesn't expect all his listeners to change their biases.
"I don't care if we change any (minds)," he says. "But, how many people will learn something? Every single person who listens for more than 10 minutes."
Straus says he picks his guests "by gut feeling" and uses the Interfaith Action Coalition Steering Committee as a resource for that. He hopes to do a year of shows. The next is scheduled for Feb. 23.
"I also want to have an atheist on," Straus says. "I happen to believe there's as much misunderstanding of atheists as there is of Jews, Catholics, Mormons and everyone else, maybe more so."
Straus says callers during the roundtables include those who want to know something and those who try to preach.
"They're both entertaining," he says.
Straus, who earned a political science degree from the University of Iowa, has been in the radio business since 1980. He started out in advertising sales.
In 1992, while writing commercials for KTAR (620 AM), he was asked to host a talk show for the station during the 2 a.m.-4 a.m. slot. The show changed time slots a few times, eventually running from 7 p.m. to midnight. He left KTAR in December of 1997 and started at KXAM in February of 1998.
"The show has remained basically the same through both radio stations and all the different time changes," he says. "I've changed a little bit of what I do when I moved from the middle of the night (slot) to the day (slot). I used to have musicians on when they'd get off work, (and) strippers."
Straus says he mixes confrontational talk with humor.
"If I didn't make you laugh a few times in an hour, I'd be disappointed," he says.
Listeners to the show are treated to an unvarnished Straus, he says.
"I'm very much on the air what I'm like now or any time," he says. "People who listen to the radio - it doesn't take long before they have a feeling that they really know me."
In addition to his views on issues such as gay rights ("I think homosexuals are ... treated like crap") and guns ("I hate guns; I tell my listeners who like guns, you've let the bad guys win, you've let the bad guys make the rules and you're real proud of it"), listeners can learn about his drug use and his self-described "bizarre" personal life, including his continuing relationship with "the Queen Mother," his ex-wife of 18 years who is now his steady girlfriend of seven years.
"My listeners know everything (about me)," he says.
Over the course of eight years on the air, he's developed a bevy of regular callers whom he can recognize by voice.
While he says the listeners, rather than he, are the show's best resource, he doesn't let the regular callers dominate the airwaves.
"I don't allow the show to get too clubby," he says. "I don't like that feeling of it being an inside group and an outside group."
While his show, like many radio talk shows, uses confrontation to draw and keep its audience, Straus says he doubts his religion round tables will have his listeners searching elsewhere on the radio dial.
"If you give people a good feeling for being someplace - and it doesn't matter if you're selling furniture, tires or you're a doctor - they have no reason to want to leave," he says.
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