White supremacist program prompts radio host to leave

Engelman second Jewish psychologist to quit KFNX-AM

ANNE BRADY
Managing Editor

Judith Engelman this week became the second Jewish psychologist to walk away from a program on KFNX (1100 AM), after the Phoenix radio station refused to stop airing a taped program on Saturday afternoons called "American Dissident Voices" that is distributed and hosted by well-known white supremacist William Pierce, leader of the National Alliance.

"He (Pierce) is just a hatemonger," said Engelman. "I don't want to be associated with that station."

On this week's program, for example, Pierce, a former physics professor at Oregon State University, theorized that the Clinton administration and other politicians are waging war in Yugoslavia because they are "scrambling" to help the Jews get Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic "out of their way."

"Arizona's Republican Senator John McCain is a good example of the type of Republican politician who's hot to kill as many Serbs as will please the Jews, and to do it in the name of the American people, while patting himself on the back and pretending to be a patriot," Pierce said in his May 22 broadcast, the text of which was reproduced on the National Alliance Web site (www.natall.com), much of which warns of Jewish plans for a "New World Order" and the dangers of Jews controlling the media.

The National Alliance, on its Web site, promotes itself as an organization for non-Jewish, heterosexual white people who want to live in an Aryan society.

"As for us, let us remember that the Jews will continue doing the sorts of things they always have done," Pierce concluded his May 22 program by saying. "They will continue their efforts to destroy our world, to remake our world in their image and to control it. ... And then, one day soon, there will be meaningful action, cleansing action."

Pierce's 30-minute program airs locally at 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays.

A few months ago, Marty Keller, another Jewish psychologist in Phoenix, declined to renew his contract for his program that had aired on KFNX, largely because of the Pierce program, and also because the station had failed to help him obtain sponsors, he said. Most of the air time on KFNX, including the time devoted to Pierce's program, is paid for by the hosts, who then are free to obtain sponsors to cover their costs.

"We have a moral responsibility to avoid airing programs that promote hate and violence," said Keller.

Station owner Francis Battaglia said Pierce has a First Amendment right to say what he likes on his program, so long as he is expressing opinions.

"We do live in America. Since we are running a talk outlet, the company has taken the direction of free speech, rather than censorship," said Battaglia. "They (hosts) buy the time. They say what they want to say. Since this is America, it's his (Pierce's) right to say (what he wants)."

Battaglia pointed out that the station has other Jewish hosts. One of those, Jacquie Solomon, host of "Jacquie's Place for Health, Wealth & Happiness," said she is continuing with the station because she believes all censorship is wrong.

"It's very hard to be fair to someone with despicable points of view, but I think we have to," she said. "The station operates as a free speech forum, and anyone who wants to pay for a program can do that. ... If we suppress people speaking out, aren't we depriving them of their civil rights?"

According to information on the National Alliance Web site, the program airs on commercial stations in six other markets besides Phoenix - WALE-AM in Providence, R.I., which also is owned by Battaglia; one station in Texas, two in Alabama, and one each in Tampa Bay, Fla.; and Erie, Pa.

Battaglia bought WALE in 1985 and KFNX in June of 1998.

Engelman's show began airing on KFNX last March. Engelman's former producer at KFNX, Nathan Jett, said he was very upset about losing the "Doctor Judy Is In" show, the last installment of which aired on Monday, May 24.

"She is one of those people who I believe could really move this station forward," said Jett. "I'm really upset about it, (but) it's beyond my control. Hopefully, I'll be able to put someone out there (with an anti-hate program) to combat that (Pierce program) at least. Personally, I think he's a racist."

Keller said that when he was trying to decide whether to leave KFNX, he spoke with Joel Breshin, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, who provided him with volumes of information on Pierce.

Breshin noted that Pierce's first novel, "The Turner Diaries," a fictionalized account of a U.S. revolution, has become "the bible of right-wing terrorist groups and a how-to book for bombing."

However, Breshin said there is little the ADL can do about the program airing in Phoenix, other than wait for KFNX's license to come up for renewal and then notify the Federal Communications Commission that the ADL does not believe KFNX is operating in the public interest.

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