Radio host suspended for Mastic comment

From station WBLI-FM
MASTIC-AP The co-host, who goes by the name of "Randy," went on a riff of trailer trash jokes after a woman from the area won a free prize from the station on Wednesday.

"Did your pipes freeze under the trailer?" Randy asked the caller who won. The caller said she lived in a house and was "very angry" with him.

The station refused to reveal the broadcaster's real name.

The station's program director, Jeremy "JJ" Rice, said Friday that Randy was suspended for his remarks after he refused to apologize.

"He had a chance yesterday to apologize but he refused, so in the 9 o clock hour he was pulled off the air by management," Rice said. The weekday program ends at 10 a.m. "We are not happy about what he said about the town of Mastic. It's a great town. I'm hoping he apologizes because its the right thing to do," Rice said.

Randy's co-host, Dana DiDonato, told Newsday that rather than apologize, Randy on Thursday continued to insult the Mastic community, making references to trailer trash, eating beans from cans and being toothless.

"Genuinely in his mind, he doesn't believe he did anything wrong," DiDonato said.

Messages requesting comment, e-mailed to Randy and left at the Connecticut office of WBLI owner Cox Radio, were not immediately returned, Newsday said.

"At this point, a hollow apology and a mere suspension will not be appropriate," William Floyd School District Board President Bob Vecchio told the paper. He called for Randy to be fired and for area residents to boycott the station and its advertisers.

"You can't get a free pass when you attack an entire community," Vecchio added.

Paul Breschard, spokesman for a group of civic associations, which also demanded an apology, described Mastic as a south shore community of hardworking families, many of whom have converted summer cottages from the 1930s and 1940s into year-round homes.

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