2-1-2013
Following up on a story we wrote Wednesday, Mo, host of the "Mo Radio Show," on WDJQ (Ohio) and the radio station are now apologizing after Mo mocked 30-year-old Kellie Baker, who called the station by accident. It turned out Baker has Down Syndrome and had no idea she was being made fun of on the air. We asked a family member if Mo notified Baker she was being recorded.
Here's the response we received: "No. Kellie didn't even know she was talking to a radio station for the majority of the conversation, let alone that she was being recorded."
Baker?s mom, Gigi Standiford, tells the Columbus Dispatch her daughter was devastated. ?She called me frantically upset, saying, ?Mom, I accidentally called the radio show,???? Standiford said. ?She said, ?He made fun of me. He hurt my feelings. I have feelings, too.???? The family has been given a copy of the phone call audio, according to the apology audio posted to the station website.
Baker has received support from all over the world on a blog the family posted.
Broadcast attorney John Garziglia recently blogged for Radio Ink: "Most FCC telephone broadcast rule complaints involve telephone conversations that have the effect on the called or calling person of embarrassment, anger, or making the person appear to be an idiot.
"In a nutshell, the FCC?s telephone broadcast rule, Section 73.1206, requires an explicit notification to the other party to the call, before either broadcasting, or recording a telephone conversation for later broadcast use. There is one exception to explicit notification, that being when the other party to the call may be aware or presumed to be aware from the circumstances of the telephone conversation that the call is, or is likely to be, broadcast."
Read the full "Ask The Attorney" blog with John Garziglia to refresh your memory on the rules about recording telephone calls.
(2/1/2013 10:36:05 AM)
John's right. The FCC won't care. And you can bet there's a lawsuit waiting to be filed out there. Is this a case of the station manager not alerting the employee to the rules, or the employee lacking common sense, or both?
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