Rocking the Listener’s Trust : Outrageous hoax at KROQ under probe by FCC

The federal license to broadcast is not a license to abuse the public trust. But that’s precisely what the Los Angeles rock station KROQ-FM did last June. Deejays Kevin Ryder, Gene (Bean) Baxter and Doug Roberts broadcast an on-air murder “confession” during a morning broadcast. That exploit got them on talk shows and even national TV. So it helped the station get publicity. But what it didn’t help was the reputation of the business. The “confession” was a hoax.

At least the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department did its proper job. Deputies spent 10 months investigating the alleged crime. During that time, KROQ’s deejays didn’t reveal the hoax--until confronted by the Sheriff’s Department with the facts.

KROQ’s management claims to have had no part in the hoax. The station made the deejays apologize on the air and suspended them without pay for six days. “I think this was (due to) the pressure of being in Los Angeles and trying to get ratings,” said General Manager Trip Reeb, shortly after the hoax was uncovered.

An innocent mistake is one thing. A deliberate effort to mislead the public is unconscionable: After the caller claimed to have killed his girlfriend, a TV report on the “confession” generated hundreds of inquiries from relatives of murder victims hoping that the confession would turn up leads to their own tragedies. And the Sheriff’s Department will never be able to recoup the time taken away from legitimate cases. KROQ’s offer of $12,170.98 to cover the department’s expenses doesn’t begin to cover the offense.

The Federal Communications Commission requires broadcasters to serve community needs. The KROQ hoax only served the need for ratings. The FCC is now investigating it. The agency recently fined a St. Louis radio station $25,000 for broadcasting a mock emergency bulletin in January that said the United States was under nuclear attack. But in the way it fed on personal tragedy, the offense at KROQ is in a class by itself.