A prominent radio host on WGMD 92.7 FM, Jake Smith, said on air that “as far as I’m concerned, not every Muslim is guilty, but every Muslim is suspect” of sympathizing with Islamic extremists.
When a caller to his show said Smith was “a bigot.” Smith replied, “you’re a jackass.”
He has not returned to WGMD’s airwaves since.
Smith’s 97 seconds of verbal sparring, which aired during the live “Mike and Jake in the Morning” show Feb. 20 on WGMD, led to his dismissal from the station that same day, Smith said in an interview, although word of that dismissal is just now leaking out.
During a segment of the morning show focusing on Islamic extremism, Smith said: “Muslims do not stand up for America – and they don’t, they didn’t stand up for America during 9/11, they didn’t stand up for America during Ft. Hood, they’ve never stood out and said, ‘This has to stop’ – I haven’t heard one Muslim in this country do that.
A prominent radio host on WGMD 92.7 FM, Jake Smith, said on air that “as far as I’m concerned, not every Muslim is guilty, but every Muslim is suspect” of sympathizing with Islamic extremists.
When a caller to his show said Smith was “a bigot.” Smith replied, “you’re a jackass.”
He has not returned to WGMD’s airwaves since.
Smith’s 97 seconds of verbal sparring, which aired during the live “Mike and Jake in the Morning” show Feb. 20 on WGMD, led to his dismissal from the station that same day, Smith said in an interview, although word of that dismissal is just now leaking out.
During a segment of the morning show focusing on Islamic extremism, Smith said: “Muslims do not stand up for America – and they don’t, they didn’t stand up for America during 9/11, they didn’t stand up for America during Ft. Hood, they’ve never stood out and said, ‘This has to stop’ – I haven’t heard one Muslim in this country do that.
Smith, 57, told The News Journal the station’s ownership was displeased with how he handled the call and told him he’d have to treat such callers differently in the future. When Smith said he wouldn’t, he said he was canned.
“I thought I had the right to defend myself. He called me a racist; I’m not a racist,” Smith said Friday. “I, unfortunately, stood up for a principle I thought was important.”
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Friday he’s nearly lost count of how many times his own group, along with others, has condemned and castigated violent acts by Islamic extremists.
“Every Muslim group in America, and many of those I know of around the world – I mean, our own organization has issued dozens of condemnations of terrorism, and ISIS, and the Charlie Hebdo attacks,” Hooper said. “We get that question every time we go on talk radio.”
In the Jan. 12 The News Journal, representatives of six Delaware mosques signed a letter to the editor saying the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris constituted a “terrible slaughter,” and said “there is nothing noble or meritorious about this terrorist act. It was a crime against humanity and we condemn it without reservation.”
For some radio hosts to discount or ignore such statements, Hooper said, is “all too common. We call it hate radio.”
Smith – who went by an air name for WGMD, and refused to give his real name – did not join co-host Mike Bradley for the morning drivetime show on Feb. 21, the day after the call. In the weeks since, the WGMD website has scrubbed Smith out of most mentions and graphics, although it still hosts short parody segments he produced lampooning Al Sharpton, Barack Obama, Barney Frank and Joan Deaver, the Sussex County Council’s only Democrat.
The right-leaning Rehoboth Beach station, which broadcasts to southern Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore, airs syndicated conservative talk shows hosted by Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and Michael Savage along with locally produced talk programming. It also reports on local news and sports.
A call to a phone number listed for the company that holds WGMD’s broadcast license, Resort Broadcasting Company LLC of Washington, D.C., was not answered Friday. A second number for the company was out of service, and a phone number for the contact representative listed on the 2007 license application, William D. Silva, was also not in service.
Smith, hired by WGMD in 2013, said he believes the station’s management treated him well, and said ownership had a right to fire him if it wanted to.
“It’s part of the business,” he said. “Their name’s on the license, and I respect that.”