'Idol' voting turns off many viewers

Kathy Wiesner is through with ``American Idol.'' An avid fan of Fox's hit reality show, she reached a turning point Wednesday night when the thin-voiced John Stevens received more votes from the American public than Jennifer Hudson, a powerhouse talent who, despite the praise of the celebrity judges, was eliminated from the competition.

``I'm totally disgusted,'' said Wiesner, 44, a technical writer in Marblehead. ``This show is supposed to be about talented singing, but it's clear now that it's just a popularity contest and that most of the voters are 10-year-old girls. I'm not watching it anymore.''

Wiesner isn't alone in her disappointment.

A Fox spokeswoman was unable to say how many viewers had contacted the network com-

plaining about the fate of Hudson, Fantasia Barrino, and La Toya London, three soulful singers who received the lowest vote totals after performing this week. But the network issued a statement from Ken Warwick, an executive producer of the show, which is among the highest rated on television. ``As proven with [Wednesday] night's results, you can never assume that any contestant is safe,'' Warwick said.

On the nationally syndicated Tom Joyner morning radio show, the contest was a hot topic yesterday, said co-host Sybil Wilkes. The program received more than 100 phone calls (twice the usual number) from viewers complaining about the results.

``There was not one person who said `I'm so glad John Stevens stayed,''' Wilkes said.

``Some people said they got a busy signal consistently and couldn't get their votes through. Others said it was [judge] Simon Cowell's fault because he told John he wasn't a very good singer so people felt sorry for him.

``Another group of people think there's a racist conspiracy to keep `American Idol' from having a black winner two years in a row.''

Stevens is white; Hudson, Barrino, London, and George Huff, who is still in the running, are African American. So is last year's winner, Ruben Studdard.

``For me, it doesn't come down to race,'' Wilkes said. ``But I'm afraid it does for a lot of people.''

Another theory reported yesterday on the syndicated show ``Extra!'' was that a power outage in the Midwest may have kept fans from Hudson's hometown of Chicago from casting their votes.

Voting for the show is free and open to anyone calling from within the United States or Puerto Rico. With as many as 24 million votes registered each week, phone lines do get clogged.

Each contestant is assigned a toll-free number and voting is open every Tuesday for two hours after the conclusion of the performance episode. Viewers can also cast votes via text messaging - a system in which a short message is sent via wireless phone. Each contestant is assigned a four-digit number and viewers must input the word ``vote.''

But for viewers such as Linda Pitler, 48, a registered nurse in Randolph, the process is too frustrating. ``It's impossible to get through. I've tried three or four times, and it's always busy,'' she said yesterday.

But Pitler's son Marc says his Randolph High School classmates find text messaging easier. And they support Stevens, the youngest contestant at 16.

``A lot of kids have been saying that John Stevens is cute, and we should all vote for him,'' Marc Pitler said. ``In a society where popularity is determined by attraction, that's driving the competition.''

Suzanne Ryan can be reached at sryan@globe.com