DJs return to air after suspension over offensive remark
ANCHORAGE, Alaska—Two Anchorage disc jockeys returned to their popular morning show Wednesday, three weeks after drawing a storm of complaints for making a derogatory comment on air about Alaska Native women.
Greg Wood and Chris Wilcox, known as Woody and Wilcox, were suspended April 15 after the remark that had many comparing the pair to radio shock-jock Don Imus.
"When Woody and I do this show, there never has been and never will be the intent to hurt people," Wilcox said on the air Wednesday. "Now, having said that, we did make a comment that obviously hurt a lot of people. While it was never our intent, as we've said multiple times, we know that it did. And when we found out that it did, we were sorry. That's not some sort of contrived thing. That is 100 percent accurate. We don't want to hurt people."
Wilcox and Wood were jesting April 9 about what makes someone a real Alaskan. One of them switched the verbs on an old saying that real Alaskans have urinated in the Yukon River and made love to an Alaska Native woman. Many also consider the original saying insulting.
Many compared the duo to Imus, who called the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" on his nationally syndicated show last spring. Imus was fired by CBS Radio in April 2007. After repeated public apologies, Imus returned to the air in December at WABC-AM in New York.
Since their suspension, Wilcox and Wood have met with Native leaders and are attending cultural awareness sessions.
However, Alaska Native groups have filed complaints with the Federal Communications Commission and some organizations and businesses have canceled advertising with KBFX-FM, a
Wilcox and Wood, who don't consider themselves shock jocks, said Wednesday their words were intended as a self-deprecating demonstration of their short residency -- about 2 1/2 years -- in the state, showing they are so new to Alaska that they couldn't even get an old saying right.
Wilson Justin, a leader in the Athabascan village of Chistochina, met with Wilcox and Wood last week, telling them about facing taunts and bullies when he attended high school in Anchorage and about hearing the old saying decades ago from white miners and others with clear contempt for Alaska Natives.
Justin said Wednesday he believes the DJs got his message and he saluted the station for returning them to the air.
"It's easy to boot somebody out the door," he said. "To me, what's the point? You set them out on the street, you deny them all the opportunities to learn from their experience and you deny their listeners the opportunity to learn what they've learned."
