Hot 97 is weathering 'Tsunami Song' storm
By DAVID HINCKLEY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
The question of the moment about Hot 97's well-circulated "Tsunami Song" might be this: Miscalculation or mission accomplished?
The Miss Jones morning show on WQHT (97.1 FM) last week aired a dark-humor parody of "We Are the World" with lines like "You could hear God laughing,/ 'Swim, you bitches, swim.'" This, plus its use of a slang term for Asians, fueled a wave of outrage - though much of the song jabs more at Michael Jackson.
Late Friday, Hot 97 apologized for "material that made light of a serious and tragic event," and noted the station has joined relief efforts.
On Monday, several city officials said "not enough," denouncing the song as insensitive and tasteless. Some called for Miss Jones to be fired. Some called for FCC action, including Councilman John Liu (D-Queens). Liu also said if WQHT is serious about remorse, its parent, Emmis, "should donate a week's worth of ad revenue to tsunami relief."
"The Tsunami Song" was created to get attention - like everything else on radio or any other entertainment medium. Getting people to notice is the whole point.
On morning radio in particular, that often means making the audience wonder just how far these wacky folks will go.
As the protests built last week, Hot 97 first played it cool. Morning team member Miss Info, who is of Asian descent, distanced herself from the song, but Hot 97 played it and posted it on the station Web site.
On Friday morning, as protests got louder, Miss Jones called it "my first boycott," and said she would play the song once more just to show that protesters can't dictate what goes on the air.
A few hours later, the station posted its apology, which the morning team repeated Monday. By yesterday, the team's on-air references to the issue were oblique, like joking they should stay away from gay or homeless jokes because "we don't want anyone else mobilizing."
Critics vow to keep up the pressure. Asian groups say the station needs to do more. Liu wants "strict accountability" for the week's salary that Hot 97 says the morning team is donating to tsunami relief. Internet petitions have collected thousands of signatures calling for the Miss Jones team to be "fired and blacklisted."
So Hot is keeping its head down. But Hot has been here before, with other storms, and has ridden most of them out. The bottom-line defense is, "We're not hating on you. We go after everyone."
Meanwhile, on a week when former Hot 97 morning host Star returned on rival hip-hop station WWPR (105.1 FM), Hot grabbed a huge chunk of attention.
So at what point does an attentiongetting device attract too much of the wrong kind? And is there any such thing?
