Star & Buc Wild: Racist on the Radio

Moorish Girl posts to this item from Turbanhead. Apparently, the wakeup crew at Philadelphia’s Power 99 radio think that it’s absolutely hilarious to call a customer service line outsourced to India and berate an employee with sexist and racist banter.

The MP3 has been removed from the Power 99 site, but, in the event that Turbanhead‘s servers get overloaded on this, I’ve mirrored the file here and I urge anyone who cares to host the file too. For those who can’t play audio at work, here’s a transcript:

NARRATOR INTRO: Wakeup with Star and Buc Wild in the mornings of Power 99 FM.

STAR: I’m going to play this call from earlier before we get out of here. This is the, uh, call that I made to — I thought it was a company here locally. Not that I was surprised.

(laughter)

STAR: I saw this infomercial about, uh, what are these things called again? Oh, the, uh…

FEMALE VOICE: Bead? Oh shoot.

STAR: Anyway, let — let’s just play the call. I was surprised when I got somebody on the line in East India. These little beads that I saw. Little white kids, uh, a little machine that puts them in their hair.

FEMALE VOICE: Mm’hm.

STAR: Play it.

(tape begins)

STEENA: This is Steena. How may I help you?

STAR: Hi, Stain-a, you say?

STEENA: Yes.

STAR: (in fake Indian accent) Yeah, I called and I just got hung up on. I’m calling from America about the quick beads for my daughter’s, uh, hair. Quick beads.

STEEA: Okay. May I have your ZIP code please?

STAR: 10274.

STEENA: 10274?

STAR: Yes. Get it right. Now are you in India? Because I just spoke to someone in India who hung up on me.

STEENA: Thank you. I am from India, ma’am.

STAR: Okay. So my call is being outsourced to India.

STEENA: That’s right.

STAR: In… in regards to my six year old, white American daughter who wants to get the quick beads like Serena and Venus Williams.

STEENA: Now. I’ll definitely place an order for that. See…

STAR: What’s that?

STEENA: …in the ad, she called to place a quick bead of counier. To ensure proper handling…

STAR: Ma’am, I don’t know what the hell you’re saying. Hang on a second. Let me try and get something straight here. The quick beads, like Venus and Serena Williams, that to advertise to — to the white kids on television. This call has been outsourced to India?

STEENA: That’s right.

STAR: Well, ma’am, what the eff would you know about an American white girl’s — uh, uh — hair? And quick beads.

STEENA: Just to inform you, ma’am, we’re a national chain services company. And we’re just taking calls on the opposite…

STAR: Listen, bitch! Don’t get slick with the mouth! Don’t you get slick with me, bitch!

STEENA: Now if you continue to speak this language, I will disconnect the call.

STAR: Listen to me, you dirty rat eater. I’ll come out there and choke the eff out of you.

(laughter)

STAR: You’re a filthy rat eater. I’m calling about my American six year old white girl. How dare you outsource my call? Get off the line, bitch!

(laughter; end of tape)

STAR: Pull it up.

(laughter)

STAR: Heard they listen well out there.

* * *

The call letters of Power 99 are WUSL. It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to learn that the station is owned by Clear Channel. In light of the station’s Stop the Violence and Increase the Peace campaign, it might be worth addressing this verbal violence to the WUSL manager and to Clear Channel Corporate. Letters written on actual paper or faxes are the best way to deal with this. Emails can be overlooked, but paper is a physical presence. You can find addresses and fax numbers right here:

Power99 WUSL-FM
440 Domino Lane
Philadelphia, PA 19128
General Business Line: 215-483-8900
Fax: 215-483-5930
Director of Urban Programming/Program Director: Thea Mitchem
Operations Manager: Todd Shannon
General Manager: Dave Allan

Clear Channel Communications
200 Basse Road
San Antonio, TX 78209
Phone: 210-822-2828

Ron has pointed out that DJs Star and Buc Wild have been added to WWPR-FM (Power 105.1) in New York (also a Clear Channel radio station). Clear Channel has apparently invested $17 million to sign Star and Buc Wild to the morning lineup. In addition to WUSL, Star can currently be found on Hartford’s WPHH station.

Star apparently has a history of savage radio behavior. In fact, he prides himself on being “the Hater” and his website notes that “he has the audacity to be unconstrained by neo-conservative intellectual influence.” The exclusive Star interview further notes, “Hate is one of the truest natures of mankind. We’ll always have Hate, even when we branch into outer space and set up new civilizations. To eradicate hate would mean becoming desensitized or emotionless” and then qualifies this statement with a followup, “Does a fat bitch love cheeseburgers? Absolutely.”

When he worked at WQHT, he played plane-crash sound effects when Aaliyah died, complete with a woman screaming, causing his former co-host Miss Jones to walk out. Star has promised to “bury his old station” when he gets to New York (the first show is set for January 17, 2005.

Of course, listeners aren’t really the people who matter in corporate radio. Advertisers do. It might be fruitful for watchdogs in Philadelphia and New York to keep a list of loca and national advertisers that air commercials during Star’s broadcasts on Hartford’s WPHH and Philadelphia’s WUSL. And when Star moves to New York on January 17, maintain the list of advertisers on WWPR.

If we hope to win the war against hate radio, then the time has come to mobilize with diligence and action. And that means paying attention to who pays the bill.

(UPDATE: It’s also worth noting that Star’s real name is Troi Torain. He’s also made anti-Semitic comments. Funny how he’s sensitive when J-Lo uses similar language. Apparently, Torain’s former New York employer Emmis has been trying to block his WWPR gig. Torain was suspended after the Aaliyah incident. The clause in his Emmis contract has kept him off New York radio until this year. That didn’t stop him from ripping about 20 award plagues from WQHT and storming off the office. And there’s more, even a book deal.]

[FURTHER UPDATE: The outcry has resulted in Star & Buc Wild being suspended for a day. Thanks in part to your efforts, Power 99 FM received more email and phone calls in the entire station’s history.

But this is only the beginning of the fight. Since the two DJs have been repeatedly hateful and since the one day suspension amounts to a consolation prize (Star & Buc Wild were moving out of Philly anyway), the DJs will quite possibly settle into the new routine at 105.1 FM in New York. If there are any able listeners in New York willing to keep track of advertisers, now would be the time to mobilize for a future campaign. Because in light of their history of abusive radio, these two will try again. ]

[THIRD UPDATE: Because of the abusive comments (despite my repeated requests), I have closed the comments. I’m appalled by the behavior from some people here. Hate is not the way to respond with hate. I can understand anger, but by drawing generalizations about Africans or Americans, you are giving into the same spiteful tone voiced by Star. And I don’t enjoy my mailbox being pummeled with hatred.]

440 Comments

  1. Hi
    This is really disgusting. it is sickening that people like Haresh will do the world even send their mother to whorehouses to become green card holders.

    The Americans are a Class apart. And Hareh teri madachod teri ma ki aankh. Bhadwe, suar ki aulaad. tere baap ne ek american ko gaand maar kya.

    How can we talk crap and only Americans can afford the crap. Hey Listen Americans. we are gonna take the jobs from u make u take the begging bowl and throw crap on ur face for food. U behave like arseholes then we treat u like one. and we have no qualms about it..

    A truel Tre Indian

  2. Dont Call yourself A true Indian – as We Indians dont give bad words and take revenge like you are trying to do.

    dont make we indians ashamed of us.

  3. Am disgusted at reading all this hate stuff. Neurojava, you are bingo!!. I guess we should have self retrospection of sorts to check out how much of trash that is residing inside of us that is manifesting in this form. I guess Star and Buc must be happy at getting so much unwarranted publicity. Lastly, please don’t divide humans on race, creed or color. We have suffered enough for last 21 centuries. Lets not repeat the mistakes of the past..
    Hope to see some peace soon..

  4. Its not about giving Bad words… its about Understanding the reason behind it and how we can resolve it and stop it from happening in Future.

    Yes we dont have to get to their level for them to understand us.

    It certainly is a shameful conduct of Star and Bucwild towards an Indian girl working on a call centre.

    GUYS IF WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT .. I AM WITH YOU.
    MY EMAIL ADDRESS IS chimpoo123@rediffmail.com

  5. There is hope! Here is what I think we should do – start bombarding the radio station these guys are moving to in NYC.

    Full Blooded Indian (FBI) posted this message somewhere else in the blog with all the contact info. Lets get to work!

    And thanks coolbrains:)

    From FBI’s message:

    Mailing Address:
    Power 105.1 FM
    1120 6th Ave
    New York, NY 10036

    General email: power1051fm@clearchannel.com
    Publicists:
    Josefa Paganuzzi (+1-212-398-8061)
    Email: josefapaganuzzi@clearchannel.com
    Don MacLeod (+1-212-822-4535)
    Email: donmacleod@clearchannel.com

    Peace and Love

  6. I apologize for all the foul words and language used by my fellow Indians who are,to say the least,overenthusiastic and misguided.Guys,the Americans are our friends.There are some nutcases over there like there are some in India whose thoughts are reflecting the fact on this page itself.Please guys,do not use vitriolic language,please do not generalize the issue.The nuts who did this thing are crazy,but that does not mean that you should sink to their level.What do you mean about being happy about 9/11?That was horrible and so are you being by making statements about it.Ed,do you think it is the right time to edit this page?
    coolguy

  7. You bloody american racists don’t have the fuckin work to do..son of a bitch…you have really got out ur mothers fuckin ass…i’ll chop u into pieces if i get u basterd…

  8. Relax Indians….. let Action Prove –
    Do your Job well so that not even Americans but the whole world would be wanting to do business with us.NOT TO CUT COST BUT BECAUSE WE ARE THE BEST AT THAT.

    IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS TO SHARE –
    MY EMAIL ADDRESS IS chimpoo123@rediffmail.com

  9. All my outraged friends:

    Want to leave Star and Buc Wild a voicemail?

    Here is the #:212-358-3937.

    Now stop this hate here and leave them a voicemail!

    Peace and Love

  10. VERY IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ!

    Posting this again – incase anyone missed it!

    All my outraged friends:

    Want to leave Star and Buc Wild a voicemail?

    Here is the #:212-358-3937.

    Now stop this hate here and leave them a voicemail!

    Peace and Love

  11. Guys,

    Let’s send mails to these two IDs and request them to not broadcast any of these sick star & buc shows on their station. One day suspension is absolutely not a punishment for what these guys did. They might treat it as a holiday and come next morning abusing someone else..

    Please send as many mails as possible from all the different mail accounts you have.

    Josefa Paganuzzi (+1-212-398-8061)
    Email: josefapaganuzzi@clearchannel.com
    Don MacLeod (+1-212-822-4535)
    Email: donmacleod@clearchannel.com

    I just sent 5 emails from all the 5 mails accounts I have and I am going to send more of them by creating new accounts just for this.

    Please make sure that you don’t use any abusive language in your emails.

  12. Hey guys as indian we should consider …. tht americans are feeling the pinch of indian supremacy in many areas. May be ther might have been a talk of Dj’s position be outsourced;) I think this is jus his personal outbreak. Ofcourse, these non melanin creatures should feel our mighty pinch too….lets all of us act to console the lady at the call center in india.

  13. VERY IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ!

    Posting this again – incase anyone missed it!

    All my outraged friends:

    Want to leave Star and Buc Wild a voicemail?

    Here is the #:212-358-3937.

    Now stop this hate here and leave them a voicemail!

    Peace and Love

  14. Dear fellow Desis! Chill! Let us play by American rules. Please do not post hatefull messages against Americans or Blacks. My best freind is a Black American and he is far better than many desis I have come across. Direct your flames to the RJs and Clear Channel. Hurt them where it hurts. Foul language won’t hurt Clear Channel or the RJs. Sue Clear Channel. How about class action lawsuit for $50 million? Is that too less?

  15. Some more people that you can write to:

    CEO (Clear Channel Communications): Mark Mays
    Senior Vice President (Clear Channel Communications): Diane Dalton Warren
    Public Relations (Clear Channel Communications): Irene Dente

    Fax Number for Clear Channel Communications- 210.822.2299

    They fired Howard Stern for indecency last year, lets get enough petitions out this year. Also visit: http://www.clearchannel.com/Corporate/company_exec.aspx

  16. ** I dont find any difference between star and Buc and the people who use offesive word against them.

    ** Please don’t blame the whole American community.

    ** Please file you voice in a polite way with soft words.

    ** Let all of us put effort to stop such incident atleast in the future.

  17. Though it’s sad but, I must agree that most American people agree with Star & Buck.
    These pathetic people are hypocrites.

    They teach one one thing and do another(history and present is the proof).Americans say they support democracy but, in-fact they support tyranny and dictatorship(Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iraq ‘Saddam Hussein’ yeah America supported supported when they felt it suited them,Afghanistan – ‘Taliban created by full support of USA’ to name a few). Every aspect of life you can see this hypocrisy and discrimination. See how biased the American media is, no report of this incident. NO MEDIA COVERAGE by being silent they only show their selective support to RACISM.

    OK enough of wining lets not sit idle. But return the favor…..sitting idle with belief false, dubious principles will lead us no where [after 50 years of independence size:power ratio (economic/political/military) is sad proof]. We should learn to stand up and fight back.
    Indians excel in every field appx. 30% of NASA staff consists of INDIANS/INDIAN origins, INDIANS are big & important part of US silicon valley (from hotmail to sun micro systems), INDIANS in America are leading USA into nano-technology in big way. INDIANS & Chinese (especially) dominate research done in universities [primary source of development & research for all big defense companies and DOD]. We as individuals are progressing very well but collectively we are not able to do anything bcos we are still having the hangover of being ruled we should get out of that mindset. We must participate in US politics especially second generation INDIANS in USA so we gain political clout like the JEWISH community we should look at the JEWISH community and try to learn from them. THE BOTTOM LINE is MONEY RESPECTS MONEY, STRENGTH RESPECTS STRENGTH. So if we keep idle and keep whining we will be standing we are even after a century.

    So stand up and return the favor to these M’fkers.

    We should not take crap from anybody even if it is USA. Those m’fker’s forget that its a 2 way street. There are millions of INDIANS out here in USA. So lets also spare 10 minutes every day and return the favor and lets see what the fk they r going to do about it.

    So c’mon every body out there lets return the favor to the americans and let give them the taste of their own medicine and call its f’kin funny.

  18. I think those people must be sued for $100 million. This must be a lesson to all those who see india as a slave. Actually, Indians rock in all technologies.

  19. Every one should look after their language while posting any comments here. Because their language relects not only one’s culture but also the people’s voice of their country.

    I request my Indian brothers not to post any comments using abusive language.

    Same request applies to to our american brothers and sisters.

    From an Indian who wish this world to be a global village with peace around.

  20. Hey when I say americans its not directed to all americans in general. I have lot of american friends white and aferican americans and all of them are very decent, friendly and nice people.

    But There are lot of people out there who are very different. Especially political, media and some business big wigs and some significent percentage of population.

  21. Gosh…you guys really know how to overdo it. What are you trying to do, win the who-can-use-more-expletives-in-one-blog contest? So far, the Indians are running neck-and-neck with the two Americans who initiated this whole thing. Get real,chaps. You’re embarrassing the rest of us, you know, the more balanced Indians. More abuse ain’t gonna get no one nowhere.

  22. FCC and someone should definely do something about this and put these type of things away in future. This is totally racist.

    If it were not indians then it would have been hard to run the advanced companies that your americans are running.

  23. i’m not particularly shocked reading the transcripts of the conversation… well i believe entertainment business in America has become a competition of which program has more shock value… its horrible to see that such degrading and disgusting gimmicks are used by people who actually have the power to make good things happen… i am actually proud that the indian girl tina who was at the receiving end , kept her cool.. very commendable… and its very nice to see the general american public speak out against one of their own…

  24. If only god had given some brains to Star and Buc. The funniest thing is that such words came from a person whose people were treated like slaves few years back. Its like cutting your own legs with an axe in your hand. Such people in limelight try to take the world back to dark age. Americans wake up and take their mic away.

    WARNING TO STAR and BUC: 1 billion people in this world already hate you. Dont you come close to any of them.

    For those concerned about outsourcing, make your government and your companies listen to your causes. It has nothing to do with india, china , phillipines or vietnam.

  25. I think People like Star and buc wild and their other dirty half breed clan are bcs and mcs ,(Indians wld have understood this)hahahha.Its actually not their fault,its the bloody American producer n director, sons of bitches who aired it. Bloody dark and white trash,thats what they are.hahahah.Indians are far more superior and thats what these motherfuckers know by sure,no wonder the jealousy and the petty shit they are trying.I hope these rats read it.

  26. Star’s Profile
    His Mother would have been fucked by atleast 20 people by the time she was 12 and then pregnent with this moron,so typically star doesnt know who is father is or if he does i am pretty sure he is in jail.
    stars mother abandoned him when he was one and he was raised on the street peddling drugs and eating from the garbage.
    so star grew up never whent to school, I am sure he didnt know what the word “out sourcing” ment. most of thes fucks cant even speak english properly just like their president.
    thus Star see all the indian who come to his country, work hard make 100 times more money than the people from his ‘hood who still beg, steal, peddle, fuck their mothers, and end up in jail anyway, does this to satisfy his petty ego.

  27. The condemnation of this deplorable behavior by all decent people, Americans and Indians, should send the right message to the people who make money from such atrocious behavior.

    It is important to understand that the behavior of the RJ is not indicative of general American behavior. Likewise the abusive posts of some Indians should not be construed as indicative of Indians in general.

    Please restrain yourself from posting abusive matter on the board. It helps no one but denigrate yourself to the level of the person you seek to condemn.

  28. Ed –

    A sincere request – please take this post off your blog or at least take off the comments associated with it.
    I hate to bother you with this but looks like this forum is being abused more than anything worthwhile being offered.

    As an Indian, I don’t think this kind of hatred and despicable behavior would be endorsed by any other Indian except the ones who take perverse pleasure in writing this. You are cowards if you don’t have the b**ls to go out in the open with your protest but rather vent your frustations behind the safety of someone else’s blog!

    Shame on you guys!! You are only jeopardizing any chances that we may have to expect an apology and further action on the RJ’s in question!!

  29. this unfathomable action should not be pardoned.How can somebody get away like this?Just becuase some people are capable enough to get work outsourced from North America, doesnt mean they will be subjugated to such utter nonsense from absolute idiots like these two.
    Just imagine if an Indian would have called up and spoken.
    The anit-climax is these people are supposedly living in a developed nation.
    SHAME ON YOU.

  30. This time it’s personal

    Turbanhead and Anna post about a Philly radio DJ who abused an Indian call center worker on air (listen to the audio clip, courtesy of Turbanhead): STAR (morning DJ on Power 99): This call has been outsourced to India?STEENA: That’s right.ST…

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