Talkback shock jock off air for a month

ONE of the nation's largest radio networks has counselled a top-rating talkshow host in Adelaide over a tirade of abuse about asylum-seekers and a female journalist, saying he will be off the air for a month.

Talkback radio "king" Bob Francis was further condemned yesterday, including on Sky News by former Labor leader Mark Latham, for telling listeners he hoped asylum-seekers would drown before arriving by boat. He called a journalist who reported his remarks a "bloody bitch" and a "smart-arse dickhead woman".

"In the city of churches, it's a disgrace. He should be run out of town and expelled -- put him on the boat and sink it," Mr Latham said on Sky's The Contrarians program yesterday.

The show's presenter, Peter van Onselen, said Francis was not welcome in Australia and called for him to be "kicked off the airwaves immediately".

"If Kyle Sandilands is going to get in trouble for a few inappropriate jokes and stupid comments, that kind of offensive rhetoric from Bob Francis should see him . . . conducting radio nowhere. Retire Bob, you're a disgrace," van Onselen said.

"The only good news to come out of this is that at his radio station senior individuals . . . have reprimanded him and done so strongly. What we have to hope is radio management have the guts to do the same."

Major sponsors of station FIVEaa, owned by DMG Radio Australia, moved to distance themselves from the program.

DMG Radio's group general manager Louise Higgins said the station was aware of the matter. "Management have discussed it directly with Bob Francis," she said, and he would be on " planned leave from today for approximately one month".

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen, Liberal state Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond and prominent SA broadcasters Keith Conlon and Amanda Blair condemned Francis for his rant.

The Egyptian-born Francis, 73, said on Monday that asylum-seekers were not welcome in Australia. "Bugger the boatpeople, I say . . . I hope they bloody drown out there on their way over here."

He told The Weekend Australian: "Go and get f . . . ked".

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/talkback-shock-jock-off-air-for-a-month/st...