Attack on free speech in Santa Cruz

Station Swamped with Phone Calls and Emails Protesting Cancellation.
After broadcasting for a year on a Santa Cruz AM station,

left-of-center talk show host, Peter Werbe, had his program suddenly yanked
from KOMY-AM without even notification to him or his network. The many
listeners who called the KOMY management were told that the show had no
sponsors and few listeners. The station never sought ads for the program,
but the management said it aired Peter's program to balance its bevy of
right-wing shows. However, even without any promotion, the show had a
growing audience as evidenced by the high number of calls Peter's program
received daily from the station's broadcast area.

Facing growing complaints from the Santa Cruz audience, on Oct. 6, the KOMY
station owner took to the airwaves and denounced the show and its host, and
"apologized' to the people of Santa Cruz for having him on "his" airwaves.
Then, dogged by what was becoming a community issue in Santa Cruz, KOMY
owner's mother, Kay Zwerling, similarly denounced the show and Peter during
an on-air editorial, October 16, to explain why the station had dropped the
program. She specifically mentioned its left of center content, Peter's
criticism of the Bush administration, and his questions about the attacks on
Afghanistan.

On Oct. 18, station owner, Michael Zwerling, called Peter an "asshole" on
the air because the station was receiving hundreds of emails from as far
away as Korea, Britain, and France as well as from KOMY's local listening
area. Local residents have written the owners that they are considering a
license challenge, as well as a complaint for the owner's language.

Stories on this issue will appear this week in the Bay Area Guardian and
Metro Santa Cruz newspapers. Also, Alice Nutter, lead singer of the Brit pop
group, Chumbawamba ("Tubthumper"), has weighed into the fray, sending a
letter of protest to the station, and placing this release on the group's
extensive international email list (see http://www.chumba.com).

Peter broadcasts on the ieamerica Radio Network based in Detroit , and is
one of only two left of center nationally syndicated programs on the AM
band. The other liberal host is Mike Malloy. See http://www.ieamericaradio.com and
http://www.mikemalloy.com. Werbe is a veteran talk show host from Detroit with 30
years experience in talk radio. See his web sites at
http://www.ieAmericaradio.com/peterwerbe and http://www.peterwerbe.com . Peter's show is
broadcast on the AM band in 14 cities and on the Internet from the ieamerica
web site.

This undisguised attack on freedom of speech must be fought! Please call the
station at 831-475-1080 or email KOMY owner, Michael Zwerling, at
mz [at] ksco.com and tell them politely this assault on the 1st Amendment is
unacceptable.

Also, please pass along this information to any email list you have and
inform any media outlet which may be interested in this issue. Peter is
available for interviews; reach him at peterwerbe [at] earthlink.net.


Peter's web page for his live call-in talk show on the Internet,
Monday-Friday, 9am to noon Pacific Standard Time, Noon-3PM EST, and info
about it at http://www.ieAmericaRadio.com/peterwerbe or on taped delay
6-9PM.