In 2006, a blogger named Spocko began spotlighting inflammatory rhetoric common to several talk radio hosts on KSFO, an ABC Radio-owned station in San Francisco. Spocko compiled a litany of examples on both his weblog, Spocko's Brain, and in numerous letters to corporations advertising on KSFO. This letter-writing campaign apparently got results, as major advertisers such as MasterCard, Bank of America, and Visa pulled their ads from the station. Despite the fact that the clips used by Spocko were clearly legal under Fair Use, ABC Inc. issued a cease-and-desist letter on December 21, targeting Spocko and his blog for copyright violations. Soon after the letter was sent, Spocko's internet service provider, 1&1 Internet, shut down his blog. Spocko has now resumed blogging (with much of the old content intact) by switching to a different internet service provider.

The EFF has agreed to defend Spocko if he is sued, but it more than likely won't come to that. As ABC's lawyers know, the brief audio clips posted on Spocko’s blog are classic examples of protected fair use, the right to use copyrighted materials for purposes of commentary, parody, education, or artistic expression. That important detail -- and the fact that KSFO's corporate counsel misrepresented Spocko's legal position in a briefly successful attempt to snuff out his blog -- are conspicuously absent from KSFO's on-air discussion of this case.

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KSFO has been around since 1925, although it only got its current call letters in 1935. Over the years it has changed ownership and formats many times. In 1994, KSFO was sold to Capital Cities / ABC, which also owned San Francisco's KGO (Disney bought Capital Cities /ABC in 1996). The new President and General Manager Michael Luckoff, soon debuted a "Hot Talk" programming format and fired the former air staff. In 1995 Dan Fowler, then Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, sent a letter to constituents condemning KSFO hate speech: "In San Francisco, radio listeners on KSFO recently heard talk show hosts speak of 'lynching a few liberals' and encouraging listeners to 'shoot illegal immigrants who come across the border.'" More recent examples of hate speech include host Melanie Morgan broadcasting that "we've got a bull's-eye painted on (House presumptive Speaker Nancy Pelosi's) big, wide laughing eyes" (November 14, 2006), Lee Rodgers broadcasting that "Indonesia is really just another enemy Muslim nation…You keep screwing around with stuff like this, we're going to kill a bunch of you. Millions of you." (October 25, 2006) and Melanie Morgan calling for the hanging of New York Times editors (June 27, 2006).
Walt Disney Company has announced that it will sell its ABC Radio holdings (including KSFO) to Citadel Broadcasting by the end of 2007.

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