Shock jock

A shock jock is a slang term used to describe a type of radio broadcaster (sometimes a disk jockey) who attracts attention using humor that a significant portion of the listening audience may find offensive. The term is usually used pejoratively to describe evocative or irreverent broadcasters whose manners and on-air behavior is offensive to the speaker.

Famous incidents

Some major popularized incidents involving shock jocks:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• On May 19, 2005, Opie and Anthony encourages listeners to hold up signs during live news broadcasts. One of the show's staff stepped behind CBS reporter Arthur Chi'en holding an Opie and Anthony poster. After finishing the last syllable of his report, Chi'en turned to the staff member and yelled "What the fuck is your problem, man?" before the studio could cut to the pre-recorded segment of the report. The obscenity was aired live, and despite his apology, Chi'en was fired later that day.
• May 12, 2004: Marconi and Tiny, two Portland, Oregon disk jockeys, played the audio portion of the video of Nick Berg's murder on their morning program several times, accompanied by music, jokes, and laughter over the scenes. The pair was fired the same day.
• April 8, 2004: Howard Stern's show was dropped by Clear Channel Communications the few stations of theirs that had carried the show after they were fined $495,000 USD for a variety of individual statements made in a single Stern show. Stern used his remaining market share to criticize Clear Channel and the Bush Administration.
• January, 2004: Clear Channel is fined $715,000 USD for an airing of radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge, which included (among other things) a scene involving explicit sexual conversations between children's cartoon characters. Bubba is fired shortly thereafter.
• August 23, 2002: New York shockers Opie and Anthony hold an annual contest for listeners who receive points for having sex in interesting places or circumstances. A couple is arrested for having sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, and the disk jockeys are fired from WNEW shortly thereafter.
• February 27, 2001: Bubba the Love Sponge has a pig castrated and killed on-air. Bubba is charged with animal cruelty, but acquitted.
• April 1, 1998: Opie and Anthony are fired from Boston radio station WAAF for an April Fool's Day prank announcing that the mayor of Boston had been killed in an accident. The pair are soon hired by New York station WNEW.
• April, 1995: On the Don Imus radio show, U.S. Senator Al D'Amato puts on a comical Asian accent and criticizes judge Lance Ito for personal interest in allowing television cameras in the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Imus is criticized for keeping D'Amato on air because of the shock value of the senator's comments.