First They Came for the Shock Jocks

The grievance-monger industry is in overdrive. What was once a practical joke is now a scandal.

CBS Suspends New York Shock Jocks for Racially Charged Radio Prank

Still recovering from the Don Imus scandal, CBS Radio suspended two local shock jocks after they twice broadcast a racially charged prank call to employees at a Chinese restaurant.

The hosts of the daily morning show, WFNY-FM's "The Dog House With JV and Elvis," have been suspended indefinitely without pay, CBS Radio spokeswoman Karen Mateo told The New York Times in an e-mail Monday. One of the hosts, Jeff Vandergrift, apologized on Monday's show, she said.

Local chapters of the Organization of Chinese Americans, an advocacy group, released a statement Sunday protesting the segment. By Monday, California state Sen. Leland Yee and others joined the campaign.

In the segment, broadcast on April 5 — a day after the infamous Imus comment on CBS — and again last week, a caller to a Chinese restaurant intersperses an order for takeout with lewd language.

The caller tells one female employee he wants to come to the restaurant to see her naked and refers to a part of her body as "hot, Asian, spicy." The caller also attempts to order "shrimp flied lice."

I've never even heard of these guys, but should they be bounced for anything, it's lame humor even Beavis and Butthead would eschew.

In those prank-filled days of my youth, long before caller ID, most people would simply hang up on crank calls.

Now it's earth-shattering news.