"For the most part ... talk radio remains a wide-open frontier, with few boundaries set by taste or propriety. The more controversial hosts - such as (Howard) Stern and Rush Limbaugh - are the most successful. But there are still some land mines, and they are often triggered by a race-based comment. Wednesday morning, (Doug Greaseman) Tracht stepped on one" .

"A little after 7 a.m., Tracht noted that the Grammy Awards ceremony was scheduled for that evening and played a portion of a song by Lauryn Hill, the young black hip-hop artist nominated for 10 Grammys. Then he commented: 'No wonder people drag them behind trucks'"

"Several radio consultants and executives contacted yesterday said that Tracht, 48, who worked for Classic Rock 94.7 (WARW-FM), was fired not only because of what he said but because of when he said it - just one day after Byrd's killer was found guilty of murder. 'Any great comedian will tell you the most important part of a joke is timing,' said Joe Madison, program director at black talk station WOL-SM. 'And I don't mean in delivery, but in whether this joke should or should not be told at this particular time. His timing was awful'" .

It's the old comedic saw: Humor equals tragedy plus time. President Lincoln's assassination is fair game. But Martin Luther King's - which Tracht tried to mine for humor in 1986, sparking protests and bomb threats to DC-101, where he worked at the time - is off-limits"

"Tracht's firing sparked conversations in Rockville office building elevators, Popeye's restaurants in Northwest Washington and radio stations in Lanham. It exposed racial hatred and misunderstanding in both black and white listeners, Madison said. His callers were fearful that Tracht's joke was an endorsement and encouragement of race-based violence. 'What the Greaseman did is so dangerous because the atmosphere we live in is very toxic,' Madison said. 'The slightest spark can generate hate'"

"The Washington area has more than 50 radio stations. But the ratings are dominated by the ones that play black-oriented music - WHUR, WPGC, WKYS and WMMJ. Those stations turned the heat on Tracht during their popular Thursday morning drive-time shows, while white stations laregely ignored the incident. WOL spent most of its broadcast day on the subject Thursday urging action from listeners and outraged callers. In turn, WARW - as well as the Falls Church sheriff's department, where Traht was a volunteer deputy - was inundated with calls"

"Some Tracht fans in Internet discussion groups have suggested that if Tracht were black and had said the same thing about a white man, he'd still be employed. Though that is unlikely, radio consultants said, there is an underlying truth. 'It's a little bit more understandable why there may be angry black deejays or talk show hosts,' said Michael Harrison, editor of Talkers magazine, a trade publication that covers the talk radio industry. 'It's not totally acceptable but it's still more understandable'" .

"WOL occasionally airs callers who spout anti-white and anti-semitic comments. Usually they are reined in by the hosts. But WOL seeks to serve the black audience, said Tony Washington, a general manager at Radio One, which owns WOL, and sometimes that means airing flammable comments and allowing its broadcasters some license ..." .

"'In any given city, the line is and should be at a different spot,' said Walter Sabo, a leading talk radio consultant. 'It can and should be driven by the needs and tastes of each community and a lot of common sense'" .(Frank Ahrens, February 27, 1999)