THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 18, 1996 TAG: 9601180544
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Charlise Lyles
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
I hate to dignify WROX-FM 96 shock jock Henry Del Toro's foul, juvenile antics with a response.
But not responding could be worse.
I know I'm playing into his hands. He'll probably gleefully grip the Metro section this morning, itching to read this over the airwaves while perched on a toilet seat - his idea of a shock-jock super-jolt.
Del Toro apparently did some toilet-reading on Monday's ``Perry Stone and The Bull Show.'' While reciting the last immortal words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s revered ``I have a dream'' speech, he ostensibly defecated in the studio's restroom.
This on the national holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader's birthday.
During the reading, he paused to make straining sounds as if moving his bowels, according to an account by my colleague, Eric Sundquist, who heard the morning broadcast. A story in Tuesday's newspaper omitted those details.
I asked WROX for a tape, but was told none is available.
``No disrespect meant to King,'' Del Toro said when I called him. ``I've done this before with other documents and famous speeches like JFK's inaugural.''
So there's precedent for this tastelessness. That's no comfort or justification.
Del Toro had other defenses.
``I didn't hear any newspapers ringing my phone off the hook when I raised $10,000 for the FoodBank in a 24-hour marathon,'' he said.
Bravo for the Bull's good deeds. Hampton Roads can't get enough of them. It's human of him to care about hungry mouths and abused children. But since when is community service a license to reap moral mayhem on the very people Del Toro says he wants to serve, especially young people?
He should take off the community-service flak jacket and take the rap for what he does.
Next he offered his close relationships with minorities as evidence that he meant no harm to African Americans.
``I'm Hispanic, you know.''
Sorry, my brother. Del Toro tainted any blood bonds when he dissed King, especially in these times when race relations are so tender.
None of Del Toro's extenuating circumstances defend his morally repugnant, imbecilic behavior. Instead, they reflect character that could file for bankruptcy.
And content of character is what King was all about.
That's the problem with Del Toro's material. It lacks content or cleverness. It's neither thought-provoking nor controversial, just stupid, not quite up to the level of trash.
Andy Young of Virginia Beach regularly takes offense at Del Toro. The Cape Henry Collegiate School counselor argues with his 14-year-olds each morning over the radio dial.
``I just get sick of it. I don't want my kids to hear it. I turn it off all the time,'' said Young. ``I wrote the FCC about it, but they said there's nothing they can do.''
Still, a former disc jockey who peddled Crosby, Stills and Nash in the 1960s, Young believes an avalanche of community outrage could force Del Toro off the air.
But Young and I have to face the facts. People are listening. In the summer Arbitron ratings, Del Toro's morning scatological review jumped to No. 3 from No. 6 for targeted listeners, ages 18 to 34.
Del Toro is part of the Howard Stern pantheon of radio prostitutes who foul up the airwaves with anything-for-a-rating ridiculousness, sullying our civility and eroding our moral integrity.
Poor, publicity-hungry souls, they can't help it. But we can. Let's turn them off. by CNB