Cheese and crackers.

This whole "controversy" seems like a contrived attention-getting ratings stunt to me. How sure are you it's legit, Mitch?

So much hate in the comments. The way she has been doing the job has gotten the show to where it is. Peterson says it's for ratings, but only has a theory. Maybe he should actually talk to his people.
Portland is going through some ridiculous radio changes now where outsiders are coming in and either firing everyone or telling them to change what makes them a part of Portland.

We have Sirius in our cars but she's the ONLY reason we even listen to FM radio.

If people dont want to hear it, change the channel, seriously I am pretty liberal in my beliefs but this "this offends me" mentality is killing me!! What do those of us do who enjoy real life, and hearing about others joke about it? Holy smokes, Daria, Mitch and Ted, what you bring to afternoons is amazing, I know I can turn you guys on and smile, if my day is good then I end it with you guys even better!! Please Portland, quit restricting and start being responsible for yourselves!!

If Program Director Mike Peterson backed down that fast then I bet someone in his family said, "They sure say a lot of bad words on your radio program. Why don't you have them tone it down, Honey?" and he said, "Yes, Dear."

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Here is the problem that no one is really addressing. Most people tune into this show because of the banter, the give and take of the personalities between the three of them. This is perhaps the only reason to tune into such a show. Censorship of this kind is firstly, foolish as they are not saying anything that isn't said on a normal Simpson's cartoon, and the content of the music that they are forced to play during their broadcast. The music is what is really the problem, and by that I am not referring to "swearing" or lyrics, but merely the cultural wasteland that makes me turn off the volume until I can get my witty give and take from the trio back on the air again. I think the station itself needs to review it's play list (something DJs used to control) and realize that the Afternoon Buzz show is popular for one reason and one reason only, the talent and their ability to entertain...which the management has tried to put into a stranglehold after these three years on the radio. Imbeciles.

-Hunt Stockwell...American.

I smell PPM despair, here, both in the PD's memo, and these DJ's making a cause out of it. If you don't want edgy, don't hire Daria. But if you do, don't shackle her.

I suspect this blog is dominated by people who work behind a microphone. They think they are most important to a station's ratings. It's the same reason why so many people here are sticking-up for Daria. If she worked in any other industry and pulled the same stunt she would filing for unemployment today. Creative people sometimes forget that they work for a profit-making business.

Trust me if the ratings were sooooooooooo great they would be able to what ever (with in limits) they wanted to. Toss her and the rest of her partners with ego's in an unemployment line and see how much she likes that. I for one am sick of all of you cry babys who take to the blogs and chat sights to piss and moan. You all sound like whinny little [?]es. The Buzz is a waste of money! Especially for the ratings return.

Good luck Mike Peterson!

Isn't this an argument that goes back to the very beginnings of radio? Same old same old. What's the big deal?

And some of you actually want someone to lose their radio job over standing up for the integrity of a show? Is this the same group of people that are constantly whining all the time about quality radio being wiped away little by little? About fewer and fewer positions available for on-air personalities? Well, which is it? I don't really fall on either side of this issue really, I'm just confused by all of the anger about it.

As someone that listens to the show from time to time, I do have an opinion on the program itself and it seems to be one of the few remaining live, local personality-driven programs left. It also happens to have the added bonus of being pretty damn entertaining (most of the time anyway). That seems like something that should be protected like an endangered species, not thrown to the wolves at the first sign of mild boss-bashing (another age-old radio tradition).

And, of course, after all the hoopla, I've been tuning in this week to see what the big deal was and I haven't heard it mentioned once. AND I haven't heard much in the way of the cursing mentioned in the article (but then I've never really noticed this show as being particularly foul-mouthed). So maybe it was all settled internally. Everyone seems back to their usual peppy bantering selves.

I'm sure if firings were necessary (on either side of the argument), that's what would've happened. They didn't, so I'll assume all is well.

My hope is that the passion involved on both sides of the fence continues to grow and evolve. Maybe it'll lead to more shows like this one. And wouldn't that be good for everyone that loves radio, both listeners and professionals alike? Positivity people.

Thanks to OMC for providing a forum for this discussion.

Jenn M.

Alex Demers of Demers Programming, which consulted the station when it was "Earth 105" in the '90s, says the streamlining of content is about "maintaining the appropriate balance. It all comes down to knowing your audience and meeting their expectations. In a country where the favorite ice cream flavor is STILL vanilla, can you really ever be 'too safe?'"

Really? This guy's basing his evaluations on the country's ice cream preferences? By that logic, all cars would be metal squares and go no faster than 55. No wonder consultants have a bad name.

"A listener might not be offended by something in a song," Demers says, "but they might be offended if the same word is used by a personality. It's a tough call."

Way to be committal there. Seriously, who pays this guy for advice? "Your problem may be your format, or it could be your talent. Tough call. But glad I could narrow it down for you."

It's interesting... a vast majority of opinions here say Daria and the rest are the reason for any success the station has, while over on pdxradio the general consensus is 'if she worked for me, she'd be fired so fast her head would spin.'

One thing's for sure: radio is a very strange industry, where some very talented people have enjoyed much success and continue to do so. On the other hand, some very talented people have been burned so badly by ownership changes, format changes, consolidation, automation, voice tracking from out-of-market, etc., or a combination of some or all of these things.

Whatever it is, talent is one of the most important parts of a station, along with programming, engineering, and sales (have to pay the bills somehow). Not everyone agrees, or even sees eye-to-eye with each other. Some of the "fights" are simply politics. And, somewhere along the line, those having to answer the call that radio needs more "personality" figured out that the radio station offices have overall the same environment as any other office, have heard for years that "everything is material," and decided that dragging station office politics onto the air was a great idea to give listeners and P1s an additional reason to tune in.

Still, nobody's able to tackle the largest problem... people are turning away from radio in droves. TSL is down, and the percentage of people who listen regularly is down. We sit here on message boards and blogs saying that we have the answer, but we really don't.

My life rarely takes me outside Portland, but when I visited another city several months ago I quickly learned their radio dial, and although the slogans and dial positions were different, the music and formats were no different than those in Portland. Then the local rock station played Stabbing Westward's "Save Yourself," which although was released in the mid-90s sounds exactly like what the largest problem is with radio right now...:
"You cannot save me, you can't even save yourself. I cannot save you, I can't even save myself. So just save yourself."