'Slip Of The Tongue' Bites WFMD Talk Show Host

Blaine Young

A discouraging word was heard on the air at CLEAR CHANNEL News WFMD/FREDERICK, MD recently, and it looks like the on-air host at the time may be in a bit of warmer-than-lukewarm water.

According to the FREDERICK NEWS-POST, former FREDERICK COUNTY Planning Commissioner ANITA STUP appeared on "The BLAINE YOUNG Show" on DECEMBER 21st, where she called current Planning Commission member CATHERINE FORRENCE a "bitch." A regular guest on YOUNG's show, STUP was chatting about the future of the planning commission, which includes a couple of members who have a contentious relationship with YOUNG, who also happens to be president of the BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.

In his next show, YOUNG apologized for STUP's comments and acknowledged they were inappropriate. STUP also went on-air to admit that the name-calling was wrong. "Obviously, I had a slip of the tongue. I think I was incorrect when I said it," she later said in a phone interview.

FORRENCE, who didn't hear the actual show when it aired, was hardly mollified with the apologies. "I'm tired of BLAINE YOUNG being a bully and picking on people," she said, adding that YOUNG "likes to stir the pot and add fuel to the fire, and I'm pretty confident that he did that on this occasion."

She has since filed an online complaint about the remark with the FCC, and plans to send a letter to the COMMISSION.objecting to "profanity and on-air attack."

Adding another twist to this saga is the station's seven-second time delay, which wasn't used to censor the comment. A recording of the DEC. 21st show indicates that when STUP insulted FORRENCE, YOUNG immediately addressed the station's program manager, FRANK MITCHELL, who later said that YOUNG thought he had edited out the seven-second segment of conversation that included the comment.

Even after this episode, MITCHELL doesn't plan on banning STUP from future WFMD shows. "She's been talked to," he said. "She'll understand that that's not tolerated."

He also pointed out that the word "bitch" isn't technically banned by the FCC, and in rare cases, the station might allow it to air depending on the context. Of course, airing it in this case ... not so much....

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