Column: The Radio Listener
Washington Post,
January 12, 1999
1150 15th Street NW
Washington, DC 20071
By Frank Ahrens
The Traditional Values Coalition, a national political action group, has filed a
complaint with the Federal Communications Commission over a Dec. 23 broadcast on WZHF-AM
(1390) in Arlington, charging the station was a "party to a commission of a
felony" during a talk show on gay issues.
During the show -- a sponsored segment, something like an infomercial -- area activist
Frank Kameny, who is seeking to repeal Virginia's sodomy law, announced: "I hereby
solicit, urge, entreat and invite every person in the state of Virginia of the age of 18
years or above to engage with me in an act of sodomy of his or her choice."
"We support the sodomy statute in Virginia and we felt this was a new startling
use of the media," says coalition spokesman James Lafferty. "The FCC has pretty
tough standards for [Don] Imus and [Howard] Stern and this exceeds anything on the Stern
show. It's still a felony in Virginia."
Richard Trodden, Arlington commonwealth's attorney, says he will not charge Kameny for
soliciting sodomy.
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