WBLI DJ Rowdy Randy Spears Makes Foolish Statements to Mastic Resident

Mastic Beach is a unique community on south shore Long Island bordering an area often referred to as the "gateway to the Hamptons". Amidst the breathtaking waterviews and landscapes, renovated summer cottages are nestled next to stately colonials in an area rich in history. Mastic Beach is home of the William Floyd Estate, where the first New York signer of the Declaration of Independence resided and the local high school is named in his honor. Currently Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue magazine (also believed to be the subject of the infamous movie starring Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada) has her summer home in Old Mastic and is an activist for the environmental concerns that plague the local Forge River.

Despite its prestigious background, Mastic is a place where working class people live and one of the last areas where you can still find an affordable American dream home on Long Island. The community has multiple organizations that work to improve its face, a variety of outstanding library and local programs for residents and a welcoming atmosphere where everyone can fit it. For decades, the hard-working people of Mastic have been barraged with slumlords who overtook summer cottages to rent them to questionable tenants, resulting crime and pedophiles and ecological concerns caused by careless business owners. Basically, the "haves" did a lot of damage to an area that is lovingly maintained and nurtured by its residents, who appreciate the natural resources and environment and see its potential. Through volunteer programs and a lot of blood, sweat and tears, local residents carry on their mission and the area continues to slowly improve despite many setbacks along the way.

If this is not enough for the community to endure, a local radio personality on WBLI decided to insult the area and the people in it. WBLI, known also as 106.1, is a top 40 station serving Suffolk and Nassau counties as well as south shore Connecticut, the Jersey Shore and the Hudson Valley. DJ Randy Spears, a/k/a Randy Rowdy, decided to insult a Mastic caller on February 27, 2008, during the "BLI in the Morning" show when he asked her "Did your pipes freeze under the trailer, or do you have that stuff down there to keep them warm?" The caller stated she was very angry and lived in a house. Spears replied "Just think, if you win this game, the whole trailer park will be excited."

Since there are no trailer parks in the area, clearly this was an uninformed as well as an insulting statement. Shortly thereafter, the following correspondence was distributed to concerned citizens throughout the Mastic, Shirley, Moriches area:

"To our community leaders,

If you are not aware, yesterday and today, a DJ on a local radio station (WBLI 106.1) made some very derogatory remarks about our community and our residents.

News 12 has reported on this story this evening, and Newsday will be covering this story over the next two days.

WBLI will announce Randy Rowdy's (the previous mentioned DJ) suspension from the morning program he was on and they will hold a news conference tomorrow regarding his suspension. We believe a simple suspension and a hollow apology is not enough. This DJ should be fired for his actions, and his program directors, producers and the station should be held accountable.

We are calling on all of our residents to boycott this station and more importantly boycott the advertisers of that station and send letters to the advertisers, the station's general manager and program director, and the company that owns WBLI.

Enough is enough, we will no longer allow people, media, outside this community to make inaccurate comments and portray an inaccurate picture of who we are and what we are about. It is most disturbing that this station's target audience is our youth, and these mean spirited comments and actions should not be tolerated and they should be held accountable. The time is now to stand up together and
fight for our community.

I urge everyone to contact the station, it's parent company, and it's advertisers, and tell them we will not tolerate their insensitive disparaging remarks. Their remarks and some of their program content crosses the line of decency. The email links below will provide with the information to begin this process. I would also urge residents to write to Tim Bishop and demand complaints to be filed with the FCC for WBLI's actions.

Thank you for your continued commitment to our community.

WBLI advertisers- http://wbli.com/common/lsp/last10ads.html

WBLI contact phone number- http://wbli.com/inside/contact_us.html

Cox Radio owner of WBLI contact- http://coxradio.com/contact/

Federal Communications Commission- http://www.fcc.gov/contacts.html

Robert J. Vecchio
President, William Floyd School Board"

Within a few short days, Randy decided to visit the Mastic Fire Department on March 3, 2008 to apologize to the community. Newsday, the local newpaper, reported Paul Breschard, the director of Pattersquash Creek Civic Association, pointed out the local zoning laws do not permit trailer home. Spears stated, "I have nothing against trailer parks; I lived in one." Randy will be returning to work but will anyone in the Mastic, Shirley, Moriches area be listening?

Another local radio station, WDRE at 105.3, has designated this Mastic Shirley Appreciation Month and gave listeners an opportunity to express their opinions on the air. Meanwhile, Ellis Henican of AM New York wrote an accurate article about the situation entitled, "WBLI's Joke Fails to Score in Mastic" found at http://www.amny.com/news/opinion/ny-nyhen025598607mar02,0,3441218.column.

Mark Smothergill, president of the Chamber of Commerce of The Mastics and Shirley, summed up Randy's apology accurately when he stated, "What happened today other than that his job is secure?"