ustxtxb_obs_1996_11_08_50_00013-00000_000.pdf

A LBJ is sworn in as President following the assassination of John Kennedy Courtesy of LBJ Library he was “appalled” at what James had said, but when asked if he intended to broadcast any explanation, retraction, or public apology, he answered, “Not at this time.” The show was “supposed to be fun,” he added, and “mean spirits are bad for ratings.” \(Calls to James and her producer, Ron Flatter, “The statute is rather unforgiving,” said Secret Service Agent Shawn Campbell, “and you don’t have to prove that somebody intended to carry [the threat] outthat they had the capability to do it, or the means. If a threat has been uttered, that’s the violation.” “In general, we look for evidence that there is a direct threat,” U.S. Attorney Ron Sievert said. “That can be a violation of the law….It’s important to understand that the law does not require, when a threat is made, that a person necessarily intends to carry out the threat. And the reason for that is, that the Secret Service has to react when they are advised of threats. They have to expend manpower and resources to make sure that it’s not a genuine threat.” Sievert said that he had advised the station’s management of the law, and that “it’s illegal to counsel, induce, or command a crime as well as to commit the crime itself….” Initially, Crusham had said the broadcast had been taped by Rollye James. Later, he said the tape might no longer exist. After several days of reporter’s inquiries and more than one conversation with the Secret Service, the station finally turned the tape over to the federal authorities. While the station waited uneasily for the other shoe to drop at the federal courthouse, James was mysteriously missing-in-action. On Monday, October 21, she signed on an hour late, telling listeners she had overslept. \(“She wasn’t late,” NOVEMBER 8, 1996 said Crusham later. “She was in a meeting her producer, who told her audience, “Rollye is under the weather.” Each day he promised her return. She never quite made it, and late Friday, October 25, the station’s management announced that the show had been canceled. Shortly thereafter, Shawn Campbell of the Secret Service announced that she and Sievert had reviewed the tape, and decided against prosecution. /n the wake of the Austin broadcasters’ double disgrace, it’s worth remembering that right-wing propagandists like Pryor and Jameswho now dominate the AM dial across the country, where they denounce in national chorus the “liberal” mediaare exploiting and profiting from a limited public resource, licensed to private corporations at scandalously cheap rates by the very “socialist” government they say they deplore. As to those call-letters: KLBJ Radio is owned by the LBJ Holding Company, whose Chairman of the Board is Luci Baines Johnsondaughter of Lyndon Baines Johnson, who assumed the presidency in November of 1963 following the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Asked to comment on the matter, Johnson, who apparently was initially told by her employees that no tape of the show was available, released the following statement: “I did not hear this particular show….If what you say happened, did occur, my reaction is one of revulsion that anyone would say such a thing on any show [on any radio station], much less mine.” Anyone who has seen the 1963 photograph of Lyndon Baines Johnson as he was sworn in as President on Air Force One, will understand why Luci Baines Johnson responded as she did. THE TEXAS OBSERVER 13