Sports Radio 1140 KHTK in Sacramento took midday host Damien Barling off the air after he made critical remarks about Kings general manager Vlade Divac during Tuesday’s show. The station allowed Barling’s on-air partners, Jason Ross and Ken Rudulph, to explain the situation Wednesday at noon, before airing a nationally syndicated talk show in place of the station’s regular program “The Lo-Down”.
“We respect the right of all of our on-air hosts and employees to voice their professional opinions on a range of topics,” KHTK program director Kevin Sherrets told the Sacramento Bee. “However, we do not condone malicious personal attacks on or from anyone. Comments of that nature do not reflect the views or sportsmanlike conduct of this station.”
The comments which caused a stir were made after Divac held a press conference on Monday to address the trade of polarizing superstar DeMarcus Cousins. The Kings GM acknowledged having a better offer on the table prior to choosing to ship Cousins and Omri Casspi to the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday for Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway and two future draft picks.
Here’s the transcript of what was said on the air.
Barling: That was embarrassing. That was absolutely embarrassing.
Ross: In what way?
Barling: In every single way imaginable. That dude is not fit to be the general manager of a basketball team. This is real life. You just heard a general manager say publicly at a press conference, ‘We had a better deal two days ago.’ You moron! You can’t say that!
Ross: It was getting worse.
Barling: Are you serious? I don’t even know what to say. If you’re a Kings fan, you should absolutely be embarrassed by that. That was awful. That was absolutely awful. You cannot do that. You can’t do that. Awful. That’s awful, dude. Absolutely incredible.
Jason Barrett is the President and Founder of Barrett Media since the company was created in September 2015. Prior to its arrival, JB served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He also spent time programming SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY. Jason also worked on-air and behind the scenes in local radio at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years on the national stage, producing radio shows for ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT. Among them included the Dan Patrick Show, and GameNight.
You can find JB on Twitter @SportsRadioPD. He’s also reachable by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
