Sept. 21, 2001 – If the local radio talk show "Opening Doors" returns to the V.I. airwaves, it apparently won't be on WVWI/Radio One.
Management at the station abruptly yanked the program after the broadcast last Friday, in which the host and several callers expressed what some listeners took to be anti-American sentiments.
Randolph H. Knight, president of Knight Quality Stations, of which WVWI is one, has been terse in his public comments about the decision, but on Friday he indicated he is sticking by it. He confirmed that he has a tentative meeting set with the former host, but added, "Iris Kern will not be on my station again."
"I don't know what I said that was so incredibly offensive," Kern, a mental-health counselor and executive director of The Safety Zone on St. John, said Thursday night. But she added that she had allowed some callers to criticize the United States after last week's terrorist attacks on the mainland. "I don't think that was very well received," she said.
In recent broadcasts she also had questioned the decision of the United States to pull out of the World Conference against Racism held the first week of September in Durban, South Africa, which she attended. She said Thursday that she had been surprised by the widespread anti-American sentiments expressed at the conference.
Knight is calling his action a "programming change." He told the Source, "I wanted more of a variety show."
June Archibald, a veteran publicist and host of WVWI's weekend "Saturday Basket" show, is now hosting the "Morning Mix" in Kern's old time slot of 7:30 to 9 a.m., Monday through Friday.
"Opening Doors," created after longtime morning show host Anita Davis relocated to the mainland, would have had its second anniversary next month. "Closing doors is a little more appropriate," Kern said. She added that she is "not going shopping" for another station to host the program. "If somebody offers me something, I'll think about it."
