Radio Rebuttal

Community radio stations have an obligation to give you airtime to rebut what you have heard.

How do you get a rebuttal aired?

You have to contact the radio station management and explain what you want to respond to and request airtime.You will want to put time and thought into preparing a well-researched and written reponse. You will also want to rehearse speaking it. You should read it out loud to friends with a stopwatch for feedback and timing. Make sure your presentation fits into the time the station allows you.

Radio Rebuttal Examples

Refuting The Rooster

"I heard 'The Rooster' on KCSB 91.9FM in Santa Barbara saying all kinds of racist things against immigrants and moslems so I decided to tackle the immigrant issue.

I contacted the radio station manager and asked him to schedule airtime for my rebuttal. I went on the web and did a lot of research and wrote a 4-page speech full of links comparing myths to reality. Then I read it on the air over the phone. The following week, 'The Rooster' went on the air during his regular program and said that I must not have written the speech and that it was written by some political group behind me. He said that I had not mentioned his name personally, which was due to what lawyers call an abundance of caution on my part because the station had asked me not to attack him personally.

I listened to him say this and I immediately called the station and asked the manager for time to set the record straight. The program following the rooster was DJd by a friend who agreed to give me five minutes of his airtime immediately after The Rooster's show in order to respond to his racist assumption that a person with a spanish accent cannot write something intelligent.

So I went on the air with The Rooster looking at me through the glass sitting in the next studio and I said, "I researched and wrote it myself. I was obviously reading it because it is a 4 page paper. I told him that I was very capable of writing eloquently in 3 languages (Spanish, English and French) and that I did not have the Democratic Party nor the Green Party nor the Cuban Communist Party behind me.

As far as not mentioning his name, I had no problem telling the world what a racist The Rooster is. I noticed he did not address a single point I made and just limited himself to attacking my character. Immigrants contribute far more to society than they take." And that was it."

—Luis Prat