Mormon Owned Station Dumps Hannity

Sean Hannity’s talk show has been dropped by a Salt Lake City radio station owned by the Mormon Church for being out of line with the company’s mission statement.

Sean Hannity’s talk show has been dropped by a Salt Lake City radio station owned by the Mormon Church for being out of line with the company’s mission statement.

While the station asserts that the move was made to make room for more local programming, the Salt Lake Tribune’s Glen Warchol reports that Hannity’s show apparently ran counter to the LDS-owned KSL radio’s new mission statement, which includes articles such as:

• I honor principles espoused by our owner in the products and services I provide.
• I promote integrity, civility, morality, and respect for all people.
• I seek to lift, inspire, and help others find enduring happiness.

Warchol speculates that the controversial nature of Hannity’s show made it incompatible with these values, pointing to things that Hannity has said on his show, like: “I'll tell you who should be tortured and killed at Guantanamo - every filthy Democrat in the U.S. Congress.”

The Mormon Church’s aversion to Hannity’s show may be a critique of the talk radio medium itself. Last year, Michael Harrison, editor of Talkers Magazine, told FrumForum that “news talk radio has traditionally been a street medium… [that employs] the language and emotions and attitudes that one would hear on the street, by the fence, in the schoolyard.” The medium of the street may have proved too unsettling for those more comfortable with church mediums.

Reaction on KSL’s website has been mixed, with the balance tipped towards those who support dropping Hannity’s show.

“I consider myself a conservative republican, yet I don't enjoy listening to his show and have lately, simply tuned out,” says one commenter. On the other hand, loyal listeners lamented the move. “I will take KSL off my dial without Sean. He speaks truth and facts,” said a Hannity supporter.

Despite the ongoing controversy, Hannity’s show has been doing well – and all by indicators, was profitable in the Salt Lake City media market. The decision by Mormon-owned Deseret Media to drop Hannity was, by all indications, a choice that ruled principle over profit – a move that Michael Harrison describes as being a “very, very seldom” occurrence in the talk radio industry.