Dirty air

The most popular KUTE show was shut down last week after the DJs hosting it vandalized the studio and violated several FCC regulations, including calling a sex hotline on air.

On Feb. 12, Alex Cook received a voicemail message on his phone from Steve Koecher, KUTE chief announcer.

Cook's show, "Behind the Blue Door," which he co-hosted with Ziv Abolnik, had been "cancelled for vandalization of studio (property) and improper use of time."

During the two-hour show slot, Cook and Abolnik called a sex hotline, which was later deleted from records by the U Police.

The DJs refused to name the hotline because they were afraid that Abolnik's "Rabbi was listening."

If the Federal Communications Commission had been monitoring the show that day, KUTE would have been fine more than $20,000, station manager Jaleh Afshar, said.

"Money we can't pay because we have no revenue," she said. "And something that hurts our image-which we're already struggling to bring back."

Abolnik, however, said their show was all about "pushing the limits," comparing it to Howard Stern.

The week before, the DJs had been given gift certificates for being the most listened-to show with a total of five listeners.

During the show, the DJ's also complained about Afshar, saying how much she "sucked at censoring the show" and repeatedly used profanities that are against FCC rules.

They also sexuality referenced Afshar, freshman in graphic design, several times, which is against the KUTE contract both DJs signed before their show began last October.

"It's fine that they were making fun of me," Afshar said. "I didn't have a problem with the sexuality issue, but it's the jokes they made against the other DJs that get to me."

Abolnik and Cook said they made fun of the Afshar because they thought "some 12-year-old with one semester's worth of experience should not be running the show."

Seventeen-year-old Afshar had been promoted from program director to station manager three weeks ago.

Both DJs said that if they someone from the staff had talked to them about their behavior, they would have stopped ranting about the other DJs. Afshnar, however, said that they had been given two prior warnings.

"I had no idea they had a problem," Abolnik said. "We loved doing the show and we loved to be immersed in music."

She said the other reason both DJs had been fired was because they "trashed" the 4th floor Union studio and vandalized several pieces of equipment.

Abolnick and Cook said they pinned copies of newspapers they used to read on air to the walls of the studio after complaints from Afshar to "clean them up."

Afshar, however, said the damage was worse-even mentioning a ripped up wall- and even filed a police report.

Although the DJs had their card access to the studio taken away, both were invited to reapply.

"I'm just really pissed off,"

Abolnik said.