The host of a talk radio program says a Utah station’s abrupt decision to cancel his show after he invited Hurricane Katrina evacuees to his Salt Lake City speaking engagement smacks of bigotry.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, a national talk show host, author and columnist, said KUTR-AM 820 yanked his show after Friday’s broadcast, during which he invited displaced New Orleans residents staying at Camp Williams — most of whom are black — to his Sept. 14 Salt Lake City speaking engagement. The daily three-hour afternoon program on KUTR, a station geared toward Utah women, had aired for the past five months from the ordained Jewish rabbi’s New Jersey home.

Rod Arquette, news and programming vice president of the Salt Lake Radio Group — part of Bonneville International, denied Boteach’s allegations of prejudice. He said the rabbi’s outreach to hurricane survivors during Friday’s show and invitation to them to his speaking event wasn’t related to the program’s cancellation.

Boteach said the cancellation of his show and the speaking event made it appear as if the station and its owner were turning their backs on not only him, but the evacuees in Utah, who still have many needs.

During Friday’s show, Boteach said the program’s phones rang off the hook with calls from Utahns who wanted to help evacuees, although one caller made derogatory remarks about black people. Because of the calls from people who wanted to help, Boteach said he decided to make his already-scheduled Salt Lake City event a meet-and-greet for Utahns and New Orleans residents living at Camp Williams.

Boteach said Arquette specifically cited his on-air improvisation last week as the reason for his program’s untimely demise.

“They said I had no right to organize the event on Wednesday without their permission,” he said, even though Bonneville International had already invited Boteach out to speak Sept. 14 on the company’s dime.

Arquette said that what was Boteach’s last broadcast on KUTR was “definitely not” the impetus for the show’s cancellation. He said Boteach’s on-air alteration of his planned meet-and-great with KUTR listeners “had nothing to do” with his decision to discontinue the rabbi’s program.

“What we’re trying to do (at KUTR) in our approach to talk radio is to be conversational rather than confrontational,” he said, citing spirited political talk radio programs like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. “We just felt that Shmuley had been with us from the start … we didn’t think it was going to fit.

“He’s a great guy, a very compelling talk show host, and we wish him well,” Arquette said.

Boteach gave the Daily Herald a copy of an e-mail from Arquette dated Aug. 30, which included a copy of proposed contract renewal of the rabbi’s KUTR contract.

“Shmuley is an important talent for the radio station and we hope to make this a win/win for both Shmuley and KUTR-AM 820,” Arquette wrote in the e-mail.

“All of that’s true,” Arquette said Monday. “It was part on an ongoing thing. We tried to make this work as best we could, (but) enough had built up that we said, ‘Enough is enough.’ We looked at his approach to the show and said ‘This is not going to work.’ “

Boteach called Friday’s show “our best ever,” and he said he feels stunned and betrayed by what he calls Bonneville International’s reaction to his appeal to evacuees and listeners.

“They were paying for me to fly out because of the strength of the show,” he said. “But in the blink of an eye I tried to help my listeners help the evacuees and the show was canceled.”

During Friday’s show, Boteach said a disaster survivor speculated that perhaps Utah communities feared evacuees coming into their neighborhoods. Boteach said he asked the man if he’d like to stay in Utah, and the man responded in the affirmative and said “but howfi”

“Suddenly the phones rang off the hook with callers who wanted to help, to put the evacuees up in their homes, give them tickets to Saturday’s BYU football game,” Boteach said. “I said ‘Forget me, forget my speaking event, we’re changing it. We’ll bring evacuees from Camp Williams to meet all you beautiful people in Utah.’ It was just an outpouring of love.”

And while Boteach acknowledges his decision to invite the evacuees might have caused a stir, he felt compelled to find a way to help hurricane survivors in Utah.

“I knew when I decided to help the people relocate permanently, there might be a lot of pressure on the station. I know when blacks move into white neighborhoods, the whites move out,” he said. But “we are equally God’s children. I’m a rabbi and I’m a flawed man, but I live by that dictum. This is something I really believe.”

Boteach, who also has a television program called “Shalom in the Home” on The Learning Channel, said his KUTR program wasn’t about money, but about reaching out and uplifting Utahns of all backgrounds and faiths in the context of relationships, religion and current events.

The rabbi’s strong following for his Utah radio show came about, Boteach supporters and friends Annie Ballard and Heidi Parish of Orem said, because Boteach embraced not only listeners who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but Utahns of all faiths and backgrounds in an intelligent and humorous format. Ballard is a research assistant for Boteach on an upcoming book.

“It was very intriguing to hear a Jewish rabbi say the same things that I believed,” said Ballard, a convert to the LDS Church. “He’s full of energy and compassion about everything.”

Parish said Boteach gives her hope.

“He’s like a cheerleader for the American housewife,” she said. “So many housewives feel they’re not doing an important thing. His goal is to save the American marriage.”

Ballard is hopeful that with the success of Wednesday’s event and continued support from Utah listeners that Boteach’s program will be picked up by another Salt Lake radio station.

“I’m not going to lie to you,” Boteach said of the loss of his radio program on KUTR. “I’m going to miss it greatly.”

On with the show

Despite his firing Friday, New Jersey-based Rabbi Shmuley Boteach said Wednesday’s event will proceed as scheduled. Volunteer organizers booked the Marriott Downtown Hotel at 75 S. West Temple in Salt Lake City for Wednesday’s 7 p.m. event. They’re also arranging car pools for hurricane evacuees and their families to attend as special guests. Tickets are $15 per couple, $10 per person; admission is free for Hurricane Katrina evacuees. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson have also been invited to attend.

Annie Ballard of Orem, a research assistant for Boteach on an upcoming book, and her friend, Heidi Parish, also of Orem, volunteered to help Wednesday’s event happen. She said it’s Boteach’s hope that Utahns will come prepared to help the evacuees not just monetarily, but to donate their service and help them secure employment.

“We want them to feel loved and welcome,” Ballard said.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.

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