RADIO page 3 But their show has never de- generated into anti-Semitism, Jeff Kassouf insisted: "There are some people who will call it racist no matter what we say. That's their position, and they're not going to move from it. And yet, there are oth- ers who feel it is solely within the boundaries of civilized po- litical discourse. You need to look at the politics of the people making the charges. "It's quite clear to us that the Jewish community is not a monolithic community, even on issues of Israel. I assure you that I am against racism in all its forms, and that is the reason for the show." Cliff Savren, the head of Cleveland's ADL, said the Jew- ish community in Detroit can de- cide for itself whether the show is tinged with anti-Semitism. But he believes it has crossed the line from rational political discourse to hateful bigotry. "They have vilified Jews in Is- rael and nationally in the Unit- ed States and locally in Cleveland, and they appeal to the worst kinds of religious al- legiances in calling the Israeli government the Antichrist and raising the specter that the `Jew- ish-controlled' Disney corpora- tion was out to subvert American values," he said. "These are all things that I think merit the concern of the Jewish community." From a 5,000-watt station to a 50,000-watt station and 16 states. It's true that Mr. Savren re- fused an invitation to be a guest on "Straight Talk," but that was after he attempted a one-on-one conversation with Jim Kassouf, the original host of the show, __Mr_Savren said. "It became apparent to me in the beginning that there was no common language," he said. "Over lunch, he engaged in ac- cusations of Jewish conspiracies in Cleveland to persecute Arab- Americans, and similar rhetoric surfaced on the air. He engaged in such inflammatory rhetoric, I didn't feel it justified respond- ing on the air." But the Kassoufs' first show on CKLW was not quite as vir- ulent, said both Mr. Savren and Don Cohen, Detroit's new ADL director. "I thought it was within the bounds of reasonable dis- course," Mr. Cohen said. "It was a critical analysis-of-fsrael and American foreign policy. It had many gaps and inaccura- cies, but it was within the bounds of reasonable discourse. They didn't talk about Jews as they have a number of times in Cleveland." "Straight Talk," like the shows before and after it, is "bro- kered," which means the hosts pay for the air time. Jeff Kassouf said it is expensive — "more than some people's paycheck the whole week" — but, "it's a cost that we feel is needed." A salesperson for CKLW and its affiliated stations said the cost of brokered shows between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Sundays ranges from $240 to $300 per hour. Mr. Kassouf noted that De- troit has the largest concentra- tion in the United States of Arab-Americans, a plus for the show. The Kassoufs will host "Straight Talk" from Cleveland, sending it via 'digital phone line to CKLW. Jeff Kassouf is a producer of corporate media. His brother James is a real-estate broker. The following is part of a tran- script for the Sept. 26 edition of the show, during which the Kas- soufs explained why "Straight Talk" hadn't aired on WERE the previous two weeks: Jeff Kassouf: "There's an or- ganization called the ADL, the Anti-Defamation League of the B'nai B'rith, and as you know, we've spoken about them in the past. This is an organization that, under the guise of an or- ganization that claims to sup- port Jewish civil rights and Jewish human rights, they use this organization as a front to basically quash any dissent or any critical words in America against the Zionist State of Is- rael and the ADL was responsi- ble for lobbying this station, WERE, and for spewing all sorts of hate ..." Jim Kassouf: "... we do not, in any way, shape or form, go into any type of Jew-bashing, but we are not afraid to bring up issues that are against Israel, issues [such-as]-when Jewish-Ameri- cans discriminated against us because of our views on Israel or because of our ethnic back- ground ..." Mr. Cosford said he's received four to five calls a week since "Straight Talk" began airing, mostly from Jewish newspapers and the Cleveland Anti-Defama- tion League. Last week, he said, he re- ceived a call from a listener who was concerned that a contrary point of view would not be al- lowed on the show. 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