Springs Action Alliance Denounces KKCS Suspensions over Dixie Chicks Music
Peace Activist Group Takes Action Against More Folly in Hometown Colorado Springs
(PRWEB) May 8, 2003
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – May 7, 2003 (PRWEB) – From the Washington Post to Billboard magazine, Colorado Springs once again makes the headlines nationally with yet more folly from small quarters. A local radio station, KKCS, suspended two of the station’s most prominent disc jockeys for playing the Dixie Chicks on the air. Outraged, a local organization, Springs Action Alliance (SAA), sprang into action to take the
Tarnish off this mountain townÂ’s lode.
Today, SAA launched a local campaign to have the DJs reinstated with no loss of pay and the Dixie ChicksÂ’ repertoire restored to the stationÂ’s playlist. They also insisted that the station manager issue an on-air apology to the DJs and to Colorado Springs. SAA is targeting the stationÂ’s advertisers with a boycott, as well as blitzing the station itself with email, phone calls, and hand-delivered letters. The AP has reported that most of the stationÂ’s callers actually want to hear the station play the Dixie Chicks.
“It is not terrorism to voice your opinion,” says SAA organizer, Criz Stoddard, “The Dixie Chicks voiced their opinion, and dissent is what democracy at times looks like. We already believed it to be an egregious error on the part of radio stations to ban the Dixie Chicks. However, suspending the DJs that spin the records is a farce. This censorship is home-grown terrorism. Now we are scared just to play music? Well, Goodbye, Earl.”
“Colorado Springs as a whole is not the bastion of lunacy that you read about in the national media,” continues Ms. Stoddard, “SAA will make every effort to rectify this mess.” Ms. Stoddard was referring to the national press coverage that the city of Colorado Springs has received in 2003. On February 15, an established international day of protest, Colorado Springs was one of only two cities in the world (the other being Athens, Greece) whose police force used tear gas against peace rally participants. Most recently, the Springs’ newly elected City Council repealed health benefits for the same-sex partners of city workers, paying no heed to the majority of people in attendance at the council meeting who were in favor of retaining the benefits. These events both received press coverage nationwide.
About Springs Action Alliance
On Saturday, May 3, 2003, SAA was officially founded by former members of the Southern Colorado Coalition Against the War in Iraq (SCCAWI); SAAÂ’s membership has a long history of populist activism toward the greater common good. SAAÂ’s focus is to end the US occupation of Iraq, prevent other "preemptive wars" by the current administration, and to also address civil
Rights issues such as the validity of Patriot Acts I & II. SAAÂ’s website is located at http://www. csaction. org (http://www. csaction. org).
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