Portland radio station may cancel Rather spot

Managers at a Portland radio station have voiced concern over Dan Rather’s “60 Minutes” piece questioning President Bush’s service in the National Guard and are considering dropping Rather from the station’s lineup.

“It’s something that concerns us, so we spoke to the network on behalf of our listeners,” said Cary Pahigian, general manager at WGAN. “We are very sensitive about the quality of the news product we put out.”

Pahigian, who is president of WGAN’s parent Portland Radio Group, said the station had received about two dozen calls about Rather from listeners.

In its report, CBS cited documents purported to be from one of Bush’s commanders in the Texas Air National Guard. The documents say the commander, Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, ordered Bush to take a medical exam, which he did not, and felt pressured to sugarcoat an evaluation of then 1st Lt. Bush.

Pahigian said WGAN likely will not carry Rather’s daily radio news segment because of the calls and “potential mistakes” made during the report.

Instead of airing Rather’s spots, the station is considering broadcasting national news from other affiliated networks, CNN and NBC, Pahigian said.

Pahigian also said he has talked to CBS network officials to explain how concerned he and WGAN listeners are about Rather’s story.

The station on Tuesday began airing a spot stating the station’s position on Rather.

“We are monitoring the situation closely. The CBS radio and television divisions are almost entirely separate, but, like you, we want to be sure that the news reported on WGAN is as accurate and balanced as possible,” the spot reads.

WGAN, which is the only CBS radio news affiliate in the Portland area, will broadcast the spots for several days, Pahigian said.

Another station, KPRC in Houston, Texas, announced Monday it was dropping Rather from its daily lineup of national programming.