Dicky Barrett and Indie 103.1 in public dispute

Mighty Mighty Bosstones frontman Dicky Barrett was recently fired from his morning show on Los Angeles radio station Indie 103.1. This circumstances surrounding the demise of the show have given rise to a war of words between Barrett and station general manager Dawn Girocco. The statements, recently distributed via Barrett's publicist, can be found below.

The station also includes shows hosted by Joe Sib, Henry Rollins, Kung Fu/Vandals' Joe Escalante and Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols.
you can click Read More for the exchanges between Barrett and the station.

According to Barrett:

"The station was built to fuck with KROQ (Infinity) by people from KISS-FM (Clear Channel) it was just supposed to be a short lived pain in the ass that that took away a few ratings points, and talked some shit about KROQ - Inadvertently (and you can credit Steve Jones and the other celebrity DJ's) it became good, and got a lot of national attention, and credible press ''the coolest station in America'' rolling stone etc. - At that point the FCC said Clear Channel who operated Indie 103.1 out of the Entravision offices could no longer do so - All business ties on paper we're severed - It became a full Entravision property - But the hard right leaning Clear Channel program director and station manager (along with a lot of the behind the scenes technical employees) were already firmly in place - It is in Clear Channel's best interest that Indie 103.1 exist - the PD, Michael Steele (who brags about ''breaking Britney Spears'') and the station manager, Dawn Girocco (a long time radio sales women) are believing their own hype and considering themselves radio geniuses who masterminded the Indie 103.1 phenomenon, so it's now time to implicate their superior ''radio wisdom'' and conventional ''radio strategy''

#1) Morning shows need to be musically formatted and the music needs to be heavily rotated - #2) All guests must be approved by Michael Steele (Dawn Girocco really, she's Dick Cheney, Steele's George Bush) ''no guests to controversial soccer moms are listening in the a.m.'' - There were other things that were more annoying, then actually detrimental to the show ''say the time, and call letters till your blue in the face'' - I reluctantly, and unhappily against my better judgment went along with all this for about two weeks, hoping they would come to their senses - During this time they brought in a longtime radio guru, to consult (he also worked at one point for Clear Channel) - His assessment was the show was ''really good'' and I was a ''legitimate talent and a potential radio star'' - Not the information these people wanted me to have - When I made an on air remark about not liking the new overplayed Morrissey track I was marched into the President of Entravisions office (Jeff Lieberman, a fan of Mighty Morning show) - In front of me, Jeff told Dawn he was not prepared to ''strip Dicky of his opinion'' she was obviously and visibly embarrassed - Then he asked her if she gave me the book about morning radio that he gave her to give to me ''no, it's at home'' she said, ''why the hell, is it there'' he asked, she looked humiliated - This was the beginning of the end for me, and the writing was most likely on the wall - Two weeks after that I had a substantial, unauthorized, pro-choice conversation on the air with a South Dakota disc jockey and a few callers, the straw that broke the camels back - This is not the direction supporters of the current administration want the station going in.
- I was fired that day
-I loved doing the show and loved the people who loved it

Thank you,
Dicky

Indie 103.1 station general manager Dawn Girocco was quoted by HITS Magazine's website:

"We have been working with Dicky for the past five months trying to get the show to the next level.. We invested a lot into not only the show, but in promoting and coaching him. Unfortunately it takes a lot of work to build and grow a morning show as well as develop interesting, compelling content. This was not Dicky's priority, as he had other commitments with Jimmy Kimmel Live, which was, in his words, 'his bread and butter.' Everyone at Indie has a tremendous commitment to the station and to the audience. We need to have a morning show that is able to make Indie their #1 priority"

To which Dicky responded:

Jimmy Kimmel is a great guy who supported the Mighty Morning Show, and loved it, even though he helped to build the Kevin and Bean Show on KROQ and is the Producer of the Adam Carolla Morning Radio Show.

The man hired to ''coach'' me "trying to get the show to the next level'' Dan Kieley said "Dicky is a true talent and a radio star'' and ''it's a great Morning Show''
I was fired for being unwilling to be, in Dawn Girocco's words ''more mainstream'' It was a great morning show. It is unfair to let people think I walked away to put more work into loudly reading twenty to thirty words a night on Jimmy's T.V. show. I worked hard on the Mighty Morning Show. I along with Stacey, Chuck, and Liz, built and grew it to what it was. You could count on it (for the most part) to provide you with interesting, compelling content and better music then any other show on the air in the morning.