Nextel chills radio station into disciplining disgruntled customer (and show host)

[Tim Meehan]

Pubdate: Thu, 18 Dec 2003
Source: City Paper (PA)
Copyright: 2003 CP Communications, Inc.
Contact: editorial at citypaper.net
Website: http://www.citypaper.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/88
Author: Morris Bracy
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Forchion

THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY

The first time self-described marijuana-legalization spokesperson
Patrick Duff smoked weed, he was an 11-year-old kid in Delran, N.J. "I
was a very adventurous young man," says Duff, who, when he didn't get
high that first time, wondered what all the hype was about.

He couldn't have known that he and Mary Jane would have such an
enduring, committed relationship.

Sixteen years later, Duff found himself hosting Open Minds, an
hourlong weekly program on New World Radio 1540 AM. For an eight-week,
buy-your-own-airtime stint that began in October, Duff -- along with a
ganja-themed local hip-hop act, Herbillest -- provided a local forum
for legalization activists to state their case to Philadelphians.

Unlike other shows with similar themes, Duff says that he "wasn't
going to go on there and be irate and get real crazy about the
situation, [but] actually find people who could solve the problem."
Past guests include Cannabis Hall of Fame inductee and author of The
Emperor Wears No Clothes Jack Herer, Vancouver's "Prince of Pot," Marc
Emery, and our very own "NJ Weedman," Ed Forchion.

Duff just couldn't keep the topic on weed the whole time, though, and
took on cell phone giant Nextel Communications when his i90 cell gave
out. He says he trusted that his $4.95-a-month manufacturer's
insurance policy, along with a $35 deductible, would guarantee a new
replacement. But as he went through three replacements in six months,
he read the fine print and found that Nextel reserved the right to
replace broken phones with "refurbished" ones.

Duff, who felt like he was getting hustled, demanded the company tell
consumers new phones weren't an option and that all phones were used.
He then challenged a Nextel rep to defend the company's policies on
the air. Nextel responded by calling his station and apparently
convincing the general manager to do some in-house censorship. In a
letter from the station, Duff was threatened with being "immediately
canceled" should he "even breathe the name Nextel."

Chris Doherty, Nextel's senior director of public affairs, admits they
called but says they didn't threaten the station with a libel suit.
According to Doherty, the company's main concern was preventing an
irate Duff from publicly making slanderous comments. Doherty claims
that during a phone exchange, Duff drew a parallel between Nextel's
actions and the Columbine massacre. He feared similar comments might
be expressed on the airwaves. New World GM Sam Speiser had no comment.

Though his show's off the air, Duff is considering buying more New
World time slots. Duff's next move will be his most ambitious yet --
assuming it works. To celebrate the end of the NJ Weedman's
drug-possession parole, he's helping the local counterculture
celebrity organize a smokeout at the Liberty Bell.

Originally scheduled for Dec. 6 -- it was canceled due to snow -- the
smokeout is slated to be held this Saturday. Unlike past smokeouts,
where everyone quits smoking cigarettes, this will be more of a
"smoke-in," where everyone present will celebrate "with the sacrament
of marijuana," Duff says.

The rally is slated to begin at 3 p.m. and last until 5 p.m., with the
"sacrament" to be lit at precisely 4:20 p.m. (Wink, wink, nudge,
nudge.) According to Duff, invitations went out to Woody Harrelson,
Ashton Kutcher, Al Gore and Bill Clinton.

"People aren't going to be able to stop us. There's going to be
hundreds and hundreds of us," says Duff, who's confident that the
event will be an unprecedented success despite ramped-up security
around national monuments since the 9/11 attacks. Holding the event on
federal property is by design, since participants -- arrested
participants, hypothetically -- could seek protection from prosecution
under religious-freedom claims. (Forchion, who got pinched with 40
pounds, is a Rastafarian who says court rulings have defended his
right to smoke weed during religious rituals.) The location also keeps
the Philadelphia Police Department out of the mix, as Independence
Mall lies under the National Park Service's purview.

As of earlier this week, Park Service spokesperson Phil Sheridan said
he hadn't heard about the planned protest, so no responses were available.

"There are areas designated for exercising your First Amendment
rights," says Sheridan, "but you cannot break the law [to do so]."