Station Drops Senator’s Radio Show

State Sen. Mel Richardson’s controversial radio talk show is off the air.

Trish Oak, co-host of a cooking show, said Wednesday she has been asked by KID-AM management to take over the time slot normally devoted to Richardson’s show, “Probing the West.”

Oak said the new show will be devoted to political issues.

Richardson is running for a third term in the Idaho Senate this fall. His radio show has come under attack by his opponents, Democrat Roseann Steen and Libertarian John Redd. They claim that he is promoting radical ideas and attacks on President Clinton, which could lead to violence.

Among those ideas is Richardson’s contention that White House Counsel Vince Foster, whose death was ruled suicide, was actually murdered. He also claims that there was some sort of plot to kill Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and others in Bosnia, and there was no storm that caused the air crash, as was widely reported.

KID general manager Mike Hudson said the cancellation is the result of Richardson’s failure to run satellite broadcasted market reports, something the station is contractually obliged to do.

He said the controversial content did not drive the decision, but was “a concern.”