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KVEC producer getting kicked for soccer comments

May 31, 2015

KVEC 2By KAREN VELIE

Comments made on a local radio talk show Thursday night have turned into a public chastising of producer and on-air sidekick Craig Hill. The incident took place during the 6 o’clock hour of “The Dave Congalton Show” on KVEC 920 AM, which features an “open-line” discussion between Congalton and Hill on current events.

The rebuke began after Congalton asked Hill his opinion of the growing international soccer controversy. according to the podcast.

Hill, hired in April to replace Joe Bowman, then went on a verbal rampage against the game of soccer that angered multiple callers to the show.  Hill repeatedly said he thought the invention of soccer was worse than World War II.

“Soccer, worst thing ever,” Hill said. “World War II and the Nazis, second. There is a direct correlation between the rise of crime and the rise of soccer.”

After multiple listeners told Hill they were repulsed by his comments, he said it was a joke, but then refused to apologize when Congalton asked him to.

After several more negative comments, Hill finally said he was sorry before noting his comments would have been fine on “an NBC sitcom.” Congalton then pointed out that Hill was following each apology up with an excuse.

“Stop, stop, stop right there. You are making excuses for it,” Congalton said.

Congalton declined to comment about the incident on Sunday and referred all queries to KVEC program director Andrew Cannon.

However, Barbara Bolton of Santa Margarita posted this statement on Congalton’s Facebook page:

“I really enjoy listening to your show on my commute home and have done so for years (through Tom, Mardi and Joe). I listen for the traffic reports and the local information I get. I have not fully embraced Craig but have been giving him a chance to get with the program and settle in. Tonight was the last straw. I think I have to turn back to KCBX for the commute home. His comments regarding soccer and Nazi’s was too over the top, and then would not even back down or apologize for what he said. You were right, he just doesn’t get it. It is not a joke. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but my opinion of him is not so good…he is just too annoying to listen to.”

Hill was not on the show Friday and there has been no announcement as to when he might return. Hill previously worked for local FM radio stations in the American General Media group.


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I like Craig Hill. I didn’t particularly like him droning on about how stupid soccer is or him comparing it to Nazis. It should have been dropped then and there. Should he have been made to apologize? In my opinion, no and if the listeners didn’t like it, fine, change the channel. Old habits die hard so I doubt very much that KVEC will lose any advertising dollars. At least he adds some controversy and color to the station. How boring it would be if everyone in town was a liberal vegan. YUK!


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Craig: stick to bashing local pols and Diablo. What you hopefully have learned is that we are tolerant of people’s opinions as long as they agree with ours.


People: let it go. Craig has been flogged, give him a chance to fit in.


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I do not believe the real issue, nor the solution, is about soccer and the Nazis.


The real issue is what real role does the ‘producer’ play on The Dave Congalton Show.


Somewhere along the way the practice of the ‘producer’ coming from one room into another at 6PM and instantly becoming a radio personality and cohost to Dave Congalton.


No offense to Craig Hill, or any of his predecessors, but the primary job responsibility is to ‘produce’ the show by performing technical duties related to radio broadcasting.


I believe Mr.Congalton started the practice by getting too close to his producers and then being a nice guy and letting them on the air.


The only people that should be on the air are Dave Congalton and his listening hometown audience.


I LISTEN TO “THE DAVE CONGALTON SHOW” TO LISTEN TO DAVE CONGALTON!


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I agree with Harry. Where do you EVER see or hear the PRODUCER of a radio or television show becoming part of the show. No where never!


The job of producer job must be pretty easy if they have to spend the first 3 hours producing the show and can still “produce” the show AND spend that last hour on air also.


Dave is not, and never will be, a ‘shock jock’. But Craig Hill, who is not and never will be, fancies himself as the ‘talent’.


Let the producer produce and let Dave Congaglton be the SHOW!


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In a “small-town” radio talkshow, I think it is possible for a producer to be a part of the show. It has worked in the past with Congalton and serves a purpose in avoiding “dead air” when the listener calls aren’t coming in. I doubt that KVEC has the funding to hire a true co-host — even for just the last hour of the show.


The problem is that not all producers have the ability to make that work — especially if they aren’t in synch with the hosts’ style like Mr. Hill.


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or if they are no in synch with the hosts political views.

Look Joe called himself a Conservative, but did you EVER hear him say anything Conservative? Nope…he knew what town he was in and that Dave is a Liberal. nothing wrong with Dave being a liberal…it is just a fact of life. So Joe wisely laid LOW….Craig Hill on the other hand….throws out sterotypical “right wing radical talking points” just to get a little rise out of Dave and the Audience. Well he got the Rise all right…and people can’t take hearing things they don’t agree with….surprise that.


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I heard the show on Thursday and wish Karen Velie had posted more of the comments from the full hour. If you hear the entire discussion, Craig Hill comes off as bombastic, belligerent, and just plain obnoxious. It’s not a simple throwaway joke. The guy goes on and on and on about soccer and Nazis and refusing to apologize. He just kept digging himself deeper and deeper. I’m not particularly crazy about soccer myself, but Hill became unhinged. I was yelling at the radio.


He has that habit these last few weeks, and like the woman from Santa Margarita, I’ve been trying to warm to the guy, but I find myself tuning out early. Congalton and Joe Bowman were a great team and Hill may be struggling to find himself. It will be interesting to see who is on the show Monday, but I’m hoping Hill is gone.


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So it’s a sign that Craig Hill is unhinged to make a Joke, but it’s no “unhinged” to yell at the Radio? Uh…..hello…


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Mr. Hill is supposedly a professional broadcaster at a radio station with high standards. I, on the other hand, am just a listener reacting to the garbage spilling out of my radio. There is a vast difference.


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Point Made and obviously missed, but I would have thought the Cal Poly required tolerance seminars would have made it more clear.


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Why O why didn’t he say Soccer is more boring than watching paint dry?


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Now that would have been a valid opinion. He may well have been using hyperbole as a form of humor in his comments but he had a poor choice of words. That would have still been forgivable if he had the intelligence to recognize it and apologize without giving excuses.


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so now he must be fired right…..you guys are more sick than Mr Hill with your intolerance.


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It may not have been a very funny joke but a joke nonetheless. He should not have to apologize. Particularly considering bicyclists are worse than Nazis ever were.


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GASP! Clutch-the-pearls!


The open-minded progressives in this town will tolerate that about as much as… well, anything they don’t like!


Good thing you didn’t mentioning harming an animal, they’d have flat-out shown up with torches and pitchforks!


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I say we fire him!

Stop him from earning a living and feeding his family because he made a poor taste joke!


That’s it….lets run him out of Los Osos and give him a $120,000 severance package….uh,,,,,opps…that’s only for Government Employees!


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I felt soccer was completely boring too until I heard Henry Kissinger point out that an incredible amount of talent rests on each player in order to keep control of the ball well and play pretty much continuously for two 45 minute periods. Now that’s tough compared to our American football, which allows players to regroup after every play and think things over! Then there’s the God-awful play reviews we have to contend with anymore while we’re taken to yet ANOTHER TV commercial. It’s sickening.


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I highly respect the skills and talents of soccer players but that doesn’t translate into an exciting sport for me. (The same applies to almost every form of racing and baseball as well.) As for football and basketball, the intensity of the moment in them make them more appealing to watch and the frequency of those moments in basketball makes it the most appealing. However the frequency of the commercials run to pay for this entertainment has reached the point of diminishing returns. I pretty much tune out regular season sports programming due to my intolerance for annoyingly repetitive ads that insult my intelligence.


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Saying soccer is worse than the holocaust is hardly a joke. And then demonstrating the extent of his stupidity by refusing to take on air correction is way beyond. To chalk this up to PC lumps you both together.


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Meant to fall under abigchocoholics reply.


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Was the “holocaust” mentioned?


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No….see how 1/2 truths go…..


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The article said he said soccer was worse than WWII, right? I don’t think it mentioned anything about the holocaust let alone down playing the horror of the holocaust.


What a sport has to do with a war–doesn’t make much sense frankly other than his message that he doesn’t like either. Just a simple, dumb joke. Probably not the worst one you’re ever going to hear.


Speaking of: Hey, remember when President Bush posted a picture of himself looking under his desk at the annual Correspondent’s Dinner and the caption read “Now, where are those WMDs”?


And that was after we killed about 400,000 Iraqis and lost about 10,000 of our soldiers and another 30,000 of our soldiers horribly wounded and maimed and another 100,000 suffered PTSD and we plunked down a couple trillion in cash to do it. All over WMDs that didn’t exist and he joked about it. The highest position in the United States at a national correspondent’s dinner backed by a half dozen top level joke writers thought it appropriate to run that joke.


People make dumb jokes. It happens.


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He has been described as fat and offensive. Hmmm, sounds just like another Hill in this town.


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