Fired NY Radio Hosts Who Made Anti-Trans Comments Return

The two radio hosts from Rochester, N.Y., who apologized earlier this year after they were fired for using anti-trans language on the air, are now back on the air waves, Rochester's Time Warner Cable News reports.

According to the cable news station, Kimberly Ray and Barry Beck, who were longtime hosts of 98.9 "Breakfast Buzz," were on the air Thursday - the first time since being fired in May. The DJs reportedly made their comeback announcement on "The Brother Wease Show" and debuted their new show "Kimberly and Beck in the Afternoon" just a few hours later.

Ray and Beck came under fire in May after making offensive remarks regarding Rochester's new transgender health benefits for city employees. After calling trans people "nut jobs" and spewing hateful rhetoric about a local transgender student athlete, Ray took to Twitter to defend her actions, reportedly writing that the "freedom of speech includes the freedom to offend others."

Soon after that, however, Entercom, which owns the radio station, fired both Kimberly and Beck.

"This morning Entercom fired Kimberly and Beck effective immediately," Sue Munn, Vice-President/General Manager Entercom Rochester, wrote in a statement. "Their hateful comments against the transgender community do not represent our station or our company. We deeply apologize to the transgender community, the community of Rochester, and anyone else who was offended by their hateful comments. We are proud of our past work on behalf of the local LGBT community and we remain committed to that partnership."

The DJs later owned up to their mistake in a statement, saying they "take full responsibility" for what they said and acknowledge it was "wrong."

"Our attempt was to discuss a controversial healthcare issue; however our lack of sensitivity and understanding of the transgender people and their plight created 12 minutes of radio we that wish we could take back," the statement reads. They added that they don't blame Entercom for being fired.

"We fully understand Entercom's position and their decision to dismiss us. It is their right and we accept their decision and our responsibility in it," the statement by the DJs read. "It is our hope that this situation can be a time of learning and understanding about the transgender community and not a time for additional anger and insensitivity."

"This is a community of individuals who struggle painfully to be themselves and find the support and comfort they deserve," they added. "We believe that this can be a chance for all of us to stop the ignorance and find our humanity."

The DJs' new show airs daily from 2-7 p.m. on Radio 95.1. According to Clear Channel Rochester, the duo is part of a reformed station and also part of programming on NewsRadio WHAM 1180, which airs from 8-9 p.m. on weeknights.

"It was very heartwarming after we were fired and the fourth man, our Rochester listeners, started a Facebook page and Twitter pages and they were very rabid about getting us back on the radio, so we owe a lot to Rochester listeners and we're very grateful," said Ray.

The radio hosts said their new show will be just like their original program.

"It'll be the same show. It'll be real, it'll be raw, we'll be having fun, we'll be laughing, we'll be talking about local issues, it'll be the same show. A little bit of music and a whole lot of us," said Beck.

Clear Channel officials told the news station that their apologies about their anti-trans comments were sincere and that they deserved another chance.

"I think they've learned some things. They're going to handle controversial issues, but they're going to be more sensitive moving forward," said Bob Morgan, Clear Channel general manager.