Orlando Radio: WBZW Host Off-Air For FB Comments

Jim Turner

Apopka radio personality has been kept off the air Tuesday for Facebook remarks implying that Pulse shooting victims were sexual deviants and their deaths should not be covered sympathetically in the media.

"Watch now as the news stations hang around at another homosexual hang out as if we're supposed to feel sorry for sexual deviancy," wrote Jim Turner, who hosts an afternoon community talk show on Salem Media's WBZW 1520 AM.

According to The Orlando Sentinel, Another post by Turner called Pulse "some sorry bar" and compared the death toll in Sunday's shooting to what he claims are the number of abortions performed daily.

Turner's Facebook account has been deleted since the comments were posted.

Bill Files, general manager of the Altamonte Springs-based station that carries Turner's show, said he and his company reject the comments made on the radio host's personal Facebook page. Turner will not be on air today between 3 and 5 p.m., when his show normally broadcasts, as station managers decide what to do next, Files said.

"What we're doing is looking at appropriate next steps," Files said. "We're just trying to sort out what in the world he could be thinking about, posting something like that. It's not views that we share here, or our parent company shares."

Files said no decision has been made about whether to bar Turner from the show for good.

Turner has hosted the radio program called "My Hometown" on 1520 WBZW for about a year or two. The show focuses on community events in Apopka and doesn't usually stray into political territory, Files said.