David ‘Jackson’ Mueller, the former 98.5 KYGO Denver morning host found guilty in a civil trial last summer of assault and battery of Taylor Swift at a station sponsored meet & greet before a 2013 concert, has found a new job.
Larry Fuss, owner of Delta Radio Networks has announced that Mueller has joined his Country “Kix 92.7” WMYQ Moorhead MS as morning co-host using the on-air name ‘Stonewall Jackson’. This is not the first time Fuss and Mueller have partnered together as he is also a minority owner in Fuss’ recently purchased 94.3 KZZV Hanapepe HI despite not being one of the many radio industry related people mentioned in Fuss’ press release promoting the deal and his plethora of partners.
In announcing the hiring of Mueller, Fuss told Tom Taylor Now, “I was roundly criticized in a Facebook group for offering him a job, but regardless of what he may or may not have done, does he really deserve to be banned from radio, for life?”
INSTANT INSIGHT: Herein lies the bigger issue. Does Mueller deserve to be banned from radio for life? The first question needs to be has he shown any remorse for what may or may not happened and done anything publicly to contribute to preventing this from happening to others? No. Last month he was still pointing the blame on Swift from being fired from KYGO. The next question is what is to be gained by wanting to hire him and have him invest in one of your business deals?
Look at what has happened across the globe and closer to home in Public Radio with many longtime names ousted in recent months. Two weeks ago Rolling Stone published a long story on country music artists being subjected to “a climate of harassment and misconduct in the world of country radio.” There is a problem with misogyny in Country radio that has festered for so long and Mueller has become the poster child for what it currently represents in regards to the radio industry.
The commercial radio industry is going to get hit by a high profile harassment case eventually. Nobody saw the extent of the damages caused by Harvey Weinstein or Matt Lauer until it was too late. What happens when its a high billing jock at a major market station that has multiple allegations made against him and a station loses thousands or millions in revenue and you potentially lose your business in the process? We’ve seen a similar scenario to that take place in Pennsylvania where Joe Reilly’s Columbia FM just sold Classic Rock 103.5 WMMZ Berwick after the revenue loss caused by his son Dave Reilly’s support of the Neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville last August.
Little good could come from ‘Stonewall Jackson’ being part of the morning show in Moorhead MS. Outside of the negative national publicity you’ll get for hiring Mueller, potential advertiser boycotts, and perhaps coming under fire from one of the biggest stars in the music industry and her record labels what is there positively to gain just to have someone who used to work in a fairly large market to come work at your station in Moorhead, Mississippi? Or was it to make the entire radio industry look bad?
You’re right! GIVE HIM THE DEATH SENTENCE! Off with his head!
We are in too much of a rush to be indignant and offended today. The man has been punished. Let him get on with his life.
If he’d shown any kind of remorse or even just stopped being a jerk about it, it would be less of an issue. He’s done neither, and took a Confederate general’s name on top of it, and that’s what bothers people.
I don’t think anyone really wants the guy to suffer, but why would anyone hire someone who hasn’t stopped their toxic behavior? Of course, in his quotes on the subject, it’s clear his new boss is a bit of an ass anyway, so maybe they belong together.
“Too much of a rush”? You haven’t been following the news too closely. Harvey Weinstein, Garrison Keilor, Larry Nassar to name a few.
Stonewall Jackson? I guess it’s better than using the name Moe Lester.
Personally, I think he might have been able to return to a production job or maybe voice-overs (as long as he didn’t identify himself) after having paid his “debt to society” (in this case, paying-off a civil judgment against him), but I wouldn’t have hired him for an on-air position.
But if he were convicted of a criminal charge, I wouldn’t touch him with a ten-thousand-miles-long pole
Bingo. Nothing criminal. And goodness knows, I have seen a lot of worse things done by radio people who returned to new stations even after a large settlement.
Oink, oink.