In its Morning News segment on Monday, Jan. 15, WBAP aired a discussion of Chelsea Manning running for a U.S. Senate seat that quickly turned into a trans-bashing. The station removed the segment from its website on Tuesday.
Rather than actually discussing Manning’s qualifications or whether someone convicted of releasing government secrets should be allowed to run for a Senate seat, the hosts of the conservative radio show called Manning a “he-she,” words that were used in the headline and picked up in the segment’s URL when posted online. The hosts devoted the segment to a discussion of Manning’s Adam’s apple and other anatomy and called Manning, “I guess, ‘she.'”
After complaints to the station began, the page was rewritten with a new headline.

Program Director Kevin Graham called listeners who complained about the segment on Tuesday morning to apologize. Cannon Brown, one of the people who complained to the station, said he received a call.
“WBAP called a few minutes ago,” Brown said. “The show personnel apologized but won’t be issuing an on-air apology.”
Graham gave Brown the excuse that “we don’t want to rub their noses in it” for why the station wouldn’t be doing an on-air apology.
Although the segment was removed from the WBAP website on Tuesday after complaints continued, John Anderson was among those who captured the audio for us.
Anderson filed an FCC complaint about the subject. The hosts talked about Manning in a way that degraded all transgender people, he said.
Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison for releasing secret government files. President Barack Obama commuted the sentence to seven years after Manning had served longer than anyone else convicted of a similar offense. Seven years is closer to the average sentence in corresponding cases.
On Sunday, Jan 14, Manning announced she’ll challenge Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin for the Democratic nomination for his U.S. Senate seat.

— David Taffet