Wendy Bell removed from KDKA radio
Controversial former WTAE-TV news anchor Wendy Bell was indefinitely removed from the air on KDKA Radio Friday after earlier in the week suggesting protesters defacing public monuments should be “shot on sight.”
Bell’s remarks, including ones aimed at Black Lives Matter protesters in a video, “do not align” with the values of Entercom Pittsburgh, according to a statement released by Senior Vice President Michael Spacciapolli.
“We take very seriously our responsibility to provide a platform for our communities to engage in diverse and meaningful dialogue, debate and the right to freedom of speech; we do not condone the incitement of violence on any of our platforms,” Spacciapolli said.
The statement continued, “Entercom Pittsburgh remains steadfast in our commitment to inclusive conversations that engage everyone in Pittsburgh while excluding any form of violence.”
During her drive-time program, Bell said park rangers and “snipers” who witness protesters should shoot them, and she mimicked the sound of a gun firing. Her comments aimed at Black Lives Matter protesters was in a video posted online. In it, Bell addresses them and says, “The silent majority is pissed and they are armed and they are ready. So, don’t muck with us.”
Bell’s comments generated considerable negative reaction on social media, to the point that KDKA-TV felt compelled to put a message on its website reminding viewers that Bell did not work for the station and it was owned by a different company.
Bell was hired by KDKA Radio in December 2018. Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of her radio show, according to a post on Wendy Bell Radio Facebook page. Her columns appear in the Observer-Reporter.
She was not available for comment Friday.
In March 2016, Bell was fired from WTAE-TV, where she had been a reporter and anchor for 18 years, following a Facebook post where she speculated that the perpetrators of a mass shooting in Wilkinsburg were “young black men, likely in their teens or early 20s. They have multiple siblings from multiple fathers and their mothers work multiple jobs.”
In the post, she went on to speak favorably of a Black server at a Southside Works restaurant who “hustled like nobody’s business” and “moved like a dancer with a satisfied smile on his face.”