What was Indie thinking?

The buzz on Myspace this week has been around the firing of Dickie Barrett from Indie 103.1, here in L.A. Okay, it's been about the protests against the bill making illegal immigration a felony - I read the news. But the fact is that my bulletin board has seen nothing of the protests and a lot of noise over Dickie's departure.

Unfortunately - for my friends and for Dickie - the most vocal is a music-biz has-been with delusions of grandeur involving a glorified internship and an ex who insisted on staying that way... not that I have an opinion in the matter. The point that she needs to be reminded of is that the issue is not at all about her. Dickie is no longer on the radio, and that's a cryin' shame!

According to Indie reps - and I'm paraphrasing - it's due to their inability to improve the programming and take his show to the next level. My response: Why fix what ain't broke?

According to Dickie - again, I'm paraphrasing - it's because he didn't adhere to the politics of "soccer moms," as evidenced by a prolonged discussion on the topic of (and in favor of) pro-choice. I'm rarely up early enough to listen anymore, but when I worked a 9-5 I enjoyed his brand of playful irreverence. I was always under the impression that this is what people came to expect from Indie, and those who preferred more diplomatic, PC expressions of politics went to KCRW. I guess I thought wrong.

I'm curious what really went on over there, but I'm hardly in a position to claim to know - at least for now. All I know is that from an outsider's/listener's perspective, Indie made a huge mistake letting him go.