SEATTLE (Reuters) - Two Portland, Oregon, DJs were fired for making jokes as they aired a recording of American Nick Berg's beheading in Iraq, station management said, calling their actions "beyond comprehension."The DJs, named only by their on-air personas "Marconi" and "Tiny," and their producer were fired from their morning show on Thursday after the pair laughed and played background music while repeatedly airing Berg's screams as militant Islamists decapitated him.
"This was way over the line, insensitive and repulsive, by anyone's measure," said Clark Ryan, vice president for FM operations of Entercom Communications Corp. in Portland, where the network runs five FM stations.
Ryan said the station received numerous complaints from "appalled" listeners.
Marconi apologized on Friday in an audio recording posted on his personal web site, saying he had made himself sick with his "stupid" actions.
"I say a lot of stupid things on the radio, but this was the most inappropriate thing that I've ever done and I am very ashamed of myself for doing it," the DJ said.
Marconi and his partner Tiny were known for crude jokes and had been reprimanded before, but the station deemed their "edgy" humor necessary to reach young adult listeners.
Berg's killers released a grisly video of the execution with one of the five masked men reading a statement urging Muslims to seek revenge for Iraqi prisoners abused by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison.
"There are times in life when you wish you could take something back that you did. This for me was one of those times," Marconi said.
