Racism Topic Reaps Threats on Radio Host

GREENVILLE, S.C. —  A radio talk show host who had just finished a program on racism said he received a death threat invoking the name of a Denver radio personality whose murder was linked to white supremacists.

Mike Gallagher, whose talk show on WFBC-AM airs from 9 a.m. until noon, said he had just completed his shift Thursday when he received a telephone call from a man who identified himself only as “George from Anderson,” a South Carolina town.

Gallagher said the caller told him to “remember Alan Berg,” the Denver talk show host who was gunned down in 1984. The slaying was linked to a white supremacist neo-Nazi group.

Gallagher, who reported the incident to station officials, left WFBC around 2 p.m. to go to lunch. He said he found a note on his car windshield that included a racial remark, another reference to Berg and a warning that “you’re a dead man.”

After the letter was discovered, station officials contacted authorities.

The threat came after Gallagher and his callers discussed the controversy over a South Carolina sheriff who had been accused of using a racial slur.

“I was very adamant about it, and we were batting it back and forth, and it got emotional,” Gallagher said. “Apparently, a guy called the switchboard during the show and threatened my life.”

Greenville Police Detective Randy White said a preliminary investigation did not determine whether the threat was serious.