The Ticket radio station fires producer Mike Bacsik for Twitter comments
Mike Bacsik, the producer at “The Ticket” KTCK-AM (1310), suspended by the station Monday for remarks he made through his personal Twitter account, was fired Tuesday.
Dan Bennett, market manager for Cumulus Media Inc., parent company of The Ticket, said the suspension was issued to allow further investigation. “When we got all the facts and were able to look at the entire situation, we made our decision,” Bennett said.
Bacsik said he was called into the station late Tuesday afternoon and told he was fired after a story on the incident was aired nationally on cable television’s CNN. He said he had hoped to be back working on Norm Hitzges’ late morning sports talk show next week.
Bacsik said he understood why he was fired but was disappointed. He said he wished the station had given him a minute of airtime on Monday to say “how truly sorry I am.”
Bacsik, 32, said he was “drunk at a bar” Sunday night as he watched the Mavericks lose Game 4 of their NBA playoff series to San Antonio. He began sending disparaging tweets that included “Congrats to all the dirty mexicans in San Antonio” and “If I get cancer and I’m going to die I wil blow NBA offices.”
A former major league pitcher, Bacsik is most known in baseball for serving up Barry Bonds’ record-breaking 756th home run in 2007.
Bennett said Bacsik had been “a good employee” and there had been no previous issues. But Bacsik’s final public communication while a Ticket employee reflected poorly on the station.
Bacsik joined The Ticket fulltime on March 1, 2009 to produce Hitzges’ show. He also co-hosted a weekend sports talk show in an effort to learn the business and reach his ultimate goal – hosting his own weekday talk show.
“I know words on paper can sound cold and harsh without emotion,” Bacsik said. “But for the people of San Antonio who probably will never forgive me, I say I am sorry.”
