A Bay Area NPR reporter shared a story yesterday on local radio stations claiming that KSRO and the Sonoma County District Attorney published a fabricated story about a fentanyl death in a public service announcement or PSA. As the News Director for KSRO, I would like to address this and clear up any confusion. Last year, our sales team and Brent Farris, the former morning show host and Program Director at KZST, approached the DA’s office about doing an on air campaign to educate the public on the very real dangers of fentanyl to our community, and the alarming rise in deaths and accidental overdoses. As is common in radio, a series of demo commercials were created to give the client – in this case, the DA’s office – an idea of the kind of messages that could be used. Brent Farris wrote, voiced, and produced a 1 minute PSA of a fictionalized scenario in which a 6-year-old child came across fentanyl on a playground, touched it, and then died. Brent is not a part of the KSRO News Team, and he did not fact check to see if this could actually happen. The PSA was not used on air, and was never selected to be used in the campaign. It did end up on the DA’s website along with other commercials that aired on our stations. The NPR reporter claims that our stations were trying to scare the public with a fabricated story, when in fact, it was a demo spot and this was a simple oversight and was not intended to be shared. And unfortunately, by trying to sensationalize the situation, the NPR reporter is diminishing the very real danger that fentanyl poses to our community and communities across the country, where accidental fentanyl overdoses are killing people at an alarming rate. I have personally spoken with mothers who have lost their children, and a woman who found her fiancée dead from an overdose. It is devastating. I apologize for the mistaken posting of the demo spot on the DA’s website and assure you that no one here, including Brent Farris, ever intended to lie to you or mislead you. If you would like to hear my interviews with DA Carla Rodriguez and families who have lost loved ones to fentanyl, they are posted here:
Fentanyl Crisis – Treatment and Recovery
Michelle Marques, KSRO News Director