LOH GETS THE AX AT KCRW OVER UNBLEEPED EXPLETIVE.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

Is monologuist Sandra Tsing Loh a budding ``shock jock,'' or a victim of circumstance and perhaps some questionable judgment?

Either way, after six years riffing on current and cultural events, Loh, the Van Nuys radio personality and actress, has been fired from KCRW-FM (89.9) after she used a four-letter expletive in her ``Loh Life'' monologue.

The 3-minute monologue containing the profanity aired twice Sunday, at 7:35 and 9:35 a.m. The following morning, citing the station's policy on language and federal broadcasting laws, station general manager Ruth Seymour called Loh and told her she was fired.

``I did apologize,'' says Loh, speaking from Northern California. ``I said, 'Is there anything I can do to protect the radio station from the FCC?' She said no. I'm terminated. She also told me to seek professional help, but that's beside the point.

``I'm a monologuist. I render language. That's what I do,'' Loh added. ``I would never say a curse word on the air. I would never say that.''

In the monologue's first paragraph, Loh talks about singer/actor Bette Midler's recent concert. Because her musician husband performs with the singer and stands in close proximity to Midler, Loh concludes, ``I guess I have to (expletive) him.''

Loh said that after taping the monologue, she left instructions with her engineer Mario Diaz - a station employee - to bleep out the expletive. The monologue actually plays funnier with the bleep, Loh says.

But somehow, Loh says, Diaz didn't get the message. The segment aired with the expletive, and nobody caught it in time to correct it before the second airing at 9:35.

``I had no idea this could happen,'' said Loh. ``I had no idea that somebody could completely forget.''

Seymour was traveling and did not return calls seeking comment. KCRW officials referred to a copy of the station's language policy, which states KCRW ``does not permit inappropriate language to be used on the air.''

``If a programmer violates this policy, management will cancel the program and end the relationship with the programmer. Programmers are solely responsible for their choice of language.''

The slip was hardly unprecedented. Earlier this week, Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central's award-winning ``The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,'' sheepishly confessed on air to having used the same word on an episode last week without network censors noticing and bleeping it. However, the network did not receive even one complaint about it.

Comedy Central spokesman Steve Albani said the word came during an interview with actor Samuel L. Jackson. ``Jon said it under his breath; he was reacting to a story Samuel was telling,'' Albani said. ``I was watching the show at home and thought I heard something. I have Replay TV, which is like TiVo, and I went back and rewound it. For people who don't have that technology, an average viewer, it's likely they didn't hear it.''

Nonetheless, Albani added, ``That's not a word that should ever have gone out on Comedy Central. That was an error. We regret it happened.''

Loh's firing at KCRW follows similar actions taken by Clear Channel against radio shock jocks Howard Stern and Bubba the Love Sponge, both of whom have had their programs pulled from the air over indecent content.

``It's a sign of the times,'' says Loh, who added that since news of her firing became public, she has received tons of e-mail messages from supporters threatening to cancel their subscriptions and/or boycott the public radio station. Loh says she plans to take some time off to spend with her daughters, ages 3 1/2 and 2.

If the FCC chooses to investigate and take action, financial penalties for an indecent broadcast could reach as high as $500,000 per violation.

``A fine like that is somewhat less affordable to a public radio station like KCRW than it is to Clear Channel,'' says broadcaster Rene Engel, who worked for more than eight years at KCRW. ``If Howard Stern goes on the air and says something inappropriate and the FCC fines half a million, that's meter money to Clear Channel.''

Engel, who has worked with Seymour in the past, calls the station general manager ``a strong defender of the artist and of free-speech issues. Ruth comes down on the correct side of the fence on these issues.''

``I think the station policy is pretty clear-cut,'' added Engel. ``The key thing that I've read about all this is that Sandra seems pretty embarrassed by it.''

David Kronke contributed to this story.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

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(1 -- 2) Both Sandra Tsing Loh and John Stewart uttered four-letter words on the air recently, but only the Van Nuys-based KCRW-FM monologuist was fired for using the expletive.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer