Walk. Away.

Honestly, it’s that simple for the Padres — rightfully riled by an inexcusable, irresponsible and utterly heartless social media post promoting a radio show that made light of suicide in a place gutted by far too many of those stories.

When new 97.3 FM morning host Kevin Klein asked listeners on Twitter to “jump … to a new morning show” with an image of the Coronado Bridge, the raw insensitivity of it sickened.

Imagine the absolute horror experienced by the family or friends of any of the more than 400 people who have leapt to their deaths during the bridge’s 50-year history.


The station is the new caretaker of Padres baseball, an arrangement prickly enough that the franchise already reassured ticket-holders that another host, Dan Sileo, would steer clear of the team after side-stepping prior accusations of racism, sexism and comments deemed anti-Semitic.

Now, this. Just walk away.

The Padres are considering just that, in fact — hours before the start of the season.

“We’re going to get through this first home stand, then sit down and evaluate it,” Padres Executive Chairman Ron Fowler told the Union-Tribune in his Petco Park office Tuesday. “We’re going to assess our legal obligations. We just want a good radio partner that’s not offensive to the community.”


Those are words you never, ever hear from a professional sports team about a radio partner. The most controversial territory those kinds of discussions venture into normally involve the next bobblehead giveaway.

Stunning stuff, this.

Fowler, polishing off a reply to one of more than two-dozen angry emails from ticket-holders, hardly was finished. He said the Padres are “very uncomfortable” with a format change at 97.3 (from music to talk) he claimed never was discussed with the team.

The team “has put them on notice,” Fowler added.


“Should this be the home of what we consider to be family entertainment, Padres baseball? That’s the question,” he said. “Based on what’s happened the last few weeks, this is almost shock-jock radio. Obviously, that’s not what we intended to be involved in.

“This has become problematic for us. This nonsense last night (Monday), why that individual felt the need to do what he did was terrible.”

Points to the Padres for drawing an unmistakable line in the sand about what’s acceptable — and what’s undeniably not. What’s next, cancer jokes? One-liners about fatal car accidents? Wildfire victims?

This isn’t about tamping down free speech or political correctness run amok. This is about being a place where everyone should agree that Coronado Bridge suicides aren’t gags or props.


Why would a discussion about those topics being off limits even be necessary?

The most galling part about Klein’s tweet is that he doubled down once reaction roiled. The image of the bridge remained … for hours and hours and hours. At one point as all that anger and hurt swirled, Klein tweeted: “This is gonna be fun.”

So tone deaf, both the message and its messenger, that the tweet salted wounds the same day a front-page story in the Union-Tribune discussed bridge suicide prevention prototypes.

Fowler said the Padres demanded an apology and, finally, Klein offered one around midday Tuesday. On Twitter, Klein began: “I’d like to sincerely apologize to San Diego and listeners of 97.3 for a distasteful and insensitive social media post.”


Here’s the thing, though: Coerced apologies end up being the most insincere of all. The truly meaningful versions of those happen much sooner, well before the front-office types begin twisting your paycheck-cashing arm purple.

The status of Klein and his show, scheduled to debut Thursday, remain unclear. I tried to reach station boss Bob Bolinger, the senior vice president and market manager for Entercom San Diego. No response. I texted Mike Dee, the former Padres president fired by the team for undisclosed reasons who last year became the radio company’s president of sports. He confirmed all programming decisions are made locally. A Twitter message to Klein was not immediately returned.

The Padres’ wheels clearly were turning, though.

Fowler acknowledged there’s no road map for a team dumping a radio partner during the season. Short-circuiting a radio voice would be unprecedented — and strikingly bold for a team craving traction with one of the best farm systems in baseball and the buzz of Eric Hosmer’s $144 million signing.


And yet …

“If the current conduct continues, we’d look at other options,” he said. “It would be difficult and I can’t honestly answer what would happen. I don’t know if this is something that’s happened in the history of baseball.

“This is not the kind of cutting-edge stuff I like to be involved in. We’d rather the focus be on winning some baseball games.”

Want to make a statement about what’s acceptable and what’s not? Want to send an unassailable message that some things rise above business and baseball? Want to reinforce to your fan base that you do what’s right — not what’s easy?


Walk away.


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bryce.miller@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @Bryce_A_Miller