Tune in to Power 99 any weekday morning and you'll get an earful of hate. From 6 till 10, the "Star" of the Star & Buc Wild Show -- whose real name is Troi Torain—spits epithets at everyone: "spics," "ass-lickers" (homosexuals), "hoes" and "bitches." Kanye West is a "nigger"; Steve Harvey is a "faggot-assed nigger." Whites are especially despised: "whitey" was recently blamed collectively for choosing February as Black History Month, it being the shortest.

The show is syndicated from New York, and available in 10 markets nationally. According to Power 99, in the most recent Arbitrons, some 236,000 Philadelphians, 12 years old and up, tune into Torain's harangues, making Star & Buc Wild Philadelphia's top-rated urban talk show. (In the same time slot, WHYY's Morning Edition from NPR attracts about 180,000 listeners.)

Torain hates everyone, though not equally. A disciple of Ayn Rand, the former record company exec spouts a creed of self-interest he calls "Objective Hate." By attacking all the "losers" around you, says Torain, one can find personal fulfillment, and much wealth. Among Torain's biggest losers are black people, especially black women. Torain, who disavows his own African-American heritage, dismisses black identity as "modern-day tribalism."

That hate sells, and self-hate sells best, is hardly innovative. For all its philosophical blather, the Star & Buc Wild Show is no better than a modern-day minstrel show, in which Torain trades on black self-loathing for profit. I find Torain's tirades—intercut with canned applause—an eerie echo of the call-and-response of Hitler at the Munich Games. What's worse, Torain often caps his attacks with "Get yourself a gun."

Children bathed daily in hate will pick up that gun. That bothers Damon Roberts, whose 7-year-old son has several friends who listen to Torain. A lawyer, Roberts organized a group of other African-American professionals, because "a lot of innocent ears are being hurt for the sake of a buck." In November, Roberts' group petitioned the FCC to compel Torain to tone down his language. So far, he's heard nothing from Washington. So Roberts and his group called a meeting in late January to figure their next move.

Clear Channel, which owns Power 99, sent their community affairs rep, Loraine Ballard Morrill, to the PNC auditorium in Center City, where she told Roberts that the show is perfectly legal. None of the words that offends Roberts—nigger, ho, bitch—is prohibited by the FCC. Still, Morrill expressed her sympathy, and told Roberts' group that their best strategy would be for the black community to make their needs known to the station.

Excuse my language, but that's crap, and everyone at this meeting knew it. Angry audience members stood up and said that black people are routinely ignored, while other groups are heeded. Case in point: A year ago, when Torain phoned an outsource call center in India and called the operator "a dirty rat-eater," the local East Indian population protested with a petition of their own that did get results. By way of apology, Power 99 dropped the show for a day. Torain was reportedly "talked to." And since then, the hater-of-all hasn't mentioned Indians.

Frustrated, Roberts has written the shows' advertisers—he says they include Coca-Cola, Comcast, Pier One, Burger King, Nationwide Insurance and Toys R Us. So far only Comcast and Pier One have shifted their advertising to other time slots.

Frankly, I think Roberts' group is going to have to show up at the station in business suits carrying signs that read "Toys R Us (or whoever) Sponsors Hate" before they're taken seriously. But even if Torain bleeps every offensive word, I doubt Roberts will be satisfied. The black self-loathing will continue, as long as Torain can extract a profit from bamboozling black people.

Reform Star & Buc Wild? Forget it. It'd be easier to teach a snake not to bite. Besides, in a free country, censorship is never effective—nor should it be. The only constitutional cure for bad speech is more and better speech.

In Boston, Chicago, New York and elsewhere, community radio services offer urban neighborhoods the choice of homegrown programming. After hearing about other cities' community audio services, several in Roberts' audience vowed to get the same for Philadelphia. This city should offer a healthier alternative. And soon, please, before more kids follow Torain's advice, and get themselves a gun.