The John and Ken Show made a safari tour of Santa Ana’s homeless yesterday afternoon when they broadcast their KFI-AM 640 program live from the Civic Center Plaza encampment. The two right-wing yappers have been hammering away at Mayor Miguel Pulido, the Santa Ana city council and OC Board of Supervisors for weeks about the issue before deciding to take a look around for themselves. “We can’t put the smells up, can we?” Ken Chiampou (the calm one) chimed on Monday’s programming promoting the live broadcast. “There’s no technology to transmit odor yet,” John Kobylt (the braying one) added.
JohnKen set up at the Orange County Hall of Records and Finance building across the way from the areas more heavily populated with homeless folks. They didn’t have a broadcast booth, only wireless microphones that they ranted on throughout the four-hour program. It didn’t take long for the first argument on the streets to pop off. “There’s no First Amendment right to take a crap in a public place,” John said to Anaheim homeless activist Lou Noble. “Do you see any crap around here? Show me! Your full of it!” Noble shot back.
Around 35 people gathered to hear the radio hosts—a far cry from the 15,000 or so who showed up for their infamous “Heads on a Stick” rally years ago in Fullerton, and further proof of their waning influence in Southern California. County employees took the opportunity to vent on the program about what they see on a daily basis. “I’ve seen people having sex outside my windows, taking baths in fountains, defecating,” said one county worker. “I’ve seen enough!” John and Ken rallied the cause of folks who work in the downtown area time and time again.
“It’s a fucking dog and pony show,” a homeless man named “Bob” told the Weekly while watching JohnKen. “I knew they were pieces of shit anyhow.” Bob’s been on the streets of Santa Ana for 15 years. He ended up homeless after a divorce and prison time, unable to make ends meet off a $1,000 a month pension. Bob is part of the Civic Center Roundtable, a homeless organization in the area that advocates for change and that JohnKen conveniently didn’t bother to interview. “We need a hell of a lot more than three Porta Potties that they put in last month and a bus station that closes at 9:30.” 
Towards the end of the first hour of the program, John and Ken dropped off the air. (Perhaps an act of the radio gods?) Once they patched the connection back up, the two decided on walking down to the other side of Civic Center Plaza by the Santa Ana Library where most of the homeless stay. “It’s so scary here,” a homeless man sneered at the radio hosts as they led a procession of their fans. JohnKen stopped briefly to take in the camp site at the Plaza de las Banderas.
Ken told his radio listeners that he hadn’t stepped on a syringe yet while John described another homeless man gyrating wildly from afar. “They’re not all mentally crazy,” a man on a bicycle pleaded to John. “Well, a lot of them are!” he responded. “There’s nobody who’s sane that lives like this.” A few homeless folks tried to get on the mic only to be ignored. “We’re not gonna bite,” said a homeless woman after the JohnKen parade headed back to the Hall of Records and Finance.
Only in the third hour did the KFI hosts bother trying to speak with homeless folks. Most declined to talk on air, but the duo persisted in pestering them. They eyed a red-haired woman who spent much of the day yelling at no one in particular, clearing suffering from a mental health condition. She declined to speak with them, but John and Ken kept asking questions exploiting her incoherent ramblings on-air as she talked with her back turned to their microphones.
Then legendary OC activist Naui Huitzilopochtli showed up, camera in hand. “Go back to Europe! Go back to Europe! Go back to Europe!” he started shouting as JohnKen were doing a live commercial. He was quickly swarmed by a group of JohnKen fanboys that included producer Ray Lopez. The fanboys started blocking Huitzilopochtli from filming JohnKen, with some pushing him and others snickering about checking his legal status—stay classy, pendejos! The police then intervened…only to lecture Naui instead of the JohnKenbros. Let’s roll Naui’s tape, complete with a Santa Ana officer racially profiling Naui by speaking to him in Spanish instead of English!
Towards the end of the program, fans heeded the call of the shock jocks to put up signs dubbing the homeless encampment “Pulidoville.” After decades of bad governance, John and Ken suddenly discovered the political faults of Don Papi Pulido! They continued their faux-outrage shtick pretending to care about a city that’s served as their anti-immigrant punching bag for years.
The hosts blamed nonprofits and church groups for feeding the homeless, saying it makes the Civic Center an attraction for more people to come, showing no understanding of how anti-homeless policies in Anaheim, Fullerton and a bunch of other OC cities has driven the numbers camping out in Santa Ana to 500.
“What’s going to happen if the churches stop feeding people?” Fred Schremp, a resident of Orange who regularly helps Santa Ana’s homeless, asked the Weekly. Schremp disagrees with JohnKen’s take that folks like him are part of the problem, countering that feeding the homeless prevents desperate crimes of poverty.
“This is just a media circus that’s not going to solve anything.”
Gabriel San Román is from Anacrime. He’s a journalist, subversive historian and the tallest Mexican in OC. He also once stood falsely accused of writing articles on Turkish politics in exchange for free food from DönerG’s!
Was Citynet there handing out water? That’s all they do!! No help they just keep collecting their paychecks with nothing back to the homeless. They are known in the community as the “Salary of Services” company.
Great job guys! I don’t remember since when but I am a long time fan of your show. Keep up the good work.
I always listen to the John and Ken show, as I want to know what they’re saying,and they do come up with important information here and there, And though I don’t always agree with their positions on certain issues, they are pretty funny. Plus I do keep track of whenever they actually encourage hatred and persecution of homeless people. They DO tend to lump ALL homeless people together in one lump, not paying attention to the fact that senior citizens are the fastest growing demographic for becoming homeless- and they don’t act out, usually don’t have drug and alcohol problems,nor are mentally ill. For seniors, disabled people, veterans and working class renters, it’s a matter of high rents caused by the permanent housing shortage in America, since 1980. That was the year that regular apartments stopped getting built- but commercial buildings and luxury units were/are always being built. So of course, 42 years of Neoliberalism, and the end of regular apartment construction,as the population growth accelerated was the perfect storm to create homelessness ! And as someone in their mid- sixties who remembers when rents everywhere were both abundant and affordable,cheap, even – it’s obvious to me and my generation that rents that are within reach of all renters’ ability to pay,are an investment in society. There were NO people sleeping in streets,on benches in parks, under freeways and bridges during the good years- 60’s and 70’s. Dodging the draft, and hippies traveling in vans, that was voluntary. Our population in 1980 was 216 million. It’s 340 million,if not more. We needed a country,to have a massive building campaign to restore the housing stock, to pre-1980 levels. The money is there,though with these wars, especially Ukraine, it may never happen. Homeless people are livestock for shelters and agencies, jails and hospitals. This is why there’s no motivation politically, for building enough housing for this country in general. It’s just corruption and greed.. I suspect that John and Ken do realize this, but won’t agree publicly, because they’d lose their ratings maybe, if they do. I’d actually hate to see them go, because they are funny. I suggest that anyone interested in this subject Google ” profiting off the homeless.” See for yourselves just how billions of taxpayer dollars are wasted through theft and diversion, by corrupt politicians and officials ! Instead of goading homeless people and homeowners to hate each other, it’s time to audit and prosecute the agencies and officials who steal this money, having done this unseen for 40+ years ! Want homelessness to end,for real ?? Then lobby your City Council meetings, and demand that affordable housing for seniors, disabled people, veterans and working class renters to be built. And tell these typical narcissist politicians that you want the good jobs and manufacturing sent overseas,to be brought back to America. And there you have it.😁
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