[BC] oops!

[Bernie Courtney]

F-word costs TV guy a job
By TRACY CONNOR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER


TV reporter Arthur Chi'en was canned by WCBS/Ch. 2 yesterday after he
shouted the F-word at two meddlers who horned in on his live shot.

Chi'en was in the middle of a 6a.m. broadcast about MetroCard scammers
when two men sneaked up behind him with a sign promoting radio shock
jocks Opie & Anthony.

For a few moments, as the knuckleheads heckled him and gave the finger
to the camera, Chi'en kept his cool and continued talking.

But as soon as he finished his report, he spun around and shouted at
the intruders: "What the f--- is your problem, man?"

If he thought the WCBS control room had already cut to tape, he was
wrong. The expletive went out over the air.

"Sorry about that distraction before," Chi'en said when he returned.

The apology apparently wasn't enough for WCBS, especially when the
Federal Communications Commission is cracking down on obscenity.

"He's been terminated," station spokeswoman Audrey Pass said.

Chi'en, a former New York 1 reporter who joined WCBS in 2003, told the
Daily News he's sorry.

"I regret the entire thing and I apologize to those who were offended," he said.

Meanwhile, fans of the Opie & Anthony show, who have mounted a
campaign to annoy television reporters, were boasting about the
infantile stunt on the deejays' Web site.

The potty-mouthed pair have a show on XM satellite radio, where they
landed after being bounced by WNEW-FM for a contest that enticed two
listeners to have sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral.