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Jan 23, 2008 6:28 pm US/Central
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Station Cancels Drew Peterson Dating Game
Suspect In Wife's Disappearance Had Agreed To Play 'Win A Date With Drew' On Steve Dahl's Radio Show
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Drew Peterson, whose fourth wife has been missing for months, will have to look elsewhere for a date after management at a Chicago radio station pulled the plug on a proposed "Win A Date With Drew" contest.
Peterson had agreed to participate in the dating game segment while appearing today on legendary radio talker Steve Dahl's morning show. Dahl has been lampooning Peterson for months and the former suburban police sergeant called into the show on 104.3 JACK-FM this morning.
"My friends call me all the time and tell me ... Steve Dahl's making fun of you,'' Peterson told Dahl. At another point during the interview, Peterson's attorney, Joel Brodsky suggested the win-a-date stunt.
Late Wednesday afternoon, WJMK-FM General Manager Peter Bowen released a statement saying: "
Steve never intended on doing this promotion or any promotion that would put his listeners in harm's way. The Dating Game idea was conceived by Peterson and Brodsky, not by Steve Dahl or any one else at the station."
Bowen also said that if Peterson called the station, he would not be allowed on the air.
Earlier Wednesday, Dahl's website was promoting the Peterson dating segment for Thursday at 8 a.m.. However, later in the day, that reference had been removed from the dahl.com homepage.
Stacy Peterson's family and friends say the whole notion of Drew Peterson appearing on a dating show is a disgusting way for the former Bolingbrook cop to stroke his own ego.
"Unbelievable," said Peterson neighbor Sharon Bychowski. "I think he thinks this Stacy search is all about him. I would remind him that it's all about Stacy and I would remind the public that's he's still married."
But Peterson's attorney says that didn't stop Stacy.
"She ran off with another man and she's not separated and she's not divorced," Brodsky said on-air.
Bychowski says that's a lie and that Stacy would never have willingly left her kids. She calls the Drew Peterson "Dating Game" concept disgraceful.
"He degrades her dignity," Bychowski said. "He degrades her by saying that. She is lost. She is missing to us and yet he has no feeling for that. He'd just rather go out on another date, unbelievable." Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy, disappeared last fall. His third wife, Kathleen Savio, was found dead in a bathtub. Investigators consider Drew a suspect in Stacy Peterson's disappearance and they have re-opened an investigation into Savio's death.
The former Bolingbrook police sergeant has been the center of a media firestorm since his wife went missing. While he insists that he wants the media to leave him alone, he continues to court publicity.
Stacy Peterson hasn't been seen since Oct. 28 when her husband says she left him for another man. He has introduced what he claims is evidence that is what happened, most recently a racy text message Stacy Peterson received on her cell phone about a month before she disappeared.
Stacy Peterson's family says she did not leave her family, and Illinois State Police say Drew Peterson remains their suspect in the disappearance.
State Police issued a statement saying "it is apparent that Stacy did not voluntarily cease all contact with her children, family and friends." JACK FM and CBS 2 are owned by the CBS Corporation.
CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli contributed to this report.
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