Coast 101.1 announcer no longer with station after Twitter complaint

The owner of a private St. John's radio station sent an open letter to a local women's group on Saturday, apologizing for the actions of an employee that the station has since  said no longer works there.

President Andrew Bell of Coast Broadcasting, which owns Classic Hits Coast 101.1, released the statement after a social media fuss on Friday that involved announcer Joel North.

According to conversations on Twitter, North had upset a local woman with a targeted tweet that read: "You'd get more viewers if you were stripping."

The woman responded by posting a screenshot of the exchange.

That's when she wrote a tweet directed at Coast, in an attempt to bring attention to what North had said.

After several other people chimed in on social media, asking that the station respond, an email from Coast was shared that stated: "the individual in question is no longer employed by Coast Broadcasting."

An open letter that Bell sent to the St. John's Status of Women's Council on Saturday said the incident breached Coast 101.1's core values, and that they acted quickly to solve the situation.

"The individual is no longer with the company," the statement read. 

"As the owner, I personally apologize to the person who this disrespect has been inflicted upon. We will continue to do our very best to treat people like our neighbours. That's the Coast way."

Meanwhile, Joel North's Twitter account has since been deleted, but a podcast called North of NL was tweeting on Saturday, saying the next episode of the show would explain that North wasn't fired.