The staffs of two Salt Lake radio stations were drawn into Saturday's deadly library siege when Clifford Lynn Draper called and began making demands.
Over the course of five phone calls to the South Salt Lake studio of KLZX-FM and its companion AM station, KCNR, Draper demanded music. That request they could meet - and did.Draper also demanded airtime. That request they would not meet.
"The police told me not to put him on the air," said Tricia Griffith, KLZX production director.
Taped transcripts of the phone calls show the staff at both stations stayed calm, even when Draper told them he'd rather die than go to jail and that he might start drawing lots and executing his hostages.
"They (police) are testing my resolve, and its coming down to the point where I might have to execute someone to get results," Draper said during a later call.
Griffith said it was obvious Draper was familiar with KLZX, or "Z-93" but that he did not know he was also calling KCNR, an AM sister station located in the same building.
Not wanting to aggravate Draper, Griffith, KCNR program director Dave Hebertson and KCNR producer Nilsa Feliciano took turns talking to the man - keeping their cool and doing everything they could to help Draper keep his.
They notified Salt Lake police after Draper's first call and had a police hostage negotiator in the station with them during later calls.
"I only want to speak directly to Mr. Ortega (Salt Lake's police chief). "Mr. Ortega can be an intermediary until the National Guard can get here. I am not going to deal with the police," Draper told Griffith.
And while he didn't want to talk to police, the rock group Police was one of several rock groups he did want to hear from. Obscure cuts from Jethro Tull albums were at the top of his list.
Griffith obliged. "Hi, this is Trish at Z-93. Clifford - is there anything else I can play for you?" she said during his third call to the station.
"You can continue playing Jethro Tull, Led Zepplin . . . this is not good mood music - the one that's going right now."
"I tell you what, we'll dump out of that," Griffith responded.
The conversations were more strained when the hostage situation was the topic.
"I'm just wondering, do you mind talking to the police officer that I have here right with me?" Feliciano asked during Draper's fourth call to the station.
"There's nothing to discuss with the police. This is a military matter. This is purely a military matter," Draper shot back. "I want to speak to the commander of the Utah State National Guard and the governor. Governor Leavitt of the state of Utah. Nothing else will be satisfactory."
"I want the commander of the National Guard to get the governor because I want a pardon," Draper said.
Griffith said police knew something about Draper's request for a pardon. But the man never specified the reason in his calls to the radio station, except to say that he had a list of demands and explanations for his behavior that he wanted to read over the air.
Draper also made lengthy demands that the radio station summon a doctor to care for one of his hostages, a diabetic who needed care.
"We need a doctor up here and it should be a military-type doctor - a doctor whose affiliated with the National Guard or one of the federal branches of the military. That's what these people get paid to do - deal with situations like this. This is a combat situation. This is a war. Do you understand that?"
"I do, and I will relay the message to the right people," Feliciano said.
The calls continued:
"Hello again. Am I communicating with the staff of the radio station or with a policeman?" Draper asked.
"No, this is Dave. I'm with the radio station."
"Very good, Dave. Dave, I've noticed that you have been playing a lot of Jethro Tull lately. I'm very happy with that, thank you . . . I've noticed, though, that your regular broadcast schedule has changed. You're not putting out any call letters. You're not putting out any commercials. I'm concerned about that."
Griffith later told the Deseret News the station's scheduled format had been abandoned with the hope of keeping Draper calm. "The police asked me not to do commercials and just keep him happy."
But now the change was annoying Draper. "I'm concerned about that. I'm also concerned that you haven't passed the word yet for the presence of a doctor."
Hebertson tried to placate Draper, saying he was trying to reach the station manager for permission to give him the airtime.
"Are the police down there trying to dictate things to you?" Draper asked.
"They've been in touch with us. I don't know - they're not in here right now," Hebertson said.
"Good, the music's good. Just play whatever you guys want to play. You've always played good music, I think. That's not what's at issue right here. I might call up with a request once in a while to keep myself calm . . . "
Draper issued a warning for the police to back off during one call. Hostage Michael Greer was on the phone, conveying Draper's messages to the radio station while Draper barked out commands in the background.
"If these incompetent glory-hound cops try to bust through these windows or try to drill a hole in the ceiling or something, I'm going to have to let this bomb go because I'm not going to go to the penitentiary," Draper could be heard saying. "I may wind up in the morgue in little bits and pieces that go to the crematorium, but I'm not going to jail."
"Could you hear that?" Greer asked Griffith. "If he releases that bomb, we're all dead."
In the next call, Draper demanded the doctor again. He further demanded the doctor arrive "stripped to his shorts" carrying medicine and supplies in a clear plastic bag. "I will not harm the doctor unless I am forced to detonate the bomb while he is present."
Draper later told Greer: "Don't answer any `yes' or `no' questions here. You talk to the man and tell him - you say what I tell you to say."
Draper was fatally shot minutes after the last call ended.
Hebertson, a veteran to radio news, said the calm voices masked the pressure of the situation.
"You don't actually realize what it's like until it really happens," he said.
Salt Lake Police Lt. Marty Vuyk said the radio staff played a very helpful role to police.
"I want a bottle of tequila for this - with the worm in the bottom and everything," Griffith said after the ordeal was over.