NEW YORK, Jan 25: A New York radio station apologized on Monday for repeatedly airing a "joke" song that ridiculed victims of the recent tsunami in Asia and used racial slurs, saying the piece was in poor taste.

New York FM radio station WQHT, or HOT 97, ran the segment on its "Miss Jones in the Morning" show. The piece used racial slurs to describe people swept away in the disaster, made jokes about child slavery and people watching their mothers die.

"You can hear God laughing, 'Swim you bitches swim,'" was one line in the song. The hip-hop and R&B station, known for its "shock jocks", apologized on its website, saying it, "regrets the airing of material that made light of a serious and tragic event. We apologize to our listeners and anyone who was offended."

WQHT's programme director and deejay Tarsha Nicole Jones, who uses the on-air name Miss Jones, apologized on the programme and said the segment should not have been broadcast.

The piece drew wide criticism from Albany to New York's City Hall, with many lawmakers calling on the US Federal Communications Commission to fine HOT 97. "At a time when virtually the entire world has come together to help in the tsunami tragedy relief, employees of HOT 97 have come up with this song," said New York State Assembly member Jimmy Meng, a Democrat from Queens.

"We are disgusted and demand immediate action by the FCC." The piece was also denounced by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, which said it had received calls from Muslims offended by the piece. -Reuters