Tarzana's PARS-TV Gets Word Out to Iran

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Hedjazi only came to the station a month ago -- just in time for the controversial elections generating the recent conflict. Back in Iran, he'd had a show on a nationally owned radio station in Iran TK TEHRAN?, where he was director of planning and budget at Free University. Then, with the Shah patrolling the airwaves, nothing could be said against him or his family.

In 1979, when it became clear that Khomeini would take power, he came to the United States and applied for U.S. citizenship. With the expected flood of migrants after the revolution, he was given just one month to move his belongings from Iran. After the country stabilized, he hopped on the first flight back, hoping to get a feel for how it had changed.

He was immediately turned off when he saw a former colleague donned in a headscarf rather than her traditional mini-skirt. “I realized that everything I was thinking or hoping was nonsense,” Hedjazi said. “It’s not going to matter.”

Back in the states, and in Los Angeles, he opened up a pizza place to “survive.” When it failed, he became a contractor and soon launched his own business, which he still owns, called Abstract Construction.

In 1999, he finally returned to the radio -- at the Iranian station KRIN, where he hosted one of the only political talk shows for the entertainment-focused station and eventually became program director. But even then he was not allowed to offer his own opinion -- having to rely on his guests instead. 

“I had a lot of differences with the general manager,” Hedjazi said. “He didn't know anything about the culture, didn't speak Farsi, he had people around him that were misleading him about the whole situation.”

When the station finally let him go, it gave Hedjazi the chance to put on the type of show he has always wanted. “This is the continuation of the same show I had on the radio, but with more liberty to talk about different issues.”

As a result of the situation in the country following last week's elections, he said, “I'm almost up 24 hours a day to follow the news that comes out from Iran -- and all of us here are hoping it gets somewhere.”

On top of his heavy workload, his first month also brought his first threatening phone call. A supporter of Iranian Prime Minister Mahmoud Ahamadinejad hounded the station for an hour before Hedazi put him on-air -- and then the caller overwhelmed him with obscenities and physical threats.

While the tone of the call may have been upsetting, Hedjazi is happy to finally have critics -- a sign that he finally has an opportunity to speak his mind.

“People are trying to use this as a window of opportunity, which is a huge window, to get rid of this kind of regime that has been repressive,” he said.

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