Boston's WRKO-AM (680) suspended talk-show host Michael Savage from its airwaves yesterday, as the remarks that ended his MSNBC career rippled through the media universe, sparking debate about the boundaries of taste and decency in the raucous talk-radio culture.

Savage's controversial four-month career as a Saturday afternoon host on the cable news channel ended on Monday, when he was fired for referring to a caller as a ''Sodomite'' and declaring ''you should only get AIDS and die.'' WRKO has carried his widely syndicated radio show since last November.

But in the wake of the outburst, program director Mike Elder suspended Savage ''at least temporarily,'' pending a conversation with the show's syndicators, the Oregon-based Talk Radio Network.

Elder called Savage's remarks ''over the line'' and said ''I think he's probably a homophobe in reality.'' Elder said he planned to make it clear that if he accepted Savage back on the air, any similar incident would be grounds for permanent cancellation.

Mike Lofrano, chief operating officer of Talk Radio Network, said he was not aware of any other station taking action against Savage. ''It's unfortunate that it occurred, but on the radio side, almost all the affiliates have shown their support,'' he said. But it was hard to find anyone willing to defend Savage yesterday. While such ardent foes as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation were applauding MSNBC's decision, the conservative Media Research Center watchdog group also issued a release saying his remarks ''have no place in civilized debate.'' (The MRC did, however, assail the ''hypocrisy'' of a media culture that does not exact punishment from liberals who say ''hateful things about conservatives.'')

On his website and in remarks on the air Monday, Savage -- a best-selling author whose radio show is carried on about 320 stations -- explained his version of events. He said that he was victimized by a ''crank caller'' who made ''vicious personal attacks against me. I immediately signaled and thought that this crank caller was cut from the air, but his insults continued in my earpiece, and I reacted to him personally. . . . Unfortunately now, my personal comments to this crank caller were broadcast on the air.''

Savage added that his remarks were ''not meant to reflect my views of the terrible tragedy and suffering associated with AIDS,'' and he offered apologies to his ''many listeners in the gay community . . . for any inadvertent insults.''

Bob Foster, a California man who regularly makes prank calls, has been identified as the individual who elicited Savage's ill-fated MSNBC response. In a brief Globe interview yesterday, Foster said his call had nothing to do with gay issues, but noted that ''if he's making those kind of comments, those aren't right.''

For his part, Elder was skeptical of Savage's explanation, noting that ''if you've been in broadcasting as long as [Savage has], you know if your lines are live or dead. I have trouble buying that.''

Savage's MSNBC implosion might not surprise anyone who has followed the rise of this incendiary talk-show host, whose ''Savage Nation'' is a place where immigrants are compared to geese ''defecating on your country'' and the left is said to be populated by ''power-mad psychopaths.'' His brand of scorched-earth commentary attracted a total weekly radio audience of more than six million listeners. With his book ''The Savage Nation,'' which made it to the top of the New York Times nonfiction list, and his MSNBC showcase, which debuted in March, Savage appeared to have hit the media trifecta in publishing, radio, and television.

Yesterday, with the cable program up in flames, the question was how much collateral damage Savage had done to the rest of his media empire. Even with the anything-goes radio attitude, there are job-ending offenses, as shock jocks Opie & Anthony proved after being fired in 2002 for a show in which they featured a couple allegedly having sex in New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Yet despite WRKO's decision to silence Savage for a minimum of a few days, industry observers believe he can survive on the radio. GLAAD launched an energetic campaign against Savage's cable television show. But GLAAD spokesman Michael Young indicated yesterday that no such effort was likely on the radio front. ''Radio is a little different,'' he said. ''They're not positioning themselves as journalistic enterprises.''

Talkers magazine publisher Michael Harrison ventured that the MSNBC furor ''will have no impact on [Savage's] career. There are enormous differences between radio and television.

''In today's corporate culture, they want ratings and revenue, and they have no shame. If the heat [of a controversy] supercedes the talent, then they fire the talent. If the talent supercedes the heat, they slap the talent on the wrist, pay the fine, and consider that the cost of doing business.''

Mark Jurkowitz's column on the media appears on Wednesday. He can be reached at jurkowitz@globe.com.