Howard Stern yanked off of Clear Channel Stations
 

Here's the article:




Updated: 7:43 p.m. ET Feb. 25, 2004NEW YORK - Shock jock Howard Stern’s show was yanked Wednesday from Clear Channel Communications Inc. radio stations after an incident on his show Tuesday, the first casualty of its zero tolerance policy on indecency.

“It was vulgar, offensive and insulting, not just to women and African Americans but to anyone with a sense of common decency,” Clear Channel Radio Chief Executive John Hogan said in a statement.

“We will not air Howard Stern on Clear Channel stations until we are assured that his show will conform to acceptable standards of responsible broadcasting,” he said.

Clear Channel has about 1,200 stations in the United States. The Stern show was carried in six markets, including Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Florida; Rochester, New York; Louisville, Kentucky; San Diego; and Pittsburgh.

Stern’s show is syndicated by Infinity Broadcasting, a unit of Viacom Inc.

A spokesmen for Infinity was not immediately available for comment and a Viacom spokesman declined comment.

Neither Stern’s agent, nor producers for his New York-based radio program could be immediately reached for comment.

“We have a legal obligation to reject programming that’s inappropriate for the airwaves, irrespective of any contractual relationship,” said a Clear Channel spokesman.




Did anyone listen to the show he got in trouble for? I'd be interested in hearing it. I haven't been able too find a link to it yet.

The whole thing's pretty interesting. The massive Clear Channel show just what they can do when you piss them off. I'm sure Stern did something very offensive. But to be silenced that quickly over such a broad market, it just shows you why Clear Channel's not a good thing for radio.

I listen to Stern everyday. He's not anymore offensive these days than he was last year. Of course he did start criticizing the Government and the FCC on a regular basis lately... perhaps THAT'S why they dropped him.

Yeah, it's weird that he's had stuff like "lord of the anal ring toss," or "it's just wrong" kinda regularly, and they never once said anything before. Then he starts expressing his opinions on the whole FCC thing, and one of the affiliates drop him. Very strange.

Things like the FCC remind me that free speech really isn't that free.

I listen to the whole show everyday and the last few days have been kind of tame...I wonder if it is a Clear Chanel Vs. Infinity thing--maybe trying to get Viacom in some kind of deeper trouble...this whole FCC thing has to go away before we get to be a country that truly has "big Brother" making our decisions for us!!!!

well damn!
if i were him i'd be really cut up about being admonished by Clear Channel. (note the sarcasm)
if i were a radio jock, i'd have absolutely nothing to do with that organisation.

Clear Channel also fired Bubba The Love Sponge this week. :(

He's on right now talking about this... So how is he off the air? :confused:


Well, I think this station isn't Clear Channel owned..

:D (Bubba replaced Dee Snider up in Connecticut, and I hate both Bubba and Clear Channel because of this).

The Bubba incident was a warning shot by the FCC; there was a $755,000 fine. Clear Channel is moving preemptively to make sure they don't get fined again, and Howard Stern is the obvious first move. We'll see how it all shakes out.

Much more useful infromation at Yahoo! News. Exerpt:

"In dropping Stern from its six radio outlets that carry his show, Clear Channel cited his interview on Tuesday with Rick Salomon, the man who was filmed having sex with hotel heiress and TV reality star Paris Hilton in a video widely distributed on Internet porn sites.

"According to a transcript of the show released by San Antonio, Texas-based Clear Channel, Stern asked Salomon if he engaged in anal sex and referred to the size of his penis. Using a racist term, a caller to the show asked Solomon if he had ever had sex with any famous black women. "

so lame. IMHO this is why large corporates shouldn't own too much market share in any one market.

i listen to him every morning because the wife didn't like him. go figure...

she's not into politics so she's a bit confused as to what's happening with this.

I don't like ClearChannel for being a heavy-handed conglomerate, and I don't like Viacom for being political censors after so many years of exhorting young people to be politically active through "Rock the Vote".

It reminds me of a schoolyard fight between two bullies. I want to see the Phys Ed. teacher come out and beat both of their asses.

Edit: Sorry, MoveOn.org doesn't have a front page link to the petition I was mentioning anymore. In short: Viacom executives rejected a political ad that was to run during the Super Bowl because it was "too controversial". The ad was paid for by the public (including the advertising costs to air a commercial during the Super Bowl), and featured children working low-income jobs, with the question at the end: "Guess who's going to pay for Bush's $3 trillion defecit?"

i've put a call into a friend of mine in the SF Clear Channel office to see if she can't give me any "insider" information about it.

interesting that they didn't include the fact that the person ALSO used a slur against Spanish speaking people as well.

And it is getting less free all the time!!!!

We can all thank Janet Jackson for this shit. I say we send her and her sagging breasts to Antarctica.

This is fine with me.
Big companies need to take more responsibility for what is programmed on their airwaves.

^^^^i agree^^^^
Howard Stern is crap radio, i like breasts and talking about sex as much as any body but he just nevers stops.

Sorry to inject politics into this fray, but am I the only one that sees bad omens here? First Janet Jackson shows a boob on T.V. and now the FCC - with the blessing of the Bush Administration - seizes the opportunity to ratchet up censorship of the arts, including the public airways - T.V., radio and next movies. Later, because some 500 gay couples get married in California, Bush again seizes the opportunity and announces he wants a Constitutional amendment (!) banning same sex marriage. Folks, with this type of censorship, these fine pages are not long for this world. Frankly, I don't give a damn about Bush, but I am really afraid of the direction the current administration is pointing this country. Moral minority mentality. If you don't like the Stern show, turn it off. Tell your children that girls have boobs. If you don't like the dancing and the boob flop, explain it to them and why and let them make up their own minds. Make it part of your lives. But federal regulation of our thoughts and civil rights is wrong.

Couldn't agree more!!!
I am outraged that this political regime has decided they need to do the thinking for me and my family!!!!!

Why shouldn't I take the responsibilty for what from the airwaves actually plays in my house?

If I don't like what is coming in I can turn it off. If I sit with my children and actually take an interest in what they are watching or listening to, I can turn it off --or better yet, explain it.

The biggest problem is that what is offensive to some is not offensive to others. I find religious zealots preaching at me highly offensive, yet I don't believe they should not be allowed to preach--I just choose not to listen.

If people took more responsibility for their actions [and their children's] we'd have far less government regulation.

The FCC sets standards and executes them - that's their reason for existing. They are a necessary part of a responsible society.

Corporations make decisions on what they do and they have the responsibility and power to decide who they employ and what they broadcast and publish.

How about discussing the value of the things that violate the FCC standards and staying with the specific issues.

Yeah, i have to say, the strangest part of this whole thing is that they chose to pull him off the air NOW, as opposed to like, any other time during his run.

I suppose it's good that it's happening, I don't think Stern contributes much of anything positive or constructive to the medium, it's pretty pointless.

I absolutely agree with you No surrender. This is the government stepping in and dictating what it views as offensive. It scares me the direction that this administration is taking the country.

Friggin PC shit. I'm sorry, but everyone knows what Howard Stern's show is about, and he is called a SHOCK jock for a reason. If you're easily offended, then don't listen to him. I was so pissed off when he was pulled from Q107 in Toronto.

Amen Brother!

V.

As soon as Clear Channel sees how much money they will lose by pulling these jocks off the air, all will be forgotten. Remember, they have spent billions hiring shock jocks for a reason - $$$$.
Even the government can't stop the power of the almighty dollar.

I listened to a whole dialogue about some pill you can take that will "cleanse your system" - basically a fancy laxative, and an interviews with its doctor inventor, on one of my Clear Channel stations a couple of weeks ago. I haven't heard that much talk or time spent on shit EVER. It was morning drive time too on a station that appeals to 17-24 year old males. Pretty gross while you're trying to slurp down orange juice in traffic. BUT...I kept listening because I was riveted by disgust. I'm sure I heard a couple of commercials in there... Like I said, it's all about the $.

yes but his show hasn't changed in a number of years and even the FCC chairperson before Powell didn't do much to enforce said laws.

right.
The people who oppose the old trends are making themselves heard more clearly now than before and the FCC and corporations are responding.

While I respect what you are saying, i.e. we must have rules to govern a civilized society, I was addressing, albeit through analogy, the issue of those things that violate the FCC standards,and the FCC standards themselves, and voicing my opinion that the FCC standards, that should reflect society's standards, should not be administered in a volitile manner reacting in broad, sweeping fashion to a single "violation". I agree, standards are necessary, but they should not swing like a pendulum based upon the moral views, religious convictions or political affiliations of the reigning President. And that is what I believe we are seeing in the issues being addressed in this forum.

No surrender, understood.
I believe what's happening is simply a response to the outcries of citizens who have had enough and who are making themselves heard. They are also part of the democratic process.

The instantaneous nature of the news as reported makes it seem more precipitous than the progress of the actual policy process. These things will take some time to work themselves through the regulatory system. Clear Channel's decision was made as any corporate decision can be made - as quickly as the significance of the decision warrants.

Does anybody know what the "racist term" was?

here is what i heard on the radio
A guy called asking Howard if "paris Hiulton has sex with niggers and spicks" howard hung up on him, and said "I wonder if paris Hilton is into chicks, has she ever banged a black chick?"

that is what the whole issue is about. The FCC didnt fine him, and even with the 40 second delay in NYC, and the 5 minute delay (plus the fact that is is a rebroadcast) out west.. it didnt get edited.. someone just got their panties up in a knot.

you're the man! thanks!

I swear, if they cut off Elliot in the Morning I'm breakin out my inner Civil Disobedience and am going to crack some heads.
If you don't like what Howard Stern has to say, simply don't watch/listen to his show. This is way different from the Janet Jackson thing, because we didn't know what the hell we were getting. Most of us were like, hmmmm, Super Bowl Halftime... NACHO TIME!!!! For those of us that bothered to watch the show, we got a surprise, something that I thought was too quick to notice, but you stopped and said, "wait... was that a... boob??" Public broadcasting is something completely different from the Clear Channel stations. And it's not like Howard's show was a complete mystery to anybody, oh wow, Howard Stern was lewd and crude today, that's a shocker, never saw that one coming. You know what you're getting when you listen to people like Howard Stern. If you don't like the radio station or the program that is on, hit the dial on you radio, or put a CD in.

amen brother.

Stern was hilarious....in 1985! Too bad it's all the same crap he's been doing for 20 years. Like most shock jocks, he's most entertaining when he has guests on, and least entertaining when he is just killing time.

He needs to just have a "talk show" for televison. Howard have a tv show on HBO and have no limits and restrictions. I am sure that would sell and make money. Personally, i like him and his show.

hes still off (in San Diego) and my morning drive SUCKS ass now...he needs to come back and in a fast way

Sterns been saying this stuff for years. Fuck the FCC

the FCC had nothing to do with it. Clear Channel pulled him without any reasons.

the FCC would have fined him, he could then have recourse of the court system. At this point he does not since no charges have been filed. It was purely for CC to decide on it's own to suddenly "clean up it's act".