Update: Howard Stern Vents on the Air (Feb 26, 2004)

Clear Channel's president and CEO, John Hogan, said that Howard Stern's morning radio show would not air until officials at the corporation headquarters in Austin, Texas, are assured it will conform to acceptable broadcasting standards.

"They are so afraid of me and what this show represents," he said. Stern's show is still being carried on stations owned by a rival radio network, Infinity Broadcasting, that distributes it to major markets nationwide including KLSX 97.1 in Los Angeles. In 1995, Infinity paid the largest cumulative FCC fine to date, $1.7 million, for various violations by Stern's radio show.

In 1995, what was then Noble broadcasting began airing Howard Stern on Mexico's 91X, but two years later, after the Mexican government criticized Jacor (then operator of 91X) after Howard commented on Mexico as a third-world nation on one of the Mexican-owned stations, being 91X, Jacor moved Stern over to Rock 105.3 which it just bouught from a defunct radio company.

Clear Channel's president and CEO, John Hogan, said in a news release Wednesday. "It was vulgar, offensive and insulting, not just to women and African-Americans but to anyone with a sense of common decency."

Stern said Thursday morning near the beginning of his show that he wasn't even sure he should talk about indecent content

"I could blow my stack, but ... ," Stern said, trailing off. "A caller used the N word, and I hung up on him."

Hogan was scheduled to testify along with top officials from television networks at the second congressional hearing this month on broadcast indecency in the wake of the exposure of Janet Jackson's breast during the Super Bowl halftime show Feb. 1.

"Janet Jackson is now forgotten and I'm on the front page of every newspaper," said Stern. "I can't imagine the pressure they're putting on this guy."

Clear Channel said Stern's show would not air until officials are assured it will conform to acceptable broadcasting standards.

More on Morning Show Fallout (Feb 26, 2004)

Also: Bubba the Love Sponge is off XM, too. The reason Bubba's off the satellite is that XM has been taking its feed directly from WXTB, Tampa and airing it live on its "Extreme" channel - a stream dedicated to radio morning shows. But the Bubba feed from Clear Channel's 98 Rock is gone, so XM is looking at its options.

From sdn: could Bob and Tom also be under scrutiny from Clear Channel? Their popular morning show is heard on over 120 stations nationwide (none in Southern California, but three radio stations are broadcasting it on the Internet). They have been known to play some raunchy material such as "Enormous Penis" and "The Scrotum Song." Stay tuned.

Clear Channel's New Indency Policy Debut (Feb 26, 2004)

The policy comes the day after the San Antonio company announced the firing of Bubba the Love Sponge, the raunchy deejay whose sexually explicit morning show antics prompted a proposed $755,000 fine from the Federal Communications Commission last month. The show he hosted did not fit its standards.

"Clear Channel is serious about helping address the rising tide of indecency on the airwaves," Mark Mays, president and chief operating officer, said in a statement. "As broadcast licensees, we are fully responsible for what our stations air, and we intend to make sure all our DJs and programmers understand what is and what is not appropriate on Clear Channel radio shows."

Mays said the company will institute a zero-tolerance policy for indecent content, which will include company-wide training and automatic suspensions for anyone that the FCC alleges has violated indecency rules on the air.

"If the FCC accuses us of wrongdoing by issuing a proposed fine, we will take immediate action," Mays said. "We will suspend the DJ in question, and perform a swift investigation. If we or the government ultimately determine the offending broadcast is indecent, the DJ will be terminated without delay."

John Hogan, Chief Executive Officer of Clear Channel Radio added, "If a DJ is found to be in violation of FCC rules, there will be no appeals and no intermediate steps. If they break the law by broadcasting indecent material, they will not work for Clear Channel."

In addition, the company announced that all of its contracts with on-air performers are being modified to ensure that DJs share financial responsibility if they utter indecent material on the air.

"From now on, every contract that Clear Channel enters into with on-air talent will include this provision," said John Hogan, chief executive officer of Clear Channel Radio. "While that won't relieve Clear Channel from our responsibility as a broadcast licensee, we believe it will have a significant deterrent effect on indecent content."

Reiterating its call for a "Decency Task Force," Clear Channel also has volunteered to fully participate with other representatives of the broadcast, cable and satellite industries to develop an industry-wide response to indecency and violence in the media.

"In our view, industry-developed guidelines should be as effective as Government-imposed regulations without running afoul of the First Amendment protections that we all respect," said Hogan.

Station group also pulls Howard Stern from its stations

In a related story, Clear Channel Radio has suspended the broadcast of Viacom's syndicated Howard Stern show (heard in San Diego on KIOZ "Rock 105.3") in an act that was consistent with its Responsible Broadcasting Initiative announced earlier today.

Clear Channel also dropped Stern's show from the airwaves of WBGG Miami, WNVE Rochester, WTKS Orlando, WXDX Pittsburgh, and WTFX Louisville, KY according to allaccess.com.

After assessing the content of yesterday's Howard Stern show, Clear Channel worked with local market managers to take swift and decisive action.

"Clear Channel drew a line in the sand today with regard to protecting our listeners from indecent content and Howard Stern's show blew right through it," said John Hogan, president and CEO of Clear Channel Radio. "It was vulgar, offensive, and insulting, not just to women and African Americans but to anyone with a sense of common decency. 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," Hogan said.

Clear Channel Communications, Inc., headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, is a global leader in the media and entertainment industry with radio and television stations, outdoor advertising displays, and live entertainment venues in 65 countries around the world.

"Howard Stern" continues to be heard on Viacom's owned and operated KLSX 97.1 out of Los Angeles, but there is no word if Viacom's own policy on "zero tolerance" inspired Clear Channel to do the same a day later.

See us on the web at www.clearchannel.com

From FMQB:
Stern Decries "The business has changed"

On his second day back from vacation, Howard Stern is sounding increasingly frustrated with the reality of the consequences from the FCC's indecency crackdown. "The business has changed," he decried this morning moments before unleashing on his favorite whipping boy, WXRK/New York GM Tom Chiasano, about the restrictions being placed on his show and the atmosphere that he is currently working in.

"I'm not who I am," Stern declared. "You are bleeping who I am. I've got Dead Air Dave bleeping me. I've got you hovering and yelling at people. You're lecturing my staff and making everyone nuts. I can't even do damage control with what you are up to. When you lecture people and walk around and create an environment where people are scared, I can't get creativity out of that. You're as bad as the FCC."

"You may not believe this, but I don't like this anymore than you do," Chiasano, who was in the studio to discuss a scheduled sitdown between Stern and Viacom COO Mel Karmazin about last week's Infinity indecency edict, said in his defense. Stern alleged the meeting was forced upon him at the behest of the K-Rock GM. The sitdown with Karmazin was presumably called off when Stern scheduled a meeting with Chiasano for later this week.

When The Howard Stern Show returned to live action yesterday (2/23) after a week of vacation, Stern admitted he had yet to hear firsthand from Karmazin about last week's indecency edict imposed upon Infinity radio stations. He went on to say it isn't fair that he could lose his job because the FCC thinks something is wrong with his show's content. The notion that under Karmazin's edict, PDs and GMs will be held accountable for their air talents' actions didn't sit well with Stern either, though he did joke that the prospect of getting Chiasano axed could be worth it.

Also, amidst all the talk about Stuttering John's surprise announcement that he's exiting for a gig on the Tonight Show, Stern also found out that his show is now on four separate delays for a total of 90 seconds.

Howard Stern USENET Talk (Feb 26, 2004)

posted by Tina:
I know you asked Billie but I heard the show today. The only thing I can think of that they "objected" to was when he started talking about the Janet Jackson "boobgate" incident. He was making fun of a congresswoman who spoke about how traumatized her son was over seeing a woman's breast on tv - and Howard said that the first time he saw a woman's bare breast...in National Geographic. It was of an African woman with the long tubular boobs. Clear Channel is really reaching if describing a naked tribal woman in National Geographic is considered "obscene".

From Matt Drudge www.drudge.com:
This is what Drudge and the Stern Fan Network are saying as the reason: "The action comes after CC executives reviewed comment made on Stern's Tuesday program, including an on-air caller's comments: 'Ever b**g a famous n***er chick? What do they smell like? Watermelons?' Just as... CC's President/CEO John Hogan will appear as a witness at tomorrow morning's House Telecommunications Subcommittee hearing on broadcast decency..."

From JMS Barber:
If you want to write or call Clear and ask them why they only got rid of Stern *after* he began criticizing Republicans, here is their contact information:
Phone 1-210-822-2828 Public Relations lisacdollinger@clearchannel.com

Also from Barber: It probably is not a coincedence that Clear (which is owned and operated by big Republicans) yanked him off the air days after he began heavily criticizing Bush and criticizing the anti-marriage amendment.

in alt.gossip.celebrities.

From Weasel1 on Ryan Seacrest: ok mabye its me but I doubt it. Tonight on american idol he made some smart ass remark about paper or plastic like you have to be a loser to work at a grocery store... Nice especially with 70,000 grocery workers out on strike or lock out in californai right now. Surely he is now on the most hated scab list- by all grocery workers. He being the ultimate scab- RIP Rick Dees

From alt.radio.broadcasting.

Posted by Truth: He has been making a lot of anti-Bush statements lately. Clear Channel, controlled by Colin Powell's son at the FCC, and who was responsible for staging and organizing the "pro-war" demonstrations last year in exchange for more station license approvals, was told to pull the plug on Stern after his recent verbal attacks on Bush during his show. Anyone know if Bubba the Love Sponge was also making any anti-Bush remarks before he was pulled?

And there's even more ranting about it in another USENET newsgroup alt.fan.howard-stern. Check it out.

From Roland Deodorant: "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 a**l sex and referred to the size of his p***s. Using a racist term, a caller to the show asked Solomon if he had ever had sex with any famous black women," in a discussion titled "This is why he was booted from clearchannel."

Miss Howard Stern? Download His Shows

Go to USENET's alt.binaries.howard-stern and download the shows there. Hurry, depending on your ISP, the posts will last anywhere from several hours to a week.

Clear Channel Fires Bubba the Love Sponge 2-24-04!

The Federal Communications Commission cracking down on indecency on the radio last month had recently proposed a $755,000 fine against Clear Channel because of sexual material broadcast during a "Bubba the Love Sponge" program on WXTB-FM in Tampa and three other Florida radio stations.

"We recognize the importance of understanding and airing content that is consistent with the standards and sensibilities of the local communities that we serve," Clear Channel said in a written statement.

U.S. law bars the airing of obscene speech and limits the broadcasting of material with sexual or excretory references. Lawmakers are proposing dramatically increasing fines for violating the limits.

"Bubba the Love Sponge," who had legally changed his name from Todd Clem, was fined $23,000 by the FCC in 1998 for airing indecent material. Two years ago, he was acquitted of animal cruelty charges after a pig was castrated and killed during one of his broadcasts.

"Bubba" was heard on 93.3 FM in San Diego (in a satellite-delivered simulcast originating from WFLZ, also on 93.3, in Florida, when both stations were once owned by Jacor Communications before CC bought the company) during the spring and summer of 1996 when new studios for what is now Channel 933 were being built in the old Noble building near Sea World. Channel 933 went local and live on September 1 that year. Bubba was no longer heard on the station after the format change to pop dance, and no reports of Bubba's indecent material were realized during that time locally.

STERN's take on BUBBA THE LOVE SPONGE's firing: "He should be fired because he sucks -- he's a ripoff artist." STERN added that "if you want to get some guys fired as a goof, tape the shows and when there's something the slightest bit raunchy, send it to COLIN POWELL's son ... in fact, do it to me." STERN went on to suggest that President BUSH is to blame and is "mentally ill," and told a caller to send e-mails to Congress and the Senate supporting free speech.

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