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Howard Stern Returns to San Diego (July 21, 2004)Monday was the first day since February that San Diegans last heard Howard Stern on KIOZ. That day, his show returned to five of the six markets where his show was once carried on a Clear Channel owned station. Stern wasted no time in bashing Clear while insisting that the reason his show was pulled was because Stern is pro-Kerry and Clear is pro-Bush, and that the FCC is after Stern because he is anti-Bush. Just last week, Clear Channel nixed an Anti-Bush billboard, only to reinstate it the following day, further proof to Howard that Clear is in the business of censoring the opposition.Stern said it was "a miracle that we are back on the air in these markets. I didn't think it would happen." He thanked Infinity President/COO Joel Hollander and Viacom co-President/co-COO Les Moonves for standing up and making the move, and revealed that "Infinity and Viacom weren't going to put us back on in those markets" until his agent, Don Buchwald, sat down with them to hammer out a package deal. Moonves said he was hopeful that Stern would renew his contract with Infinity Broadcast Inc., the Viacom unit that syndicates his ribald radio show. "For those of you who were away for so long, we rejoice!" said Stern, updating his long time listeners that were hearing the show for the first time since February. "Those scumbags at Clear Channel blew us out of the water for no apparent reason. They just bowed to the FCC, bowed to George W. Bush. I was thrown off not because of anything indecent or obscene, but because I told people not to vote for Bush. And that's the bottom line. So we're back." Stern's first two callers this morning were from markets where he was once on Clear Channel outlets -- San Diego (where it was shortly after 3am) and Pittsburgh (where the bars were open early for listening parties). He also talked about his new message board that had a meltdown due to too many visitors through his website howardstern.com. They hit the air at 3 am live on the new San Diego affilliate, Infinity O&O KPLN 103.7, and then at 6am, the show restared for the benefit of people waking up at that hour. The show ended at about 11:02am. Stern gave the Planet a mention in the first half hour of the broadcast. Some of the words were bleeped out during the five-hour broadcast, though I'm not sure if the bleeps were on the syndicator side or the local station side. Infinity has sued Clear Channel for $10 million for breaking Stern's contract, and also is talking tough with the FCC, vowing a court fight if the FCC hits it with an expected $1.5 million fine for more obscenity charges. In 1995, Infinity paid $1.75 million in FCC fines. In a related story, Clear Channel recently countersued Howard Stern and his distributor, Infinity Broadcasting, claiming that Stern breached his contract (huh?) by airing indecent programs. |