Howard Stern Officially Dumped
 

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...rn_9&printer=1


Howard Stern Dropped After FCC Threat

WASHINGTON - Federal regulators Thursday proposed $495,000 in indecency fines against Clear Channel Communications for broadcasts by Howard Stern, prompting the nation's largest radio chain to drop the country's best-known shock jock.

Clear Channel suspended Stern in February from its six stations that carry his program, which regularly features graphic sexual discussion and humor. It decided to make the move permanent after the Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) cited the chain for 18 alleged violations from Stern's April 9, 2003, show.

"Mr. Stern's show has created a great liability for us and other broadcasters who air it," said John Hogan, president of Clear Channel Radio. "The Congress and the FCC (news - web sites) are even beginning to look at revoking station licenses. That's a risk we're just not willing to take."

In a statement posted on his Web site, Stern said he was not surprised by the fine. He characterized it as furtherance of a "witch hunt" against him by the Bush administration.

"It is pretty shocking that governmental interference into our rights and free speech takes place in the U.S.," he said. "It's hard to reconcile this with the 'land of the free' and the 'home of the brave.'"

The FCC investigation was prompted by a listener in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who complained about a Stern program that included discussion of sex accompanied by flatulence sounds.

Federal law bars radio stations and over-the-air television channels from airing references to sexual and excretory functions between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., when children may be tuning in. The rules do not apply to cable and satellite channels or satellite radio.

The FCC imposed the maximum fine of $27,500 for each of 18 violations on six Clear Channel stations: WBGG in Fort Lauderdale; WTKS-FM in Cocoa Beach, Fla.; WTFX-FM in Louisville, Ky.; KIOZ in San Diego; WNVE in Honeoye Falls, N.Y.; and WSDS-FM in Pittsburgh.

The FCC fined each station for two specific incidents during a single program, the first time the commission has done so. Previously, the FCC levied fines for an entire program, no matter how many different indecent utterances occurred.

Commissioner Michael Copps, who usually dissents from indecency decisions because he says the penalties aren't strong enough, was part of a unanimous commission this time.

"I have long advocated that the commission use all of the tools it has to tackle indecency on the public airwaves," he said. "Today's decision is a step forward towards imposing meaningful fines."

Last month, the FCC proposed fining Stern's employer, Infinity Broadcasting, $27,500 for a Stern show broadcast July 26, 2001, on WKRK-FM in Detroit. The show featured discussions about sexual practices and techniques.

Infinity paid $1.7 million in 1995 to settle various violations by Stern. The Center for Public Integrity, a watchdog group, said fines against Stern accounted for almost half of the $4 million in penalties proposed by the FCC since 1990.

Stern has charged on the air that he's being punished for his criticism of President Bush (news - web sites). Clear Channel's political action committee and its employees have given $265,800 to Republicans for the 2004 election, more than any other broadcaster, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group.

"You've got to vote Bush out to send a message as a Howard Stern fan," Stern said during one recent broadcast. "There's a cultural war going on. The religious right is winning. We're losing."

A conservative advocacy group, the Parents Television Council, applauded the FCC's decision.

"Stern is a repeat offender of the most commonsense decency standards and we welcome the news that the FCC is moving to combat these patently indecent shows," said L. Brent Bozell III, the group's president.

Seems pretty cut and dried...

lame

Dont even get me started on this bullshit. If ANYONE should be looked at more closely, it should be Clear Channel for proffiting off of Howard Stern for the last several years. The FCC is just using Howard as a scapegoat, and Clear Channel gives him up as their proverbial 'get out of ail free card' to escape the fines they were threatened with, and to keep their politican friends happy. Its a big fucking joke.

Now that's fuckin with my money:feels-hot :feels-hot :feels-hot

Theres money to be made they are gonna come down hard on anything they think is bad

if it was so cut and dried he would have been removed from the air YEARS ago, don't you think? Its not like there's ever been a time when Howard has been safe from scrutiny -- its just now, the political atmosphere is so cray that the FCC feels it can finally get rid of him. We can all thank Janet Jackson's boob for this. :)

Stern should cut a deal with XM radio.

:BangBang:

Such horseshit.

The good thing is that is only Clear Channel that dumped him; at least Viacom has said it will stick by him. And who knows - in the past, all the controversy has only HELPED Stern.

The title is misleading. He was just officialy dumped from the 6 stations he was already suspsended from.


He wasnt touched before because he made a ton of money. The shows quality has been getting bad, and hes been counting the days till his contract is up. He has no future in broadcast radio, so no reason to protect him any more.

It's more about the anti-bush talk then any other things right now I think

http://www.minuteporn.com/cat.jpg

we haven't seen the last of him thats for sure

the transcript in question:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/graphic...408043fcc1.gif

more here: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0408043fcc1.html

Wait, he doesn't still make a ton of money? You mean, he's not still the number one rated show in his time slot? :glugglug

Howard's Response To The FCC's Actions:

http://www.howardstern.com

"This is not a surprise. This is a follow up to the McCarthy type "witch hunt" of the administration and the activities of this group of presidential appointees in the FCC, led by "Colin Powell Jr." and his band of players. They and others (a senator from Kansas City to a congresswoman from New Mexico) are expressing and imposing their opinions and rights to tell us all who and what we may listen to and watch and how we should think about our lives. So this is not a surprise. It is pretty shocking that governmental interference into our rights and free speech takes place in the U.S. It's hard to reconcile this with the "land of the free" and the "home of the brave". I'm sure what's next is the removal of "dirty pictures" like the 20th century German exhibit in a New York City Museum and the erotic literature in our libraries; they too will fall into their category of "evil" as well.



Howard Stern, April 8th 2004

Land of the what?
Home of the who?

Yeah, keep whinning and do nothing...:thumbsup

Stern will end up being on XM radio :2 cents:

XM radio with an uncensored video feed on howardstern.com (subscription only!)

Howard couldn't buy this kind of publicity for $495,000!

big deal he still gets away with a lot

. The shows quality has been getting bad, and hes been counting the days till his contract is up

...............

What does that have to do with free speech?

I've been running sites since 1996 and have never even THOUGHT about the government before. I do now.

They will crack down on the Internet next. They don't care if the
Netherlands or wherever allows porn. They don't want it ran from
here. Why doesn't everyone and their brother run casino sites?

Because they're banned in the us. Good luck running porn sites
even offshore once they're illegal.

I don't suggest fighting the new world order though. Accept it.
I personally am investing in real estate though before shit hits the fan. I don't think paysites are even near safe.

I'm not paranoid either, I can see porn sites lasting forever too. But at this point I can see either way being plausible.

What I would really like to know is if people like FLYNT digital and what not. The huge corporations already have offshore contingency plans. If they do, then I want some too..:)

Anyone know what LARRY is planning for the future. He is probably already offshore anyways??

You missed the point entirely, didn't you??

I'm so fucking furious with what this administration is doing... I've never been political at ALL before but this is ridiculous.

Its a sad day in free speech.

we are next folks

Isn't it funny that suddenly Clear Channel is all about "family values" when they're helping to urge the government to ease media ownership regulations?

:(

so fucking true

:glugglug

Fuck bush Fuck Fcc

about a week ago stern was talking about a show Oprah had on where she talked about almost exactly the same topic. If you go to his website you can listen to both his and her shows. Somehow he gets fined and nothing is said about her eventhough, when you listen to it, the Oprah stuff is actually more graphic.

Infinity paid $1.7 million in 1995 to settle various violations by Stern.

Was bush in charge then mental midgets?

:Graucho

The Oprah Winfrey Show Transcript

Thursday, March 18, 2004


Clip One

Oprah: Lets talk about that secret language Michelle.
Michelle: Yes
Oprah: I didn't know any of this
Michelle: I have yea, I have gotten a whole new vocabulary let me tell ya
Oprah: I did not know any of this
Michelle: Salad tossing, cucumbers, lettuce tomatoes ok
Oprah: ok so so what is a salad toss?
Michelle: ok a tossed salad is, get ready hold on to your underwear for this one, oral anal
sex, So oral sex with the anus is what that would be.

Clip Two

Michelle: a rainbow party is an oral sex party it's a gathering where oral sex is performed and
rainbow comes from all of the girls put on lipstick and each one puts her mouth around
the penis of the gentleman or gentlemen who are there to receive favors and makes
a mark um in a different place on the penis hence the term rainbow

Not a problem. They plan to take on soaps to.

use fire.

use your brain.

use books.

use the ropes they try to hang you with.

:glugglug

fuck howard.. he's a tool.

If he moves to Satellite, it will more than likely be Sirius, because Clean Channel Owns shares with XM and the last thing we wants to do is make money for the company that didn't help him at all...

I hope he doesn't go, but it might be so...

You may or may not like the man himself, but you have to agree that this is scary no matter how you slice it :2 cents:

time to buy some stock!

So is he off the air, or just on 6 stations?

Z

Just the six Clear Channel stations.

FCC is considering going after Viacom (the rest of the stations Howard is on) over the same broadcast.

while the Bush supporters avoid this kind of thread like a plague, let me play devil's advocate. You don't think the same shit would be happening under Kerry or Clinton (I HATE this fucking argument, because how do you combat it?). Bottom line, if any of you Bushies are thinking of posting this lame excuse for an argument, is that Bush is supported by, and supports, the religious right. The democrats are neither supported by, or support, the religious right. ALL politicians get money from big companies, but you have to look at WHERE they're getting that money from...this is what informs most of their decisions.

Personally I don't have a problem with it. I like listening to Howard, but its just not appropriate for public airwaves the time it comes on.

Many times I would listen to it and think that they push the envelope for the sake of being crude, and if they would just clean it up a bit the show wouldn't come under fire at all.

I think thats the fault of Stern. Hes a guy that pushes boundaries hard and its not easy for his employers to reign him in 1. because he has such an aggressive personality and 2. they have had to kiss his ass because hes such a cash cow.

Now that the writing is on the wall with his contract fast coming up, hes just not as valuable of a commodity thats worth protecting any more.


I think a lot of the fans just have a hard time of accepting the enevitable that hes not going to be doing a radio show anymore in the near future.



Carlin explains it best

"These bursts of interest and decency are just like when you're in the Air Force, Army and Marines, whatever -- the discipline in your unit may get a little lax, people live with it, it's fine for months at a time then some colonel notices it and suddenly they crack down ... enforcing all the minor rules and regulations. Then what happens after these bursts of bothering people, that wears off and we get back to normal, relaxed discipline, but things still get done."