RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Media This is fucked up (PC POLICE GET HOWARD STERN)

Shock Jock Howard Stern Pulled Off Air
By JONATHAN D. SALANT, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The nation's largest radio station chain announced Wednesday it was suspending shock jock Howard Stern's radio show after issuing new rules to limit indecency and address criticism of what airs on TV and radio.

Clear Channel Radio said it suspended broadcast of Stern's show after assessing the content of his show Tuesday.

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

Hogan said the show would not air on Clear Channel stations until officials are assured it will conform to acceptable broadcasting standards.

Attempts to reach Stern's spokesman for comment late Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Under pressure from regulators and lawmakers, some TV networks are delaying live broadcasts to delete offensive material and doing more to let parents know how they can block specific programs. The National Association of Broadcasters says it will hold a conference on indecency next month.

The rules issued by Clear Channel Communications came on the eve of the second congressional hearing this month on broadcast indecency. Hogan is scheduled to testify along with top officials from TV networks.

Congress is considering increasing the maximum fine for indecency from $27,500 to $275,000, a move that the Federal Communications Commission endorsed even before the tumult over singer Janet Jackson's exposed breast during the nationally televised Super Bowl halftime show.

"In the history of broadcast indecency, there have been these moments where it makes headlines," said Jeremy Lipschultz, a professor of communication at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. "In the short term, broadcasters become much more careful. You're going to see people playing it safe. The long-term problem is the same one we've had, which is it's very difficult in the end to precisely define what is indecent or not. "

Under FCC rules and federal law, radio stations and over-the-air television channels cannot air material containing 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 and satellite radio.

Clear Channel's new policy includes companywide training about indecency, possible fines against DJs, and automatic suspensions for anyone accused by the FCC of violating indecency rules on the air, company officials said.

The initiative came one day after the company fired the DJ known as "Bubba the Love Sponge," whose show drew an FCC-record fine of $755,000. The program aired in four Florida cities and included graphic discussions about sex and drugs "designed to pander to, titillate and shock listeners," the FCC said.

"Clear Channel is serious about helping address the rising tide of indecency on the airwaves," said Mark Mays, president and chief operating officer. "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."

Mel Karmazin, president of Viacom Inc., discussed indecency issues during a conference call last week with officials and station managers of the company's Infinity Broadcasting radio subsidiary. Infinity, which owns 120 stations, asked them to increase efforts to avoid indecent programming, such as using a seven-second delay on shows with live talk, spokesman Dana McClintock said.

Infinity, owned by Viacom, in 1995 paid the largest cumulative fine to date, $1.7 million, for various violations by Stern.

Surely everyone knows what to expect from Howard Stern by now. How can you suddenly suspend him for something he's been doing for years.

I've heard of Clear Channel - aren't they one of the reasons why American radio is so generic?

yeah, my favorite morning radio show The Dawn Patrol on WEBN, is prolly not much longer for this worl, its on a CC station which bought up all the cincy stations and they constantly tell funny jokes and whatnot and make fun of CC policies, i look for them to get the hook soon, the rest of CC shit in the city is cookie cutter bland....

This is all so very Orwellian...

the fat guy who used to sell wine?

Click here to tell CC where to go...

i aint getting banned!

oh no!

not on my watch.

this shit has gone on too far.

i will personally fix this issue.

bring me the head of the old man gordon! my truncheon will carry it through the streets!

I wonder if Mancow would be next.

Llance?

this thread is about things that are upsetting

Similar thing happened over here many years ago with Benny Hill on tv.
His tv show had been going for years and nobody complained about it being offensive or rude (some complained it wasnt funny,but thats a different story) as it was mainly just innuendo and a few women in their underwear,but tv execs decided to ban him from tv one day cause he was "offensive".
Benny went to the USA for a while & found a reasonable degree of sucess so finally British tv said "Oh,we better get him back then!" so Benny got the last laugh by dying soon after!

Is this really a PC issue? My own suspicion is that it's more right wing moralising than anything connected to liberalism. Clear Channel are the bunch who were doing their best to destroy the Dixie Chicks' careers last year, are they not? Doesn't really strike me as a liberal attitude, and neither does getting this het up about Janet Jackson's tit:

(That's Janet's tit on the right...)

Very likely, Rob. Clear Channel picking up an oppurtunity to screw over somebody they dislike, perhaps?

i dunno. i think, more likely, its clear channel (specifically that john hogan guy) simply trying to save its own ass.

its a witch trial right now.

they showed some clips of the court cases or hearings (or whatever they are) from yesterday, where they put hogan on the spot. in his defense, its just as intimidating as the "are you a communist" scenarios.

if you defend stern and free speech, you're the scum of society and a pornographer and you get yourself in trouble.

if you fuel their fire and relent and drop the stern show, you're a good guy and a team player. the FCC approves, and will let slide other shit you do later on.

the FCC is a monster that has been attacking at will for decades -- the janet jackson superbowl deal just blew the whole thing up, and put it in the spotlight, making the FCC attack under the guise of being "the good guy," just looking out for the public.

meanwhile, stern's daily fans, numbering in the 20-30 million range, seemed to be doing just fine as a representative of "the public"

In fact, I'm not sure Stern isn't a Republican, albeit a moderate to liberal one.

Stern was born and raised in Nassau County, Long Island which was, until very recently, the most republican county in New York State. Stern is a friend and was a supporter of former GOP Senator Al D'Amato. He endorsed Republicans Christie Todd Whitman and George Pataki for the governorships of, respectively, New Jersey and New York, and was a participant in both their inaugerations.

He also endorsed Republican Michael Bloomberg for Mayor of New York and Rick Lazio for Senator (all but Lazio won their races). He has called fromer Mayor Rudy Guiliani the best mayor in the history of New York.

and at the same time, he's for gay marriage, and thinks bush is an idiot for being against it. he hated giuliani for removing the strip clubs, but loved him for getting rid of the squeegy people (guys that run into the street and wash your car windows...before you ask).

howard is really justa guy, who likes and hates reps on both sides.

i do not think the decision at all was politically motivated. i do think (and expect) that it will be politically spun, however.

its election year the popular thing is cleaning up the airwaves this will die down after November, sadly with prolly amny shakeups on peoples radio dial....


...WEBN has been making fun of their owners clear channel all day, on the way home they were playing that,puddle of mud song"i like the way you smack my ass" and the dj said he just wanted to explain incase anyone was confused they were refering to kissing a donkey, as clear channel clearly prohibits violence and sexual innuendo.

It's Clear Channel's way of sucking off the current administration so they'll look the other way when CC defies regulation for how many stations in one market a company can own. They're hypocrites at best, common thieves more accurately. It cracks me up that they'll "suspend" their highest-rated performer, losing tons of advertising dollars, to show how "moral" they are. Fuck you Clear Channel.

That said, it's amazing: For a guy who's suspended and taken off the air in all of Clear Channel's stations, he sounded pretty damn good today...

I was surprised at that, too. He's been more upset this week at Jay Leno for signing away Stuttering John.

i think everyone can agree Leno is a bigger threat to entertainment than the FCC. and if they wanna go after someone for obscenity, why not fire Leno for all that ass kissing?

Is Leno's whole thing not selling advertising deals?

On the other hand, maybe this isn't such a big deal....for now.

It looks like Stern was "fired" off of only six radio stations out of the hundreds owned by Clear Channel (Fort Lauderdale, Rochester, Orlando, San Diego, Pittsburgh, and Louisville).

This could mean that Howard can move to a rival station in those markets and pick up where he left off.

Either way, it was a dumbass move on CC's part, IMHO. It's not like they didn't know what they were buying when they put him on the air.

Never mind that. Stern can look after himself. Was it Clear Channel who were trying to fuck over the Dixie Chicks or not? This is something it's worth clearing up before canning Stern gets blamed on wet liberals.

Yes, it was Clear Channel that did all that crap with the Dixie Chicks.

Quote:

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the G-man said:
It looks like Stern was "fired" off of only six radio stations out of the hundreds owned by Clear Channel (Fort Lauderdale, Rochester, Orlando, San Diego, Pittsburgh, and Louisville).

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Those are the only six stations CC owned that broadcasted Stern.

How can the E! channel air Howard's show no problem but he gets booted of the radio is beyond me.

Theres less restriction on cable than radio.
Radio is free and can be listened to by anyone, cable you choose to subscribe to it.

plus the clear channel and E! are two different companies, with their own guidelines.

clear dropped stern's show, not E!

just to point out, though... the E! show is much more limiting in its verbage than the radio show. there are dozens of words that acceptibly fly on the radio that get bleeped during the cable broadcast.

Opie and Anthony fans know full well the pain Stern fans feel.

Fuck the FCC.

I don't understand why people can't just change the station.

I bet even if they put a form of the V chip (which hardly any parent even probably comprehends let alone uses) the bitching and FCC wouldn't stop thier facism.

....

Clear Channel owns pretty much all the stations here in Dayton. The few that aren't CC stations don't last very long, except AM radio.

I've gotta admit, when I got better reception, WEBN was one of the better CC stations, I'm surprised they've been on air this long. Hell, I remember when they used to run Bubba the Love Sponge.

Whats your pleaser Mr. Cotton?




We have such sights to show you!

What did he say anyways?