Howard Stern suspended from Clear Channel stations

Forbes ^ | 2-25-04

[Indy Pendance]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - 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 though it was not immediately clear how many aired his show.

Stern's show is syndicated by a unit of Viacom Inc.

[Schattie]

Howard Stern was at his best when he was at WNBC and battling the management stooges there. Maybe this'll change him for the better.

[Benrand]

When he fired Jackie Jokemund, it was over Johnny...OVER!!!

He relied on lazy interns to do his "writing" and all they could come up with was more and more disgusting unfunny garbage. He had this coming, he goes to therapy four times a week, he should have seen it coming, or was it the therapy that screwed Hman?

[Destro]

Censorship along established lines - i.e. rules is a mark of civilization. The problem is that the FCC has no standards. All radio and television broadcasters - to borrow a phrase from Animal House - are always on double secret probation. They never know what they will be fined for and for what reason. The FCC is totally arbitrary in their censorship criteria. When you live under a system where no rules are in place beyond the whims of the overlord it is a tyranny. If you want broadcast standards to be fair - write them down so people know what is allowed and what is not.

[weegee]

Go read those Savage threads again.

He told the crank caller to drop dead 3 times. Choke on sausage, get trichinosis, and get AIDS. Is AIDS a politically protected disease? It's better to choke to death (asphyxiation) or to die from parasites?

He did not inleash a torrent of profanity at the caller even though he believed himself to be off the air. The caller certainly was not harmed by the insult; he went bragging on his blog about getting Mike fired.

While some early reports identified the caller as a gay man, that does not seem to be the case. Calling the "gay" caller a "sodomite" would have been enough to get him fired in this PC climate.

Ironically, as I searched the web for the name of the caller and his admission of making a prank call (and not being gay), I found numerous blogs that cheered Mike's firing. One of the posters even called Michael Savage a "retard". So much for consistancy on compasion, feelings, and health issues from the left.

By the way, your tax dollars pay Nina Totenberg at NPR. She wished that Jesse Helms or his grandkids would get AIDS. She's still on the air.

"If there is retributive justice, he’ll get AIDS from a transfusion, or one of his grandchildren will get it". - July 8, 1995 Inside Washington

[billorites]

"Howard is STILL free to speak - but no one owes him their soapbox."

Yeah, you're right.

[Robert_Paulson2]

good for you!
glad you had the courage and commitment to put it in writing.

---

then when those "standards" you are swooning over today are manipulated tomorrow, in order to stiffle YOUR speech... you will remember what you said today.

I know I will.
btw, your rights to free speech are not terminated by location. you can remove someone trespassing from your property because you don't like what they say, but you cannot legally muzzle them or shut them up. Of course, you can elect to remove them, just like you can elect to not listen to howard, just like me.

the "public impact or property" argument can and will be used to regulate every aspect of your own freedoms, some day in the not too distant future. bon apetite.

someday, it will be used to censor speech that YOU and I would both agree with, even amongst us conservatives on the private property of this website domain.

mark it down.

[Burkeman1]

I am glad this loud mouth phoney porn loser is gone. And I hope for good! Made a movie about how he was a "family man" and then divoirced her? Get lost! A perveyour, exploiter, and presreter of freaks for mass consumption? I hope he dies a painless death- for his afterlife won't be that easy.

[Destro]

You also think Robert Novak is a traitor for outing somebody who was already outed

You are incorrect. I think Novak is a hero of the paleocons in their struggle with the neo cons in the Plame incident.

I think John Kerry's military history should be off limits because it will not help us gain moderate and indie votes.

So you get censored and you throw out lies on top of that. Should I have you censored again?

[garbanzo]

It doesn't matter what his listeners think - only you are important.

[Destro]

Jackie the Jokeman quit - he wanted more money.

[TBall]

Although I would never listen to Howard Stern, I have no problem with him having a raunchy show. Now if CBS were to give him the stage during the half time of the Super Bowl I would be ticked.

[Robert_Paulson2]

I agree with you...
about them having the right to muzzle howard.

Howard can still say what he wants.
I just don't have to listen, but then, I wasn't listening before.

If the FCC is pushing this stuff, it is a bad precedent, as that same "leverage" will be used in the future for speech that IS important. Hillary would censor this private website using some mechanism if she could. Just like San Francisco tried to by labelling it as a hate site...

[theDentist]

Whoa! I figured it would take him about 3 weeks. Looks like he did it in, what, 3 days?

[Mark Felton]

"The problem is that the FCC has no standards"

Fair and appropriate comment. We should demand clear community standards. (it is tough sometimes)

The reason it hasn't been established before is due to industry influence.

[adam_az]

"lot of people are going to be taking a look at Clear Channels monopoly."

How can Clear Channel have a monopoly when most radio stations are owned by companies OTHER than Clear Channel?

[BOOTSTICK]

When Rush says things like; "why didn't the Columbine killers rape the girls before they wasted them" then I'll be all for Rush's censorship.

[Robert_Paulson2]

Never underestimate the power of "selective enforcement."

one of tyranny's greatest tools for intimidation.

[rmmcdaniell]

How long will it take Pres. Hillary to declare "badmouthing Democrats" to be in violation of "common decency" ?

The bots assume that Republicans will be in power for ever. How else do you explain thier support for crap like this and the traitor (patriot) act?

[Burkeman1]

Sink? Did you know Plame was "outed" before Novak? Should I pass this thread on to the Grand Jury? Do you know something we dont'? Plame's name was "common Knowledge" among the beltway IN crowd right? Tell us the dirty ditti that only you know about!

[Destro]

I wanna see where he thinks I called Novack a traitor?