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.

[GeronL]

freedom of speech?? Nobody is going to stop him from saying anything. The company has every right to NOT air his show.

[Lunatic Fringe]

He will be back... money talks. Stern brings in more money for Clear Channel than they would pay for his fines.

[Keeper of the Turf]

Howard Stern gets peopel elected. Let us see what he and his fan base will do now. He is like a machine once he gets into battle mode.

Howard helped in getting Pataki and Whitman elected...both Republican's.

Clear Channel dumping Howard on six stations is hardly going to turn the tide in the dems favor.

[NYCVirago]

That and the fact that he's become what he hated, you know trophy bimbette blonde, just like Imus.

Same here -- in one of his books, he did a chapter mocking celebrities like Jim Carrey and Dennis Miller who dumped the wives who loved them before they were famous. With his own divorce, he proved himself to be no better than the ones he mocked.

[dead]

Folks know objectionable stuff when they see it: Jackson is, Stern is, dirty-mouthed presenters at the Academy Awards are.

"Folks" huh?

It's pathetic that you can't see that "folks" don't agree on anything.

You really believe that there aren't any "folks" who find Limbaugh or Mel Gibson offensive?

Seriously, do you even read the newspapers? This country is absolutely knee-deep in people who find Rush Limbaugh and Mel Gibson offensive. They bitch about them at least as much as people like yourself bitch about the offensiveness of Howard Stern.

And those people will be running things again soon. If not in one year, then in five years. Or nine. Whatever.

[X-FID]

Probably overdue. Stern is a flat nut case.

It's overdue because the show has sucked for about 5 years, not funny at all, though it was at one time.

[fiftymegaton]

Except for the fact the FCC is going crazy with visions of censorship and Stern spent about 2 hours of his show on Wednesday ripping the FCC and blaming Bush and saying how he is going to vote for Kerry(I actually had to WILLINGLY change the channel a few so I wouldn't have to hear his anti-Bush rants).

[wireman]

Howard is the most influential and innovative radio performer ever.

If people don't like him they should turn the dial. Clear Channel is well within their rights to take him off the air. Someone else will pick him up soon enough.

"F" Jackie!

[dead]

Notice how you are about the fourth poster to ask and no response yet? Know what that means? NOBODY LISTENS TO THE IMBECILE ANYMORE!,

Man you are dumber than a brick.

Lots of people listened today. But nobody knows what was suddenly deemed so horribly offensive.

There are no published rules. The goverment decides they don't like what you said, and you're off the air.

And dingbats like you are happy about it. Serf.

[RWR8189]

You don't like it, don't listen to it.

Problem solved.

[NYCVirago]

This is going to cost shareholders millions in lost ad revenues and quite possibly end up in Clear Channel being forced to sell radio stations.

Doubtful. Heck, Stern doesn't even have the No. 1 morning show in New York City anymore. He lost a lot of fans when he dumped his wife, and became just another celebrity with a bimbo girlfriend.

[sinkspur]

It's pathetic that you can't see that "folks" don't agree on anything.

You're a Howard Stern fan. So, naturally, you don't agree with his boss pulling him off the air.

[goodnesswins]

What did the "government" not like? I thought Clear Channel fired him.....or did Ashcroft call them up and tell them to fire him?

[NYCVirago]

Quite frankly, one reason I like Howard is because he sometimes is politically incorrect, and because he's been a David to the FCC's Goliath. I hate to see conservatives form a lynch mob to go after the guy.

Howard's no conservative. He's encouraging his callers to vote against President Bush because of this.

[dead]

He lost a lot of fans when he dumped his wife

His wife dumped him, because he was too introverted. He did not want to get divorced, but agreed to it and did it without lawyers. He basically gave his wife everything she wanted, so as to not put his daughters through any bitter squabbling. He never even hired a divorce lawyer, letting an arbitrator handle everything.

About a year later, his wife married a multi-millionaire garment industry mogul.

[NYCVirago]

You have totally missed the significance of this event. What happens when some people use this as a precedence to remove Rush Limbaugh because he is 'offensive'?

It's already happened -- Dr. Laura and Michael Savage don't have TV shows on anymore, do they? Heck, Dr. Laura's radio show is not even aired in New York City, the biggest media market in the country!

[Lancey Howard]

The goverment decides they don't like what you said, and you're off the air. And dingbats like you are happy about it. Serf.

You drunk?
Where did I ever say I was happy about anything?

[NYCVirago]

Howard Stern gets peopel elected. Let us see what he and his fan base will do now. He is like a machine once he gets into battle mode.

Yeah, he did a lot to re-elect his buddy Senator Al D'Amato, didn't he? Oh yeah, D'Amato *lost* that race, and we're stuck with Senator Schumer!

[dead]

So, naturally, you don't agree with his boss pulling him off the air... What did the "government" not like? I thought Clear Channel fired him.....or did Ashcroft call them up and tell them to fire him?

I can't even believe people like you two exist!

Howard Stern has been on the air for about thirty years, and people like you think that broadcasters just cancelled his show because suddenly, today, when he said nothing different from every other day, they decided of their own free will to go in a different direction.

You are absolutely insane. You actually believe that it had nothing to do with the recent congressional hearings and the FCC decisions to crack down on broadcasters because Janet Jackson showed her boob?

I am amazed at you. It's like you have the deductive abilities of rubber ducks.

Or are you just lying, because you don't want to admit that the government is taking control of our broadcasters and you're embarrassed to admit that you like it?

[Agnes Heep]

While I agree with the feeling that much of today's entertainment is cheap and crude, I cringe at the notion of censorship. I mean, isn't the easiest solution to turn off the TV or radio? I hate to think that my personal preferences somehow limit the free speech and freedoms of other people when my ability to control what I'm exposed to is so easy.

Who said the government was involved in this? The article stated it was a decision of Clear Channel. That's not censorship; it's discretion.