Posted on 02/04/2006 8:31:43 AM PST by raccoonradio
Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., which liberated radio shock jock Howard Stern from the federal decency standards that he felt had shackled him, is finding that freedom's just another word for $500 million to lose.
Since Jan. 9, when Stern debuted on Sirius, pirated versions of the shows have been made available for free via several online file-sharing networks just hours after Stern signs off. The New York-based broadcaster signed Stern to a five-year, half-billion-dollar contract in 2004.
(snip)
A few weeks ago, when the first pirate radio stations began rebroadcasting Stern's show on unclaimed radio frequencies in New York and New Jersey, Sirius immediately notified the enforcement bureau of the Federal Communications Commission — the very body against which Stern has so frequently railed. The FCC in 2004 cited Stern's show on Clear Channel for "repeated graphic and explicit sexual descriptions."
Sirius also moved quickly to crack down on websites that streamed audio broadcasts of the Stern show. The broadcaster sent cease-and-desist letters protesting such "blatant and willful infringements" and threatening to sue unless the underground broadcasters immediately went silent. But as each one shut down, it seemed, another sprang up.
(Excerpt) Read more at calendarlive.com ...
Free, $12.95 a month--what option would one choose?
When Stern left, some of his affiliates rebranded themselves "Free FM"
(well, technically not free, as the ads pay for it...)
The riches of the unrighteous are fleeting... Proverbs
>>this is the man who built his in-your-face persona around flogging federal regulators, who he claimed were the enemies of creative expression.
I'm for less government but I'll admit the FCC does have
at least one purpose: keeping unlicensed stations from
popping up just anywhere on the dial (thus interfering with legit stations). They also try to make sure that TV/radio
stations serve the public interest and have decency
standards. Which, of course, is what Stern ran into
via Infinity (now CBS Radio).
Wow, Howard; who'd have thought that your listeners, of all people, might not have a problem with digital piracy? I thought they were such classy people...
Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Zany rocker Mojo Nixon (who does a show for Sirius'
Outlaw Country station) once did a song called Pirate Radio
Ay, yi, mateys ho
Get on the pirate radio
Land of the free and home of the brave
FCC, crawl in your grave
(Another line I remember: "They don't believe in
free speech/The FCC's in town")
$155 a year to listen to the same pee pee poo poo jokes day after day? no thanks.
Yeah, Howard; rules, decency, etc., that's for suckers.
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