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.

[stig]

His show is funny and entertaining, and if people can't get past that, they shouldn't ruin it for the rest of us.

His show has degenerated into pornographic nonsense.

I think the point the FCC is making is there is a pattern they are trying to stop. They let Howard slide for all these years and now the company Howard works for put on the most disgusting super bowl on record. The only way Viacom was going to listen was to sit on all their franchises.

Granted I don't have to listen to Howard, but the Super Bowl my kids were watching and there was no warning for me that the content of the comercials or the half-time show would be for adults only.

Now there's a backlash because what the FCC was allowing didn't work. They gave an inch and the rest of the broadcast outlets took a mile.

[archy]

ok what was the incident?

It wasn't actually a problem with what Howard himself had said, but a particularly tacky caller on live. Among other things, the N-word was in use. Not neither Norwegian nor Ninja.

[forktail]

The FCC needs to be abolished. They failed at their original task so badly they had to take up a new task.

When Stern takes off for XM the FCC will look to regulate that.

The "think of the children" morons in this country need to step up to the plate and parent their children. Our repression of sex is laughable. Guess what all that hand wringing has done is create the worlds largest pr0n industry. We have almost as many strippers as lawyers.

The FCC should be abolished.

[sheik yerbouty]

Will the FCC crack down on violence inciting rap 'music' in the same fashion? I won't hold my breath..

[sheik yerbouty]

Verbal Peyroni Syndrome..

[sheik yerbouty]

After his divorce, the last shred of funny went out the door.

[sheik yerbouty]

Michael Powell is basically a flip flopper..

[sheik yerbouty]

Where is "fa..fa..flunkey"?

[sheik yerbouty]

He's still better than Mario Cuomo and his "sfachim machine"(pardon any mispelled Italian)

[babbabooeyToYall]

Where's fafaflunky? Right now, Fafaflunkey is probably cleaning his wife's car, doing the dishes, and washing the floor while his wife plays tennis.

[Destro]

I am a secularist who respects Christianity - just because I am bad at being a Christian does not mean I am not one or would water down Christianity cause I suck at it.

[hosepipe]

What What.... all of a sudden.. Somebody see "PASSION of Christ" or something... its not like suddenly Howard recently got nasty or something..
That Mel Gibson!..(Eddie Murphy laugh)..

[sheik yerbouty]

I hear the N word everytime somebodt has to play his hip hop bilge for the whole neighborhood. If the FCC is going tafter Stern, let them go after the hip hop too. It might just be easier, in Stern's case to turn the dial. As to the hip hop, the imbeciles that fill the neighborhood with 'thumpa n... thumpa jump her" should be made to do it with their windows closed.

[sheik yerbouty]

I didn't know she liked tennis..

[archy]

I hear the N word everytime somebodt has to play his hip hop bilge for the whole neighborhood. If the FCC is going tafter Stern, let them go after the hip hop too.

I've been having great sport here in Memphis by refering to those who so continually harp and screech about things racial as naggers. They don't seem to care for it a bit, but if they're unconcerned aboout my feelings, why should I offer any concern for them in turn.

As for the music, I find that bagpipes make a fair response.

[sheik yerbouty]

Bagbpipes and drums. I once cleared a place of noisy demonstrators by playing it over the loudspeakers..

[sakic]

...the beginning of a return to some semblence of decency in America.

The return of the League of Decency. A government shutting down speech and some Americans cheer. Some people don't understand what they might be giving up until they lose it.

Imagine the following scenario:

Kerry wins the next election, changes the personnel of the FCC and they start putting pressure on Rush's bosses to get him off the air. You'd howl like a stuck pig.

[finnman69]

Imagine the following scenario: Kerry wins the next election, changes the personnel of the FCC and they start putting pressure on Rush's bosses to get him off the air. You'd howl like a stuck pig.

Comparing rush Limbaugh and howard stern is comparing apples and oranges. But you are correct, people would be up in arms because while much of Stern's material has been raunchy offensive and some 'obscene', you could not say the same thing about Limbaugh.

[steve-b]

Not to mention that the First Amendment pertains to POLITICAL speech

Nope. There is no such language to be found in the Amendment.

[steve-b]

The airwaves belong to the public.