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Shock jocks feeling jolt of airwave cleansing
Houston Chronicle ^ | 2-27-04 | CLIFFORD PUGH

Posted on 02/26/2004 10:10:15 PM PST by Indy Pendance

Lines of indecency are blurred in life after Super Bowl

Janet Jackson's Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction" jump-started the debate about what should be seen and heard on the public airwaves. Now, the decision by Clear Channel Communications to boot nationally syndicated shock jock Howard Stern's show from six of its stations has sent the discussion into overdrive.

"We're at a crossroads," said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, the industry's leading trade journal. "What do we do about the coarsening of America? That really is the issue."

Balancing free speech and public sensibilities has always been tricky. But fearing a crackdown from the Federal Communications Commission -- especially threats to pull the licenses of offending stations -- media giants are hustling to address the concerns on their own.

"It's a wake-up call," said John Walton, co-host of the Walton & Johnson morning show on KLOL-FM (101.1), of the latest controversy. "Basically, the boundaries have been expanding and expanding until people began to wonder, `Is there a boundary?' "

John Hogan, president and CEO of Clear Channel Radio, which owns 1,200 stations, testified before a congressional committee on a proposal to tighten broadcast standards Thursday, a day after the company issued a "zero tolerance" policy on indecent content.

The policy says any employee accused by the FCC of violating indecency rules will be suspended, and contracts with on-air performers will be modified to make disc jockeys financially liable "if they utter indecent material on the air," according to a statement from Clear Channel, which is based in San Antonio.

Viacom, parent company of Infinity Broadcasting, which operates 185 radio stations nationwide and syndicates Stern's show, also has reportedly tightened its rules on sexually explicit content. Viacom also owns CBS, which broadcast the Super Bowl earlier this month, and MTV, which produced the halftime show.

The company took no immediate action against Stern, whose show does not air in Houston. On Thursday, Stern blamed a conservative backlash against the Super Bowl halftime show for Clear Channel's decision.

Clear Channel didn't mention the Super Bowl, saying instead that Stern's interview with Rick Salomon, the man having sex with hotel heiress and reality TV star Paris Hilton in a video widely distributed on the Internet, crossed the line with its sexual and racial references.

Just a day earlier, Clear Channel had fired Florida disc jockey "Bubba the Love Sponge" for airing sexually explicit material.

But pushing boundaries is what talk radio is all about. Whether it's Rush Limbaugh lambasting gay marriage or Dan Patrick protesting MTV from his perch at KSEV in Houston, the point is to get people listening and talking back.

"I'm, in a sense, really surprised about Clear Channel," said Beth Olson, associate professor of communications at the University of Houston. "In the past, having personalities that generated attention and fines from the FCC was a way to increase their ratings, and they were quite happy to pay the fines."

In the post-Super Bowl XXXVIII world, however, people are less inclined to ignore offending messages. "I think Clear Channel is reacting to that," Olson said. "I don't know that Howard's content has changed significantly from last week to this week, but now it's not acceptable."

Still, radio isn't avoiding all risk. Clear Channel may have dumped Stern and Bubba the Love Sponge, but it recently added controversial radio jock Michael Savage to its lineup at KPRC in Houston.

MSNBC fired Savage last summer after he referred to a caller to his weekend cable TV show as a "sodomite" and said he should "get AIDS and die."

Ken Charles, Clear Channel regional vice president of programming for Houston, did not return calls from the Chronicle on Thursday.

And many local on-air personalities were reluctant to weigh in on the issue publicly.

KLOL-FM's Walton was talking, and he said the heightened scrutiny may work.

He's no stranger to controversy. His show, which airs on one of Clear Channel's eight Houston stations, sparked outrage last year when he and Johnson complained about bicyclists and jokingly offered to run one over. They apologized, and the station ran a number of public service announcements about bicycle safety.

"We probably should pay a little more attention to policing ourselves," he said. "As the years have gone by, it has been more about doing whatever you have to to get the ratings, and we'll worry about that later."

Harrison, of Talkers magazine, says there's plenty to worry about right now in the world of talk radio. "My fear is the regulation of free speech," he said.

But the First Amendment doesn't guarantee the right to say anything you want on the radio or television, said Patrick, KSEV manager and on-air personality. "It guarantees you the right to go down to the public square and voice your opinion."

Patrick's personal definition of what's acceptable for the airwaves is simple: "We do not talk about or use language that we would not use in someone's living room or someone's office," he said. "If radio and television stations would just keep that in mind, we'd clean up the airwaves pretty quickly."

But Patrick works in AM radio, which he noted tends to draw a conservative and Christian audience. FM radio, in contrast, is often aimed at a young, male audience, targeted with sexual innuendo and low-brow humor.

He suggests the corporate crackdown is driven by threats to the bottom line.

Patrick said he suggested to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay two weeks ago that taking away a station's license would quickly cause other stations to rein in on-air personnel. "Depending on the city, a television or radio station can be worth hundreds of millions of dollars," he said. "You take away a license, this will end in a moment."

FCC Chairman Michael Powell subsequently suggested that possibility and soon after, the radio station chains began taking action.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: clearchannel; shockjocks; superbowl
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1 posted on 02/26/2004 10:10:15 PM PST by Indy Pendance
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To: Indy Pendance
But pushing boundaries is what talk radio is all about. Whether it's Rush Limbaugh lambasting gay marriage or Dan Patrick protesting MTV

HAH! They cite these examples of "pushing boundaries" with a straight face, as if Rush and Patrick were the problem! Bias, anyone?

2 posted on 02/26/2004 10:20:07 PM PST by JennysCool
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To: Indy Pendance; All
Couple things to remember here:

John Hogan can be shocked! (SHOCKED!) all he wants to about the programming. But I worked for CC and he was silent over most of Bubba's stunts two years ago that SHOULD have gotten him fired. And as long as Randy Michaels is silent there is no REAL "disgust" over anything shocking that happens on the CC airwaves.

Stern may have been carried on a few CC stations, but his paychecks come from CBS/Viacom/Infinity.

And comparing Michael Savage to Howard Stern, Stevens and Pruitt, Bubba The Love Sponge is extremely unfair and intellectually dishonest on the part of the writer.
3 posted on 02/26/2004 10:24:04 PM PST by txradioguy (HOOAH!! Not Just A Word...A Way OF Life!!!!!)
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To: Indy Pendance
I have a sneaking suspision these "removals" are less about decency and more abut contract negotiations and cost.

If a shock jock is fired for "cause" does that remove any severance package?
4 posted on 02/26/2004 10:28:50 PM PST by longtermmemmory (Vote!)
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To: Indy Pendance; All
It should also be noted that Stern was dropped from only SIX Clear Channel stations. That leaves him on another 76 owned by Infinity.

Remember the celebrity adage "There's no such thing as BAD publicity"?

It applies to radio stars and their coveted ratings.

They are LOVING the ink they are getting over this.

*YAWN*
5 posted on 02/26/2004 10:31:55 PM PST by txradioguy (HOOAH!! Not Just A Word...A Way OF Life!!!!!)
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To: Indy Pendance
The policy says any employee accused by the FCC of violating indecency rules will be suspended, and contracts with on-air performers will be modified to make disc jockeys financially liable "if they utter indecent material on the air," according to a statement from Clear Channel, which is based in San Antonio.

Making these radio folks pay their own fines seems fair to me

6 posted on 02/26/2004 10:38:11 PM PST by Mo1 (" Do you want a president who injects poison into his skull for vanity?")
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To: Mo1
"Making these radio folks pay their own fines seems fair to me"


Except that the stations foght EVERY decision and fine against them every single time. And 99% of the time the FCC caves after the appeal and either severly reduces the fine or suspends it all together.

And when the stations actually DO have to paay the fine, the lost revenue doesn't come out of the paycheck of the guilty DJ. It's made up for by an increase in advertising rates. So the advertisers pay for the DJ's vulgarity and where do you think the advertisers make up for the increased ad rates?
7 posted on 02/26/2004 10:45:10 PM PST by txradioguy (HOOAH!! Not Just A Word...A Way OF Life!!!!!)
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To: txradioguy
True .. you make a good point

8 posted on 02/26/2004 10:47:27 PM PST by Mo1 (" Do you want a president who injects poison into his skull for vanity?")
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To: Indy Pendance
He suggests the corporate crackdown is driven by threats to the bottom line.

Threats but I'll bet there's more. I think the so-called "shock-jocks" have become very boring. I'll bet their audience numbers aren't there anymore --- there are so many times you can use the f word, and talk of certain acts, but after awile it all isn't shocking -- it's dull.

9 posted on 02/26/2004 10:52:14 PM PST by FITZ
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To: longtermmemmory
I have a sneaking suspision these "removals" are less about decency and more abut contract negotiations and cost.

And ratings. Stern quit being shocking years ago, it was just the same stuff over and over and I would bet the audiences moved on for the most part.

10 posted on 02/26/2004 10:55:04 PM PST by FITZ
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To: Mo1
Making these radio folks pay their own fines seems fair to me

I agree.

I got my Class A broadcast license just as the licensing requirements for on-air people were dropped......yet still at a time when the on air people were held accountable for what they said on air.

It's interesting to note that the "shock jock" wave started shortly after the on air personalities no longer had to adhere to the standards the stations did.

11 posted on 02/26/2004 10:58:56 PM PST by Gabz (The tobacco industry doesn't pay cigarette taxes - smokers do!)
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To: txradioguy
Your point is well taken,

Unfortunately the FCC is where the blame needs to be laid. They are the ones that stopped holding the on-air people responsible by dropping all requirements for a Class A broadcast license for anyone being on the air.
12 posted on 02/26/2004 11:03:28 PM PST by Gabz (The tobacco industry doesn't pay cigarette taxes - smokers do!)
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To: txradioguy
I hope that they don't try to cancel the John Boy and Billy show. They're not that tacky.
13 posted on 02/26/2004 11:03:32 PM PST by 31R1O
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To: Gabz
I got mine in 1989. Still have it somewhere. Problem is that you don't even need a Class A Broadcast license anymore to be on the air. In fact any station engineer you try to hand them to these days seems a tad lost about what to do with it.
14 posted on 02/26/2004 11:04:53 PM PST by txradioguy (HOOAH!! Not Just A Word...A Way OF Life!!!!!)
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To: 31R1O
I don't think they will. John Boy and Billy are funny not filthy.

They are gunning (and rightfully so) for the Bob and Tom types...Howard Stern...Opie and Anthony et al.


Nothing tops the old Ron and Ron show out of Tampa. Sex acts performed on the air by porn stars in the studio. Nailing parts of the male anatomy to boards at live enents.

BTW Ron Diaz from the Ron and Ron Show is the morning guy at Thunder 105 in Florida. Still uses a lot of the same people who worked on the syndicated show. Did I mention that Thunder 105 is owned by Clear Channel??

31R10 ? as in 31 Romeo Skill level 10?

Me = 46R10
15 posted on 02/26/2004 11:11:08 PM PST by txradioguy (HOOAH!! Not Just A Word...A Way OF Life!!!!!)
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To: Indy Pendance
But fearing a crackdown from the Federal Communications Commission -- especially threats to pull the licenses of offending stations

That definitely would get station management's attention.

16 posted on 02/26/2004 11:13:39 PM PST by In_25_words_or_less
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To: Gabz
yet still at a time when the on air people were held accountable for what they said on air.

I admit I don't know all the ins and out of radio broadcasting .. and I'm not saying that they can't be shock jocks

But how about some of these radio folks take responsibility for their OWN actions??

17 posted on 02/26/2004 11:15:12 PM PST by Mo1 (" Do you want a president who injects poison into his skull for vanity?")
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To: txradioguy
Tell me about it - I got mine in 1982.

The fact a Class A license is no longer needed is what bothers me so much.

These people who are screeching about the FCC finally doing what they are supposed to be doing is where I have a major problem. So many of them have no idea about the responsibilities required to be on the public airways.......Howard Stern has been on the air long enough to know that there are limitations on what he can and should say,
18 posted on 02/26/2004 11:16:04 PM PST by Gabz (The tobacco industry doesn't pay cigarette taxes - smokers do!)
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To: In_25_words_or_less; All
The threat to pull the station license is nothing new. THe problem is that the threat has about as much bite to it as grandpa's old dentures. And the station owners KNOW this.
19 posted on 02/26/2004 11:16:39 PM PST by txradioguy (HOOAH!! Not Just A Word...A Way OF Life!!!!!)
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To: Gabz
Stern is like my 14 year old son. He KNOWS what's right and wrong, but he still pushes the limits to see what he can get away with. And unlike myself, Sterns "father" a.k.a. Mel Karmazian at Infinity looks the other way and with his silence condones what Stern does. So in reality Howard feels he has NO boundaries to what he can and can't do.
20 posted on 02/26/2004 11:21:07 PM PST by txradioguy (HOOAH!! Not Just A Word...A Way OF Life!!!!!)
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