Free Republic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Radio shock jock Howard Stern, who is moving to satellite radio to avoid broadcast decency rules, traded verbal jabs on air with Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) Chairman Michael Powell on Tuesday, charging him with nepotism and undermining free speech. "It is apparent to most of us in broadcasting that your father got you your job," said Stern, who called in while Powell was being interviewed on San Francisco's KGO-AM 810. Powell shot back that his father, Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), had nothing to do with his appointment. The FCC...

Only a quarter of the radio stations contacted by the New York Post say they're willing to go to the mat to continue broadcasting Howard Stern's radio show. Seventeen stations, representing just under half of Stern's 35 national affiliates, were surveyed by the Post's John Mainelli late last week, after steep FCC fines prompted Stern's syndicator, Clear Channel, to drop him from the roster of six of their outlets. "Only four station managers expressed unabashed support [for Stern]," reports Mainelli. "Another is on the fence, and 12 more avoided all comment." He calls the result of his thumbnail survey a...

Is "shock jock" Howard Stern's voice powerful enough to affect the upcoming presidential election to the extent of sending President Bush packing? That's what the Boston Globe wants to know, explaining that the liberal talk show host the newspaper describes as a "stripper aficionado, champion of misfits everywhere, all-purpose radio provocateur," has turned his raunchy show into a Bush bashing marathon. Writes the Globe's Matthew Gilbert, Stern has been devoting hours of his broadcast every weekday "to impassioned criticism of President Bush and support of Senator John Kerry." Stern, he writes has been "Railing tirelessly against the president, attacking Bush's...

(CNSNews.com) - It took only a week for shock jock Howard Stern to break Infinity Radio's new "zero tolerance" policy for indecent broadcasting, conservative critics said. On Tuesday, Feb. 24, Stern spent "nearly one hour of his show discussing explicit sexual activities between Rick Solomon and Paris Hilton," the American Family Association alleged. In a statement, AFA said it would ask its members to begin filing official indecency complaints against Infinity-owned stations if Viacom President Mel Karmazin doesn't immediately fire Howard Stern. Stern's show is syndicated by Infinity Broadcasting, which is owned by Viacom. Viacom also owns CBS and MTV....

"Bubba the Love Sponge" is gone and radio shock Howard Stern is on hiatus from some stations. TV networks are time-delaying certain shows to make sure inappropriate material doesn't make it onto the airwaves. Broadcast executives cited these and other examples Thursday as evidence they are taking heed of the government's call to clean up the airwaves. "We at Fox have heard your concerns loud and clear," said Gail Berman, the network's president of entertainment. "We sincerely regret that a few incidents of inappropriate programming have overshadowed the good shows we proudly air on Fox each week." It was the...