- Howard Stern, sounding grim and depressed, said Friday
that he expected to be forced off the radio within three months, the victim
of a political and financial campaign driven by religious conservatives.
He urged listeners to vote against President George W. Bush in revenge.
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- "The plug is about to be pulled on me," he
told his audience, which he estimated at about 16 million listeners. "I'm
saying my goodbyes now. There's nothing you can do about it ... Vote George
Bush out of office. That's all I ask. Remember me when you go to the voting
booth."
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- Until recently, Stern's show has stayed away from politics.
"I just want to do fart jokes and have stripper chicks in here,"
he said Friday. He has previously threatened to leave, but usually around
contract negotiation time. His current contract expires in two years.
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- Stern's show, broadcast from WXRK/92.3 FM in New York,
and syndicated to more than 40 stations, was suspended Feb. 24 from six
stations owned by radio giant Clear Channel Communications, a Texas company
whose owners are supporters of Bush. Stern is syndicated by Infinity Broadcasting,
a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. When announcing the suspension, Clear Channel
CEO John Hogan cited an incident in which a caller used a racial slur while
referring to African-American women.
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- On Tuesday, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) wrote to Viacom
president Mel Karmazin about Infinity's lack of action: "In light
of Infinity's reported new indecency policy, and the supposed use of a
substantial time delay, I do not understand how such a broadcast could
be aired using an Infinity broadcast license."
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- Stern said he expected Infinity to be forced to drop
him under the threat of huge fines (Congress is considering raising fines
for broadcast indecency to $500,000, up from the current maximum of $27,500)
and possible loss of broadcast licenses. "Mel will not be able to
do business ... The company will try to fight back, but it won't be able
to. I'm heartbroken about this."
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/news/ny-etrad063697851mar06,0,1128018.story
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- Comment On 'Stern Predicts His Show's Demise'
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- Comment
- Alfred Lehmberg
- Lehmberg@snowhill.com
- 3-6-4
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- Say what you -want- about Howard Stern. Say the he's
crude and vulgar or even obscene. Protest his arrogance, amorality, and
atrocious audaciousness. Denigrate his approach. Degrade his base subject
matter. Disparage his cultural shallowness. But push him off the -air-
at your egregious and very well documented peril!
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- Give the proponents of his destroyers the proverbial
inch and they'll take a half a parsec! They always have...
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- ...And then what will be the next *indecency*? What
will be the next thing beyond *acceptability*? What will be the *new*
obscenity? Think of other radio personalities prone to travel an *uncomfortable
edge,* who could, also, run afoul of this, evolving, American Taliban...
When it comes to it, good reader, shall we sacrifice Jeff Rense, too ?
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- www.AlienView.net
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