With ownership of at least 1,200 stations in nearly all of the nations 250 or so largest markets, Clear Channel clearly dominates the field of radio...is this right? I think the last statistic I saw was that their 2nd biggest competetor has less than half of the number of stations that CC has...
Quote:
NEW YORK (Feb. 26) - A day after the nation's largest radio station chain suspended shock jock Howard Stern's show for alleged indecency, Stern vented on the air Thursday with uncharacteristic restraint.
''They are so afraid of me and what this show represents,'' he said.
Clear Channel Radio suspended Stern from six stations - the only outlets among its 1,200 stations that air the show - after an on-air interview Tuesday with socialite Paris Hilton's ex-boyfriend Rick Salomon during which a caller used a racial slur. Salomon is the man involved in the hotel heiress' infamous homemade sex video.
Stern's show is still being carried on stations owned by a rival radio network, Infinity Broadcasting, that distributes it to major markets nationwide. In 1995, Infinity paid the largest cumulative FCC fine to date, $1.7 million, for various violations by Stern's radio show.
The six Clear Channel stations involved are in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Fla., Rochester, N.Y., San Diego, Pittsburgh and Louisville, Ky.
''Clear Channel drew a line in the sand today with regard to protecting our listeners from indecent content, and Howard Stern's show blew right through it,'' Clear Channel's president and CEO, John Hogan, said in a news release Wednesday. ''It was vulgar, offensive and insulting, not just to women and African-Americans but to anyone with a sense of common decency.''
Stern said Thursday morning near the beginning of his show that he wasn't even sure he should talk about it.
''I could blow my stack, but ... ,'' Stern said, trailing off. ''A caller used the N word, and I hung up on him.''
Hogan was scheduled to testify (read Related Story) along with top officials from television networks at the second congressional hearing this month on broadcast indecency in the wake of the exposure of Janet Jackson's breast during the Super Bowl halftime show Feb. 1.
''Janet Jackson is now forgotten and I'm on the front page of every newspaper,'' said Stern. ''I can't imagine the pressure they're putting on this guy.''
Clear Channel said Stern's show would not air until officials are assured it will conform to acceptable broadcasting standards.
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Stern certainly is shocking - after all he is a shock jock by trade. Does this really matter? Its looking more and more like privitization only brings corporate control rather than the alternative government control. What right does a company have to tell me what I can and can't listen to? And isn't this a first amendment violation?
Republican members of the government applauded the moves. Now I don't understand this. I thought generally they were against government reliance and control? Sure, there are some things that shouldn't be seen or said. But the world isn't clean and tidy...why bother whitewashing things when I could go into the city and see and hear things that are terribly worse?