Howard Stern suspended from Clear Channel stations (Reuters)

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.

More here.


Stern is not always my cup of tea -- but in what would be the greatest irony in recent broadcast history, this could be the straw that turns The Howard Stern Show from a morning marathon of knuckledragging postadolescent tittilation and raunch to the hottest "dump Bush" nexus on the American air.

Drop his show a line at sternshow@howardstern.com and tell him to go medieval on Michael Powell, John Hogan and, of course, the lying, moralist-hypocrite Bush boy. Tell him not to forget mentioning Neil Bush's little herpes problem. And tell him to start booking Michael Moore, Joe Conason, Greg Palast, Al Franken -- hell, even Paul Krugman and Noam Chomsky -- America will thank him.

Coincidence don't you think? :eyes:

I took 6,000 petitions to get on the ballot to the printer today. The 2 printers said they were going to sign the first 2 because Clear Channel fired "Bubba the Love Sponge" yesterday.

I got bored by Howard Stern a long time ago, and wasn't much into Bubba either. These were Chamber of Commerce Republicans who are now going to endorse a Democrat for Congress. I thought I'd have a much harder time.

But this shows just how much power huge media monopolies wield now. I didn't really care for Howard or Bubba, but I could always switch channels.

for animal cruelty.

has a fowl mouth doesn't make him someone the "liberal Dems" should embrace. He will still vote for Bush and anyone the Rethugs have running.

He wants Al Franken on his show. He's read his book. He's been seriously bashing all of the right wingers who try to talk on his show.

You have NO idea what you're talking about. I'd expect that on Free Republic, but not here.

This is a surprise to me , I have noticed a few Bush supporters jumping ship lately but havent heard Stern lately, I do remember listening to him just after the invasion , I mean liberation of Iraq and he was always going off about how good of a job Bush was doing . I remeber once a NY Jets player was on the show and he was saying he disagreed with the war and Stearn was defending Bush . So what are some of the things Howard has been saying lartely ?

Seriously. And he spoke for a long time about it yesterday, too. He has supported the war, but he's been against all of Bush's social policies for a while. He was on vacation last week, and started reading Al Franken's book. I think it totally changed his outlook on Bush and everything.

I could give examples, but he mainly dealt with the FCC going nuts, stem cell research, abortion, corporate corruption, Clinton having a good military despite what repubs think, and more. He totally trashed to people who work for/with him, because they're mindless right-wing nuts.

It was PHENOMENAL radio this morning. The best Stern show ever. Nothing offensive about it (I didn't hear this watermelon comment though). It's got me seriously pissed off.

Howard Stern got into some BIG arguments with the cavemen employees and regulars who populate his show. He even proposed inviting in Al Franken in to debate all the Bush supporters (although Stern is doing a good enuff job himself). He's completely ragging on Bush on the gay marriage thing, censorship and the recent news about Germany giving advance notice about one of the 9/11 hijackers.

This is an important switch, because like him or not, Howard Stern is representative of the average "guy" age 16-35.

If he's "representative", let me off the planet!

What can I say? ;)

we just aren't f***ing gross about it

Just what is it about howard you consider "F'ing gross"?

:o

and the one that could be the "grossest" got a date with a porn chick.

One guy ate dog doo. Howard allowed it.

GROSS.

natch

Between racism and misogyny, he gets away with everything on the air but let him say something bad about Bush and all of a sudden his masters are concerned about him being offensive?

He is still a misogynist pig, but he was going to bring in the misogynist pig vote for the Democratic candidate.

I don't care who votes for us as long as they turn-out on Election Day.

He is not a Republican. He wanted Gore in, but he stood behind the president during Afghanistan after 9/11, and was sucked into the whole Iraq affair through the media and administration scare tactics.

If you listen to him now, he is viruntely anti-Bush.

Don and Mike in DC just announced what Clear Channel's 'zero tolerance' policy was. This didn't qualify (as far as I know). Their policy was against any on air talent being FINED by the FCC. As far as I know, this hasn't happened.

Stern should fucking sue CC for this. I listened to the show, and you're right, Stern had some MAJORLY bad things to say about the Bush administration and the FCC, and lo and behold, he gets suspended.

I listen to an Infinity station for Howard. I hope he's on the air here. I want to hear him cuss out this bullshit. Speak out against conservatives, and you're going to get it.

As he said earlier today,"We have freedom of speech, but you'd better watch what you say".

I hate this. I have an hour and a half commute in the morning and evening. I am an adult who enjoys listening to Howard Stern. Now I'm going to be stuck with some crappy disc jockeys who aren't funny or interesting. All because little Timmy's mom might not be bright enough to not let him listen to Howard. My long commute just got longer.

Join the XM revolution my friend. I went to satellite radio 2 years ago since I do two hours of driving for work a day. Completely changed my attitude about radio. Plus, you get BBC World Service.

I expect Stern to end up on XM anyway if he decides to bolt the FM band after all of this.

It's a pay service, but you get what you pay for - everything you want.

Clear Channel is a major owner of XM. They invested $75,000,000 in XM back in 1999.

XM is fascist-supported (clearchannel)...

:wtf:

Unbelievable!

and its threat to America's freedom. He's got to be mighty pissed off about this obvious censorship based on not only his taste in entertainment but also his political feelings.

Stern's show has been old and tired, and is really nothing when compared to that of Mancow Muller (that dude is a sick, RW freak). But maybe this will turn into something good if Stern goes off pointing out the hypocrisy of Clear Channel.

This was the excuse. If he was shown on *E* sucking Chimp's d!ck, I think they'd find a way to consider this in the best inerest of the country.

Stern's always been graphic and offensive. That's why Clear Channel milked him for million$ (the whores) and this is all nothing new. he was never going to be on the Christian stations.

Talk down about the Chimp, pay the price. Simple as that. Another warning shot across the bow.

and not Bush? Because he liked Al Franken's book? What could Stern have done on Tuesday that was any worse than any other day?

Jesus, this is damn scary. Are they going to duct tape our mouths next? Take away the internet?

which tells what's going to happen..elections--who needs them when we have a dictator!

All I've heard was that he was attacking Bush yesterday.

"Ever bang a famous n**ger chick? What do they smell like? Watermelons?"

Now that is very very bad! I would think they would have to take some sort of action to prevent callers from saying things like that on air in the future. I don't think this has anything to do with Washington politics.

people who listen for more than 5 minutes understand that.

:eyes:

n/t

based on.

I happened to turn it on and guys were trying to see who could win a date with a porn star by grossing each other out. The nastiest thing one of them did, they would win the date.

One I remember, and he did not win was a guy who ran out into the park and watched a retriever relieve himself. He picked it up in a baggie, ran to Sterns radio station, then proceeded to eat the dogie doo. Oh, and this was not one of his regular retarded or slow human beings he has on from time to time. This was a (somewhat) normal young man. Just wanting to get with a porn star I suppose.

The porn star did flash her tah tah's at him for effort.

I do not remember what the winner did.

After the dog doo incident, I turned the channel.

this was a set-up if there ever was one. Stern should have seen it coming.

Jean Gonsoulin
VP of Corporate Communications
2000 West Loop South Suite 1300
Houston, Texas 77027

Public Relations Assistant
Crystal Fischnar
crystalfischnar@clearchannel.com

that was vulgar, did anyone drop him. Shit NO. I was working for the station in Denver when he said what he said - and the GM, who was a total fuck - stood by Stern. They had just brought him on in Denver/Boulder - and then Columbine happens.

Not to mention, he didn't say the vulgar thing about African American women. Can't control the jerks who call in.

I think it had more to do with Bush -

He talked for almost an hour about the tragedy and in no way was trivializing the event. He was actually quite sensitive (for Howard). When he started trying to come up for possible motives for the "trenchcoat mafia" doing what they did, a caller mentioned that the girls in the school were pretty and Howard concluded that sex must not have been the motive because Howard assumed that the average horny teenage boy, if he's gonna go around killing his classmates would probably also forcibly rape some of them.

Now, yeah, this might be insensitive for the moment, but it was taken OUT OF CONTEXT, and the people and press who accuse him of trivializing the event listened to only the 2 sentences and demonize him.

Dear Ms. Fischnar:

Although I believe that Howard Stern can be a bit off-color at times, and listen to his show on and off, I believe it is the right and responsibility of each American to practice his/her own form of censorship. I do not want Clear Channel or any other media company making this decision for me or anyone else. I am the father of a well-adjusted child and I do not listen to Stern while she is in my presence. This is my responsibility as a parent and I am happy to have it.

I don't believe this suspension is really about indecency. It is highly coincidental that Mr. Stern was suspended after a week of complaining about President Bush's policies. I find the action Clear Channel has taken to be extremely offensive and it infringes on my right as a United States citizen to hear the viewpoints of broadcasters and decide for myself whether I want to continue listening.

I will, along with a number of friends, boycott all Clear Channel media until its extreme anti-American stance is abandoned.

We can start a call-in drive and get their morning headliner cancelled, too - or face charges of hypocrisy from the DU rabble.

canned laughter...it is indeed the best...Tom pisses me off with his slobbering over GW.

He was trashing Bush this morning, I wonder if there is a connection.

Satellite radio would love to grab him

One post says he said Bush must go and the first one just speaks of the offense against others. Ole Michael Savage better watch what he says now.

Ever bang a n****r chick? What do they smell like, watermelons?

I'm not a Stern fan anymore (used to listen) but he's said much worse than this, and it is what he get's paid for. To offend people.
Clear channel knows that. They're simply playing righteous. He's made them a lot of money.

A caller said it. Howard would never say something like that. This is the same guy who has Snoop Doggy Dogg as a regular guest. 50 Cent and other rappers also come on his show regularly and leave liking Howard more than before they went.

I misread the transcript of the show I saw.

You know that Letterman is gonna be all over this tonight. Just you watch.

I don't have much use for Howard Stern, but after this I might just try to give him a listen every now and again.

...that's interesting...as I remember, Viacom owns CBS, so Stern could suddenly show up in some unexpected places...does anybody know if such a suspension would void his contract with Clear Channel?

or on the life of Ronald Reagan

Viacom/CBS has 'standards' too :puke:

Why not put him on 60 Minutes in place of Andy Rooney?

Anyone know?

It only gives a blanket statement from Clear Channel Radio Chief Executive John Hogan. Stern didn't change his show for the worst overnight. In fact, he's been bridling it (but complaining about being bridled) since he returned from vacation on Monday. I didn't listen to every single minute of the show the last few days, but from what I did catch, he's been kicking ShrubCo's ass everyday, pretty intensely.

ClearChannel's track record on free speech is well known - think Dixie Chicks - so this development doesn't surprise me a bit.

MSNBC: Clear Channel adopts decency standards

<snip>
Updated: 1:55 p.m. ET Feb. 25, 2004
NEW YORK - One day after saying it fired a popular Florida radio personality, Clear Channel Communications Inc. said Wednesday it adopted new "decency" standards to make sure that material its radio stations air conform to local standards.

Chief Operating Officer Mark Mays said San Antonio-based Clear Channel, the largest U.S. radio station operator, will adopt a "zero tolerance" policy for indecent content.

This will include in-house training and automatic suspensions for anyone alleged by the Federal Communications Commission to violate indecency rules. Disc jockeys will also be held financially responsible for uttering indecent material on the air.
<snip>

Shortly after this announcement, they yanked Stern...

"This will include in-house training and automatic suspensions for anyone alleged by the Federal Communications Commission to violate indecency rules."

In-house training is double-plus-good!

This sounds like "Hey, Stern was bashing Bush. Let's put out a memo, date it this morning, and say that we were adopting new decency standards. Never mind that he made the 'indecent remark' well before the new rules were written."

CC wants enforcement of Standards, eh?

Should we give it to them??? Lets give them some real standards to abide by: Limits on media ownership, equal time, and public service requirements!

BREAK THEM UP!

.

So, what's new?

I heard Stern playing excerpts from some of the speeches given at the FCC hearing on "indecency" in the media shortly after the infamous breast incident. When it comes to trying to censor the media, who else but Stern is going to have something to say about it. I guess they heard him.

I'm 100% sure if Stern said something about Chimpy, they are punishing him for it under some other guise. Wow.

The Bush Administration is OUT OF CONTROL! Smeagal/Gollum was right, I think they have "the ring" in the Oval Office. I wouldn't be surprised if come November, we will need to pry it from the neo-cons hands and throw it in a volcano before our country is back to normal.

Howard Stern was actually quite funny and anti-establishment. He believed in the comic motto to "Afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted". I think the money fried his brain.

However, if a caller makes an obscene comment, I'm sure they operate with a 7 second delay. They didn't have to air it. But I've heard worse.

Sounds like Clear Channel is trying to make an example out of these two. Welcome to censorship. If Bush is re-selected, one day we will look back to these as the salad days. The last era in America that actually allowed individuals to express their views out loud even over the airwaves---Gasp!

trashing happens every day, everywhere. I have heard people here wanting to shut down drudge. I say free speech everywhere, but after the uproar over j jackson's boobie, broadcasters should watch their p's and q's regarding obscene content-- at least long enough for it to blow over.

and earlier this week fired somebody named "bubba the love sponge"

Their memo stated that they'd be suspended or fired if they were FINED by the FCC. I haven't heard the FCC say one thing about this. It's just because Stern bad mouthed Bush and the FCC.

Fuck this. I'm buying satellite radio.

Clear Channel's creation of a "Responsible Broadcasting Initiative" came after the company's WXTB in Tampa, Fla., fired shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge, the area's top-rated morning DJ among listeners aged 18 to 54. The FCC had proposed a $715,000 fine for episodes of his show, including accounts of sex among cartoon characters, that aired in 2001. Possible fines range from $7,000 to $27,500 per incident; a bill pending in Congress would raise the limit to $275,000.

<snip>


The radio industry -- which historically has been fined more often and more heavily than television -- is reacting to a tide of anger released by the exposure of singer Janet Jackson's breast during the halftime show of the Super Bowl Feb. 1. As one industry official put it, "the Janet Jackson incident was sort of like throwing kerosene on a fire." http://www.nynewsday.com/entertainment/ny-etrad0226,0,670307.story?coll=nyc-enthome-headlines

Viacom president Karmazin read the riot act to executives of all 180 Infinity-owned radio stations during a conference call last week, announcing a zero tolerance policy.

An Infinity memo "to all general managers and program directors" obtained by Newsday, stated "when in doubt, leave it out," noting that "both houses of Congress are now vigorously engaged in the crusade against indecency," and citing threats of increased fines and possible revocation of broadcast licenses. The memo said "failure to abide by this policy is grounds for harsh discipline, including immediate termination."

hummmm. Question wasn't answered.

This guessing; I take it, came from a teaser on drudge, we just spent about a week disgusted that people would jump to conclusions before the facts were revealed.


---' “As broadcast licensees, we are fully responsible for what our stations air, and we intend to make sure all our DJs and programmers understand what is and what is not appropriate on Clear Channel radio shows.”

Mays said the company will institute a zero tolerance policy for indecent content which will include company-wide training and automatic suspensions for anyone that the FCC alleges has violated indecency rules on the air.

“If the FCC accuses us of wrongdoing by issuing a proposed fine, we will take immediate action,” Mays said. “We will suspend the DJ in question, and perform a swift investigation. If we or the government ultimately determine the offending broadcast is indecent, the DJ will be terminated without delay,” Mays said.
http://radio.about.com/cs/latestradionews/a/blaa022504a.htm

Just don't diss anyone.

all the trash he's talked before, and
now e's too vulgar, offensive and insulting...:shrug:

yea sure ....;)
its cause he trashed Bu$h ..

Could it be because he is bad mouthing President Chimpy as of late and Clear Channel doesn't like it? Probably!

Attention Clear Channel, us DUers can see right thru your Clear Channelling asses!

It's really hard to define decency/indecency. A lot of the pro-Censorship crowd claims they know it when they see it.

I don't like Stern, but I'll say this in his defense - in the case of the Superbowl Halftime show that was billed as a family event, so it was wrong for Justin & Janet to do their stunt. No one with half a brain would mistake Howard for wholesome or family entertainment. He has a reputation for being at the head of the crass.

is indecent like Clinton. That's the message.

You know it's election time when all they talk about is religion or sex. Indecent speech is an election issue.

The big issue this election is same sex marriage in the church, gun liability, indecency, etc. Other years, it was abortion, cloning, gays in the military, etc.

Gets the self- righteous people in this country all in a dither. They forget the important issues that need fixing such as jobs, debt, war, immigration, democracy, trade, safe air, food, and drugs, etc.

and you'll receive RNC Democratic attack pop up ads exclusively. They understand the game... and ClearChannel's even worse.

I am NOT a Stern fan, but I approve of his right to speak. It is awfully incriminating that this happened after he started expressing his opinion of Bush. I hope this connection gets repeatedly reported in the press!

Ooooh that offends my sence of decency! Such a dirty name.
I'm calling the Cox HQ and *demand* that they take oon a corporate moniker that doesn't pollute my beautiful minds.

No wonder we are facing attacks on the sanctity of marriage from those pervert gay people! They were probably so traumatized by hearing "Cox" Channel that next thing you know our nice young men start wearing bridal gowns!

will cost them lots of bucks. Most of these conservative controllers deal a lot in "indecency"...big money maker for them. Like the neocons being the biggest drug dealers ever, lots of dough to be made!

:scared:

Oh that's right. They both support Bush.

First the Dixie Chicks, now Howard Stern. Boy, Clear Channel is proving our point about breaking up the media monopolies. Ironically, Howard mocked the Dixie Chicks.

Trashes Bush most every day now.

Will Lou Dobbs be next? (Anti-outsourcing.)

I think dubya is trouble.. I like it that Lou Dobbs carries on and on about the job outsourcing. He's been carrying on and on about that. I have heard Imus say some pretty negative things about dubya and the administration. I LOVE IT! We could use more of it from others. Maybe Howard Stern will really go after them.

tells them to go fuck themselves and takes all of his listeners with him...I for one will follow him to another station...

Any station would love to have him on their network...he's a ratings getter...!

It's about time that you reined in Stern. After all, he had the chance to speak badly of George W. (Captain Codpiece) Bush, and we all know that this cannot be permitted in the new Corporate States of America.

And no, nobody believes that it was because of bad language or anything else that corporate speak might come up with.

Ms. Fischnar, there is something that you must be aware of, and it will come to haunt Clear Channel. I refer to the American tradition of Free Speech. What you are engaged in is pure and clear censorship. Even worse, it's clearly censorship intended to aid a political figure. I know that you are aware of the movement in congress to repeal the new FCC regulations. How do you think this action by your corporation will effect that movement? It's my feeling that your actions were the worst thing that you could do in the long run. I believe that congress is now listening to the people, for a change, and the people are demanding not only that the new regs be repealed. There is now a growing popular movement to start breaking up the media conglomerates, such as yourselves. It happened to the Bell system. Please don't think it can't happen to you.

Remember, this is America and the people will be heard. No matter how much money you give to the politicians.

Until then I will keep repeating after you: Sig Hiel.

This is a fight that i could only dream of..Please dont hold this against me but I'm a RADIO Stern fan..The TV show is nothing but the WORST bits of his show I think..Do I find Sterns show offensive sometimes and dislike Stern?..Yah I do...But sometimes it can be the funniest and most thought provoking thing on national radio and thats why I listen.
Clear Channel and most Radio conglomerates have been a boil on America thats been needing a good lancing for sometime now..And I think Stern can win this fight and i look forward to every punch he throws!
Why are they picking on stern when we have Right wing radio spewing hate every day?

This is so sweet, gets canned for talking sh*t on bush, but before talked up just about anything that could be talked up that would be crude and shocking.

Guess it just goes to show where the soft underbelly of the empire is

More than anything, the true colors of support is showing for the chimp

On edit: had to substitute with the * in the word shit, didn't want any of that guteral vanacular getting out for somebody to misconstrue

on second edit: I can't use that effing spell checker in edit mode either, so let me just call the whole damn post off already :argh:

at all, but it is plainly obvious why he was REALLY suspended. Daddy clear channels will keep you safe and sound from "indecency" and will decide what you can see and hear. Its apparently OK to torture and kill animals on their airwaves but don't you DARE speak a word about our "glorious leader". These are scary times indeed in this Country and I am (for the first time) considering an exit strategy. I can't mention enough how much I hate clear channels and what they have done to radio.

The Howard Stern Show was suspended from airing on Clear Channel stations , for running afoul of new decency standards. Specifically, the contents of the Tuesday, February 24th, 2004 show resulted in the show being yanked off the air. This affects upwards of ten percent of Stern's listening audience, including such markets as Miami, Orlando, Louisville and San Diego.

This suspension coincides with the testimony this morning of Clear Channel president before congress regarding standards of decency in the broadcast industry. You may recall that just a couple of days ago, a Stern imitator, Todd Clem was fired on Tuesday for similarly crossing the lines of decency imposed by the station and the new FCC guidelines.

I needn't remind readers of this blog of the rightward leaning political affiliations of the Clear Channel company. This is the same company that broadcasts Rush, Hannity, Liddy, and any number of far right wing-nuts in their daily programming. Lest we forget, this is the same company that had the huge number of stations all of a sudden "independently" decide that they were not going to play Dixie Chicks records on the air, after the musicians made negative comments about President Bush during a concert appearance in England.

I happened to listen to a good bit of the Tuesday broadcast. And you know what surprised me about this broadcast? Well, in retrospect, there was little outrageous material much different from the stuff Stern has been doing for twenty years. What surprised me, and I wrote about it here, was the virulently anti-Bush comments coming out of Stern's mouth. Stern touched on Bush's character, his drunk driving, his cocaine use, his avoidance of Vietnam, his religious fundamentalism kookiness, and how he was a failure at everything he touched, running several companies bankrupt. Stern had been a strong supporter of Bush during the war efforts, and has back-pedaled, even today admitting that although he voted for Gore, he was willing to stand by our president and give him the benefit of the doubt during 9/11 and its aftermath. But Stern commented today that the economy is in shambles, and that Bush must go. He also talked up John Kerry.

The fascists in Clear Channel, in fulfilling their duties as the propaganda wing of the Bush regime, can't tolerate this kind of message being broadcast on their airwaves, especially with an election coming up in November. It is quite a strange coincidence that on the day in question, Stern was casting his venom at Bush, the FCC, religious fundamentalists, and the Republicans, and advising everyone to vote this guy out.

so was he on the verge of being suspended anyway or was it in fact due to his criticism of Bush?

With no further details. I listened to most of Tuesday's show. The thing most telling about it was the virulent anti-Bush sentiment Howard expressed.

www.moewampum.com already has t-shirts to fight Clear Channel's decision!

Pittsburghers used to waking up to the deep voice and raunchy topics of nationally syndicated radio host Howard Stern heard music instead this morning.

That’s because the parent company of WXDX-FM has unplugged Stern’s show -- at least for the time being.

Clear Channel announced yesterday that it was instituting a zero tolerance policy on indecency on its stations’ airwaves. A few hours later, Clear Channel said it was suspending Stern from six of its 1,200 stations following comments made on Tuesday’s show during an interview with Paris Hilton’s former boyfriend and sex video co-star Rick Solomon, which contained a racial slur from a caller and graphic talk about sex.

WXDX said today its phone lines have been jammed with listeners calling about Stern's absence.

http://www.post-gazette.com/breaking/20040226sternp4.asp

Lynn Cullen, liberal talk show host in Pittsburgh on WPPT 1360 AM who's not even a fan on Stern spent 3 hours talking with listeners about this story. Majority thought Stern was yanked because he did rant about Bush. There were a lot of pissed off listeners. Amazing how many start the day with Stern then switch to Lynn's liberal show. BTW, DU lists Lynn's show from 10am - 1pm EST.

Kerry: Stations Have Right to Pull Stern

February 28, 2004 09:59 PM EST


NEW YORK - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said radio stations are within their right to pull Howard Stern off the air if they object to the shock jock's racy show.

"Howard Stern does have the right to say whatever he wants anywhere, but he doesn't necessarily have the right to say it on that station if the people who run the station don't want him to," Kerry said while campaigning in New York, where Stern's show is broadcast.

~snip~

Kerry said he disagrees that Stern faces repression.

"If you are working for somebody and they have a set of rules, that's the deal," Kerry said. "And it doesn't mean he can't go out and say it somewhere if somebody else wants to have him say that."

~snip~

http://start.earthlink.net/newsarticle?cat=9&aid=D810LB300_story

Personally, I think the issue is corporate power vs. the individual and democratic principles, an issue which pretty much determines our country's course and future ... Stern has been consistent in his work, and his reputation is well-known ... to allow corporate america to put restrictions on the arts and artists is not the right precedent ... Clear Channel has already proved its desire to censor when after 911 they restricted some songs from air play. There's something very scary about this.

It's disappointing to me that Sen. Kerry backs the corporation and that, as an entity, has over-riding rights to those given us in the Constitution. I've legally fought corporate power ... and, I suppose, that helped to forge my perspective. I'm no big fan of Howard, but it's time to stand up to corporate power and re-establish We the People, and firm up employee rights as basic to our system.

I suspect that Howard Stern is a 'contracted' employee, and not under any right-to-work laws. That might may make a legal distinction on his behalf (although I don't think we should have class employee status over another one, contracted vs. salaried; nor special rights for executives and CEOs).