RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Media This is fucked up (PC POLICE GET HOWARD STERN)

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Stupid Dogg said:
Penwing, have you ever read George Orwelle's book, 1984? I recommend you do. It's eerily reminiscent of the way things are slowly becoming.

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Stupid Dogg said:
Penwing, have you ever read George Orwelle's book, 1984? I recommend you do. It's eerily reminiscent of the way things are slowly becoming.

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Stupid Dogg said:
Penwing, have you ever read George Orwelle's book, 1984? I recommend you do. It's eerily reminiscent of the way things are slowly becoming.

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March 22, 2004



TELEVISION & RADIO
Political agitator
The shock jock interrupts his routine sexual banter for barrages against Bush

By Bob Baker, Times Staff Writer

For four weeks Howard Stern has been sounding like Lenny Bruce crossed with James Carville.

The sexually obsessed talk-show host, who reaches between 8 million and 9 million people a week, has been regularly interrupting the off-color juvenility of his show to rail against President Bush and urge listeners to vote for — and send money to — rival candidate Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.). Stern, who supported Bush effusively for his response to Sept. 11, including the invasion of Iraq, now dismisses the president as a tool of the religious right.

Sterns' fans have listened to his marriage crumble. They've listened to his tales about visiting a psychiatrist. They've listened to him fall in love again. They've listened to him savor last night's lap dances and paddle the naked bottoms of beautiful women to the beat of rock songs. And now they're listening to him mock Bush as a draft dodger and a president of low intelligence. These daily diatribes fly seamlessly in and out of wacky, tasteless contests or interviews. Friday, Stern put as much energy into condemning Vice President Dick Cheney's congressional voting record and youthful drunk-driving arrests as he did into belittling Courtney Love's bizarre on-stage disrobing.

Bush, a onetime problem drinker who gave up alcohol, and Cheney are "out-of-control men who need Jesus to keep them in line," Stern said pugnaciously. "You know what, man? The Republicans are owned by the right. It's time to reject them summarily. Let's start with Bush. We're taking the biggest guy out first. Him and Cheney."

Stern has always been an angry man on the air, but his war — despite frequent Federal Communications Commission sanctions — was often an unfocused rant against hypocrisy. Ever since Clear Channel, which ran his show on six of its stations, canceled Stern on Feb. 23, contending he did not meet corporate standards, he has channeled his anger into hardball politics. His show is still heard on three dozen stations, including KLSX-FM (97.1) in L.A. Stern says he had begun blasting Bush days before and that Clear Channel was acting in the name of pro-Republican politics, not decency. (Clear Channel says Stern allowed a guest to utter a racial slur and will resume broadcasting his show when "we are assured that his show will conform to acceptable standards of responsible broadcasting.")

Stern also has long reveled in his ability to move his listeners. He endorsed two Republican gubernatorial candidates (Christine Todd Whitman in New Jersey, who reciprocated by naming a highway rest stop after him, and George Pataki in New York) and two presidential candidates (Democrats Bill Clinton, twice, and Al Gore.) He once gave some on-air thought to running for governor of New York as a Libertarian. On Friday morning he boasted: "My fans are energizing, 18-to-25[-year-old] white males who sometimes vote, sometimes don't. They just need a cause and their cause is me.... They're the only people that you can swing.... We, the Million Moron March, we will vote against Bush."

Just how much difference Stern can make is questionable. Of 10 states with close races between Bush and Al Gore in 2000, Stern is not on the air in five: Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and New Mexico. He has a strong presence in only two of the 10 states, Ohio and Nevada; in one of the most crucial states — Florida — he is now heard only in Fort Meyers. Clear Channel removed him from its Miami and Orlando stations, which means that angry Stern fans may rise politically in those cities or — no longer able to hear the show and his call to arms — make little difference.

Stern has vowed to quit radio if a bill to raise FCC fines for indecency is approved. (The House earlier this month passed the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act; a similar bill is moving through the Senate.) Skeptics note that Stern has made the same kind of threat dozens of times in past, often in response to the way his flagship station, WXRK-FM in New York, bleeps out extreme sexual content.

"My head wants to explode with everything I'm angry about," Stern said about an hour into Friday's 6-to-11 a.m. broadcast. "Then I get nervous I'm talking too much politics. I know what you guys want...."

And with that he introduced a snippet of sound by a champion gas-emitter, set to a sports anthem.

Then it was back to politics.

"Jimmy Kimmel made the best point of all," Stern said. "I'll be interested if this gets on [the air]. It's from the Oprah show."

He played a short bit of audio from Kimmel's Thursday night ABC network talk show, in which Kimmel showed an explicit sexual conversation on Oprah Winfrey's TV show. A guest used a euphemism for an oral sex act that was quickly translated for a titillated audience.

Kimmel noted that earlier Thursday, the FCC had proposed fining Infinity Broadcasting, which syndicates Stern, the maximum $27,500 for a Stern show broadcast on WKRK-FM in Detroit three years ago. (The FCC received a complaint from a Detroit listener about a show that featured discussions about sexual techniques.)

Will the FCC go after Winfrey, "the filthiest broadcaster on American television?" Kimmel asked jokingly.

But, as Stern had predicted, his own audience didn't hear the definition of the euphemism; the censor at WXRK bleeped it as too graphic.

Stern began hectoring station general manager Tom Chiusano: "You bleeped it? But it was on Oprah!"

There's a double standard that is prejudiced against you, Chiusano responded.

Stern begged Chiusano to let him play the snippet again, uncensored. His reasoning was that the FCC would never risk the backlash of fining Winfrey's show. ("Let them fine Oprah, the most successful black woman in this country.") So it would either have to lay off him in this case or risk appearing hypocritical. "Let me play it now."

Chiusano left to consult with a station attorney, saying he'd be back in 10 minutes. Stern took phone calls. A guy name Mike, from Pittsburgh, one of the cities where Clear Channel booted Stern's show, called to say he was a registered Republican who would vote for Kerry. Stern began a litany of sins allegedly committed by Cheney — his votes on the environment, abortion. "He hides his gay daughter! ... The guy's a psychotic!"

The talk turned to whether Stern would actually campaign for Kerry. Would he give a speech? "If we do it at [fabled New York strip club] Scores, I'll do it," Stern said. That led to him and his producer, Gary Dell'Abate, discussing when to throw a party at Scores' new club on the West Side of Manhattan. Gradually they returned to censorship. Stern told his listeners he was going to post a transcript of the Winfrey discussion on his website, saying they should copy it and send it as a letter of protest to the FCC.

Chiusano reentered the studio. The lawyer says don't play it uncensored, he said.

"Let's make a stand!" Stern protested. "Tom, I'm a soldier." (Stern's sound effects engineer began playing the "Star-Spangled Banner.") "I'm on the front line. This is our last chance.... This is our Battle of the Bulge."

No, Chiusano repeated.

"Mel [Karmazin, president of Viacom Inc., which owns Infinity Broadcasting] agrees with me!" Stern said. "He wants to jump off a cliff with us."

But Stern lost. And there was nothing left to do but continue to assail the president. ("You think Courtney Love is nuts? The president's 50 times crazier!") and to bring in the next guest: a man who believed he could answer more trivia questions than the sound effects engineer, Fred Norris, and had brought along an 18-year-old stripper who promised to take all her clothes off if the guy lost. He lost. She walked out from behind a curtain nude. For a few moments, it was just like the old days.

"More fun and games on Monday," Stern said as the show ended, but he was talking about the upcoming action in Washington to raise FCC fines, not about strippers.

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What's funny is the the other day I went to the Franz Ferdinand concert with some old friends of mine. Now they aern't at all politically active nor even aware or interested in politics (they don't even vote!). BUT they were livid about Bush and it all was thanks to Howard Stern. Seeing as how 1 of my friends is a HUGE longtime Stern fan. The gay issue couldn't rouse them (they're both gay and a couple), the war in Iraq only made them follow the official propaganda. The FCC going after Stern however made them livid. They just registered to vote and were itching to stick it to Bush come November. THIS with absolutely zero input from myself. I had long ago given up trying to talk politics with them as it becomes a waste of time IMO when no one knows the issues nor want to know. All they knew 1 year ago was that Bush was a GREAT President (their words) and he was kicking the terrorists ass and "showing them who's boss".

Now thanks to Howard, they hate Bush and are now actually politically aware, informed, and hate Bush for every other thing they should have hated him for in the 1st place. They were telling me stuff that I had stopped discussing with them a long long time ago. They even proiclaimed that they were going to contact the DNC to distribute Kerrey stuff at their business and even offer their lawn for Kerrey pickets.

Nice Going FCC. You just created 2 more anti-Bush activists where before there was none.

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April 28, 2004

Peril in the Air for Bush: Howard Stern

By Jody Rosen

A strange new sound has been crackling over the nation's radio airwaves, the same airwaves that have been dominated by Rush Limbaugh and other specialists in right-wing Sturm und Drang. Suddenly, in the thick of an election year, a left-leaning equivalent has emerged, riling a mass audience with scathing, eloquent attacks on the Bush administration.

The biggest surprise of all? The long-sought liberal talk radio hero isn't Air America's Al Franken, but that walking, talking wedge issue, Howard Stern.

Fittingly, the politicization of Stern began with a woman's bared breast. The Federal Communications Commission crackdown on broadcast indecency that followed Janet Jackson's Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction" hit Stern hard. The FCC proposed fining broadcast giant Clear Channel Communications $495,000 for several of Stern's raunchy utterances; Clear Channel promptly dropped Stern from its six stations that had carried him.

Stern has been at odds with the FCC for years, but these latest proposed fines, and the looming threat of more, have driven Stern to a new level of apoplexy — and to broadcasting the most pugnacious anti-Bush vitriol anywhere in the mainstream media. In Stern's view, he is the victim of a witch hunt, singled out by an administration in the grip of fundamentalist Christian ideologues bent on morality regulation.

These days, Stern's broadcasts are divided between his usual schtick — interviews with strippers, off-color song parodies, jokes about celebrities — and rants against the president. Stern will never be mistaken for a policy wonk, but tune in to his show and you'll hear him cogently attacking administration positions on an impressive range of issues: stem-cell research, abortion rights, gay marriage, media consolidation, the handling of Iraq.

Meanwhile, Stern's revamped website looks more like Mother Jones magazine than Maxim: It features articles about the administration's trade violations in Myanmar and includes a link to the contributions page of the John Kerry for President site. Indeed, Stern has become an ardent Kerry advocate. "I call on all fans of the show to vote against Bush," he said on a recent broadcast. "We're going to deliver the White House to John Kerry."

Some might dismiss this as bluster, but Stern's words should send a shiver up Karl Rove's spine. Stern has a record of successful election-year activism; political observers in New York and New Jersey remember how his on-air endorsements delivered key votes to George Pataki and Christine Todd Whitman in past gubernatorial races.

What's more, although Stern's approximately 8.5 million listeners are often dismissed as overgrown frat boys, they might more accurately be called swing voters. They are overwhelmingly white and male, many are well educated and well off, and they vote. And millions of them listen to Stern's show in battleground states — Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Tennessee, Florida — where the election will be decided.

Like his audience, Stern has always been broadly misunderstood. Calling Stern a "shock jock" does him an injustice, lumping him in with his lesser imitators and with the gross-out inanities of reality TV. In fact, Stern is a provocateur and comic talent in the tradition of Lenny Bruce. Whether his subject is sex, scatology, show business or his own failures and insecurities, he has brought unprecedented frankness to the airwaves. The real "shock" — and appeal — of Stern's show is how, with wit and brutal honesty, it punctures the phoniness of so much media chatter.

That means he tackles subjects that no one else would touch. Where else but on Stern's show would you hear an avowed atheist mocking the Taliban-like religiosity of the president, whom Stern has nicknamed "Mr. Jesus"? (Welcome to the true "No Spin Zone.")

By all indications, Stern's message is getting through. Since the FCC crackdown, his ratings have been going up. For example, Arbitron says he's now No. 1 in Los Angeles in the 25-to-54 age group, a spot he last occupied in 1995. And among entertainer websites, his was rated second (behind Oprah's) in mid-April.

If Kerry wins a close election in November, he may well owe a debt to the man who calls himself King of All Media. And political analysts may find themselves enshrining another crucial voting bloc, alongside soccer moms and NASCAR dads: Howard Stern fans.

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April 28, 2004

RADIO
Shake-up on dial shakes up ratings

Embattled Howard Stern reclaims lost ground, and 'El Cucuy' and Ryan Seacrest make an impact right away.

By Steve Carney, Special To the Times

The landscape of morning drive saw a seismic shift last month, with the biggest names in Los Angeles radio either leaving or reclaiming lost ground, and the full scope of their impact showing up in ratings released during the past week.

Shock jock Howard Stern, instead of losing out in a feud with President Bush, the Federal Communications Commission and the nation's largest radio chain, has garnered audience figures he hasn't seen since 1995........

....But Stern, Coello and Seacrest showed immediate, dramatic gains.

The Arbitron radio ratings released Friday covered listener preferences for the first three months of this year, presenting them as a quarterly average. But a month-to-month breakdown available this week shows just how suddenly the audience for these morning shows surged.

On his Los Angeles affiliate, KLSX-FM (97.1), Stern averaged 3.9% of Southland listeners over the age of 12 in February. When the FCC proposed slapping its maximum fine on a Detroit station for a Stern broadcast, Stern began an on-air crusade against the agency and the president in response, and radio chain Clear Channel Communications pulled the shock jock from six of its outlets, citing indecency fears. After that, in March, Stern's L.A. audience share leaped to 5.4%, making him No. 1 in the market.

He was also first among listeners ages 25-54, with a 5.7% share — the first time he's topped the L.A. ratings in that demographic since the summer of 1995, according to Infinity Broadcasting Corp., which distributes Stern's show and owns KLSX.

He saw similar gains in his home market, New York, and in Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and elsewhere.

And Stern's effect worked in the other direction, as well. At KIOZ-FM (105.3) in San Diego — one of the Clear Channel-owned stations that pulled Stern's program at the end of February — the audience share for its morning show went from 8.9% in February to .7% in March, according to Infinity. The fall was even greater among listeners ages 18 to 34 — from 20.6% to .8%.

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Now I know this has turned off some of you here who happen to support Bush. This isn't the trend apparently though.