Somebody Gets It — Howard Stern Wasn’t Censored by Clear Channel, It’s a Power Play

Costa Tsiokos, who writes the blog The Critical ‘I’, nails what’s really behind Clear Channel’s removal of the Howard Stern show from 6 stations (out of 1200!):

- Stern’s show is produced in partnership with Viacom, which owns Infinity Broadcasting, which is the second-largest radio network, behind–hello!–Clear Channel.

The same reaction to the Bubba firing applies here: I find it hard to believe that Clear Channel only now determined that a show like Howard Stern’s could be construed as objectionable. The motivation lies elsewhere, beyond a corporate impulse to conform to decency standards.

Clear Channel is orchestrating the current climate to put pressure on its chief rival, Viacom/Infinity. Much like the firing of Bubba was designed to appease the FCC and lead to a reduction in the levied fines, the Stern action is designed to give the appearance of “cracking down”, when it’s really an opportunistic power play.

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