Cloudy Channel
: Two more Stern-related notes for the day:
: Clear Channel has hired Michael Savage, last seen wishing people to get AIDS and die on MSNBC. I’d actually have no problem with that — free speech for all — except it sure is odd that one shock jock is OK and others are not.
: Stern also played clips from the new Jason Seagrove show in which they took live phone calls — without a delay — and in one call after another, two of the seven dirty words were used. So why is he still on the air? What happened to zero tolerance? Where’s the FCC fine?
Stern is merely Clear Channel’s sacrifical lamb to Congress — or political offering to Bush.
: MORE: Jeff Sharlet, of the wonderful new NYU religion blog The Revealer (which — like others — I have neglected to get into my blogroll and for that, father, I am eternally sorry and beg your forgiveness) writes in the comments below about Clear Channel:
Stern is a sacrificial lamb. I interviewed John Hogan, JC Watts (a member of CC’s board of directors) and a regional VP for a story about the company in Harper’s. All were emphatic that they let the “market” decide, that decency was something people could vote on with their radio dials. Now it appears they don’t even have the courage of this spineless conviction. But why should they? They are businessmen through and through, as they are fond of boasting; their move against Stern is simply an acknowledgement that in their view of the free market some consumers (the Christian right, at the moment) are more equal than others.
