The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.
The Daily Stern
: The NY Post said this morning that Stern is negotiating to get funding to start his own satellite radio service, buying channel space on existing networks.
Stern said this morning he isn’t in such talks and knows nothing about it… but it’s not a bad idea.
No, Jeff, this Post story is not what you should be reporting. You should be reporting that as I write this Howard Stern has a guy on who can fart at will for long periods of time, and he’s doing it directly into the face of some girl for some prize. A microphone is picking up every sound. It’s been going on for awhile now. This is Howard Stern; this is the Howard Stern show; this is what you have mysteriously chosen to make your cause for freedom of speech. This is what Howard Stern is about and for this, and worse, and NOT any political speech against Bush (which was non-existent prior to Stern learning about fines [Stern was a very vocal W. supporter]) Howard Stern routinely gets fined by the FCC. Actually for the worse things he does on his show. This current segment is just juvenile and gross, but very par for the course for the Stern show. Starting to feel a little taken, Jeff? At least a little filthy? Embarassed, maybe? Just hoping for a light to suddently turn on…
The rumors of Stern’s plan don’t hold much water. You can’t just buy satellite spectrum space and broadcast. You need to have the receiver technology on the other end, and that’s where either XM or Sirius come into play. It’s cost prohibitive to go alone and at $1 per month they’re nuts. I’m pretty sure both XM and Sirius aren’t taking this article seriously.
Stern will probably weather this storm unless the fines really come crashing down, and I’m betting that after the election things will return to normal. This is all a move to stir up the base in both parties. Stern has two years left on his contract and he will probably move on to other non-radio projects, and his audience will follow. XM and Sirius need to be ready to make a big $$$ offer should Infinity fire Stern, which I doubt will happen anyhow.
Goodbye, Howard! Smell ya later!
Gee, what a shock. This whole issue is made up by Stern
hey sol,
other than this year and 10 years ago, when else was Stern fined by the fcc?
your definition for “routinely” is curious.
and yes, howard does have interesting guests, like the farting guy.
and yes, howard mostly has non-political guests.
and yes, he ran into trouble with the current administration when he stopped supporting Bush and broke away from his usual light-hearted topics and spoke his mind about this nitwit in the white house.
and yes, several days later he was dropped by Clear Channel who is in bed with the RNC to a tune of several hundred thousand dollars.
and yes, howard stern was critical about Bush when he learned that Michael Powell was about to start infringing on talk show hosts’ right to free speech. even your boy Rush was critical about Bush and Powell.
my advice to you is to quit talking about Stern as if you know something about him. if youre outraged about what he puts on the air, write about that. but you know nothing of his history and even less about the current situation.
you are one of the reasons that he does so well. as documented in his movie Private Parts, there are two types of listeners: those who love him and listen for hours, and those who allegedly hate him and listen for hours.
its you who should be embarrassed. at least jeff and i admit to loving the king of all media.
“There are two types of listeners: those who love him and listen for hours, and those who allegedly hate him and listen for hours.”
And then there are people like me, who have never heard him, even once, and couldn’t care less what he has to say.
how would you know you couldnt care less what he has to say if youve never heard him, even once?
That’s a really dumb rejoinder, tony. Jakob doesn’t listen to Stern because he doesn’t want to. That’s what “I couldn’t care less what he has to say” means. Neither I nor anyone else has to experience the wonder that is Howard Stern before deciding we are not interested in his particular shtick any more than you have to sleep with some girl in order to figure out whether or not you find her sexually attractive.
terrible analogy, andrea.
what both of you are saying is that you’re not interested in finding out what stern is about.
more like looking at a book jacket and saying you’re not interested.
but what both of you are guilty of is judging that book and calling it wrong and immature and boring and not worthy
because of its cover.
because of heresay about the cover.
and some chicks are far more sexually attractive after you’ve nailed them.
once youve given them a chance.
instead of just basing things on looks, heresay, surface crap, hype.
you’ve got a lot learn, woman. too bad you’re too self-righteous to explore for yourself.
Tony, you’re engaging in what is called ‘lying’ when you say that Howard was critical of Bush prior to his learning about fines coming down the FCC pipeline. This is the crux of Stern’s false position. He adopted it dishonestly because he HAD to position himself as being a martyr for political speech rather than being a martyr for toe-in-vagina routines. Period. In other words on day ‘x’ Howard was giving his usual pro-W. war-on-terror spiel, THEN Howard hears his first rumor of the coming FCC fines and on day-after-day-‘x’ Howard is suddenly extremely anti-Bush. The dishonesty is Stern is saying he is being fined BECAUSE of his anti-Bush statement, but they didn’t happen until AFTER he learn of the fines coming. I listen to the show. It’s on for SEVEN AND A HALF HOURS where I live. 3 hours live from 3 in the morning (I’m on the west coast) and then the full 4 and a half starting at six in the morning. I can tune it out and still hear what I missed.
sol,
im on the west coast too.
i listen to his show uncut with no commercials every day thanks to my sweet job.
your arguement(s) would hold more water if you had actual dates to go along with your theory, but you dont.
you “routinely” distort what you present as facts and you call me the liar?
do you even know the definition of these words?
once again, because you appear to be slow, Howard became defensive after Michael Powell stated that he was going to crack down on “indencency” after the janet jackson halftime show. but regular listeners know that howard has always been jittery about the fcc. however this time he coupled his fears with the president who appointed powell to role of head of the fcc: your boy Bush.
this happened at the same time that howard read Al Franken’s book. after he read the book he came on the air and said that he would vote for anyone but Bush.
days later, Clear Channel dropped Howard on their stations on the same day that they were to testify to congress.
this enraged Howard, his listeners, and even his competitors (like Rush) because it gave the impression that speaking out against the government could lead to a chilling effect that starts at the media ownership and trickles down to the commentator.
it is a sneaky form of censorship during an election year stemming from a president who cheated to get into office, lied once he was in charge, and is cheating now that he will probably lose.
howard stern is the most powerful morning talk show host who is vehemently against the president which is why it’s extremely curious that the fcc would suddenly reverse its decision about Bono using the f-word while being used as an adjective on the same day that it would fine Stern for something he said in 2001.
on the same day that Oprah said basically the same thing but received no fine.
the difference was Oprah said it on tv during a time that children are at home and probably unsupervised.
howard’s paranoias and fears have come to fruition on every point except being dropped from Infinity.
thankfully it might just be people like you with your ridiculous arguments who make the fence-sitters realize that howard is being singled-out because of his political beliefs.
so keep it up.
youre saving america’s most important radio personality.
Tony:
You forgot to mention that it’s all about the ooooiiiiiiilllllllllllllllllllllll.
Tony…(you’re counter arguments aside [for the record I think it would be cleared up for you if you just looked up the word ‘martyr’ rather than assume you know what it means]…) Bush is a ‘nitwit’, and I’m slow. OK. And Al Franken’s a genius. And you’re getting ready to listen to J. Garafalo and Chuck D.’s thoughts on the IMF. Ironic little world you’ve bunkered yourself into… (‘Ironic’, that’s in the dictionary too, Tony…)