FCC censorship: questions linger

FCC, page1

The FCC has warned the entertainment industry that this is just the beginning of their censoring, and that each network will have to take into account everything they put on television or on the radio.

On April I, 2004, radio shock jock Howard Stem's show was pulled off all stations across the country. Fans were furious and calling into the station where Stem works cursing the FCC, the station, and Stern for letting this happen. Later in the morning, Stem came back on the air, laughing, to let everyone know it was just an April fools joke.

Stem did this to show how it would be if the FCC did pull his show off the air. It was obvious that all of his listeners were disappointed, but were relieved when Stern returned to the mic.

"Fundamentally, Howard Stem is doing a publicity stunt for himself. He's old news, so he's generating a controversy around himself to get his name back in the headlines. He knows better than anyone that this is not a freedom of speech issue like he's making it out to be." Stern made a comment in reference to the FCC stating that it's taking them too long to take him off the air and that if they were going to do it, they would have done it by now.

Even though the FCC has not taken him off all the stations he is currently on, one of the biggest communications companies in the country, Clear Channel, decided to pull Stem's show off of six stations temporarily in Florida, California, Kentucky, New York, and Pennsylvania in early March. According to an article on CNN.com on April 8, 2004, Stem's show has been permanently booted from those stations, and the FCC has proposed a $495,000 fine for Clear Channel enforcing the maximum fine of $27,500 for each of 18 violations of federal decency rules.