From the Radio Business Report:
Cleaning up the airwaves is a laudable pursuit, so we wish Clear Channel well in instituting its new "zero tolerance" policy. It will be interesting, though, to see what guidelines the company is able to come up with to deliver to its employees. As Mark Mays recently noted, the FCC's enforcement has been so erratic that no one knows what its indecency standard is.By the way, the same article echoes exactly what was said here a few days ago:
Most strange, though, is Clear Channel's plan to include language in its new talent contracts to make the employee pay part of the bill if their broadcast is fined for indecency by the FCC. If a DJ has another job prospect at anywhere close to the same pay package, why on earth would they ever sign a Clear Channel contract that leaves them open to virtually unlimited liability, but gives them no role in deciding whether to pay up or fight?
Howard Stern was expendable to Clear Channel. He aired on only six of the company's stations and his show wasn't even a Clear Channel product. By very publicly pulling Stern off his stations, John Hogan was able to divert some of the political heat away from his company and onto Infinity Broadcasting, owned by Viacom. Let's face it, the show that got Stern yanked from Clear Channel's stations wasn't different from a typical Stern show. But pulling Stern just before Hogan was due to testify before Congress was a brilliant PR move. One of the Members of Congress even praised Clear channel for its actions, as opposed to the "bad actor" Viacom.
