Jason Tate
03/12/04, 05:24 PM
Greg Ross, CEO of Go Kart Records (http://www.gokartrecords.com), recently wrote a very well thought essay of sorts on the hypocrisy of Clear Channel Entertainment, and the obvious POLITICAL decision to remove Howard Stern from six of their stations. It is extremely crucial that we all stay informed on this topic because who is to say that our labels, bands, magazines, webzines won't be next.
Who says Clear Channel’s decision to remove Howard Stern is not political?
Earlier this week, Clear Channels Worldwide Inc., the nation’s largest
owner of radio stations (over 1200 stations in all 50 states and DC),
announced that it would remove Howard Stern from six of its stations.
"We will not air Howard Stern on Clear Channel stations until we are
assured that his show will conform to acceptable standards of
responsible broadcasting," said a Wednesday statement from John Hogan, president and CEO of Clear Channel Radio.
But the standard Clear Channels applies to radio does not appear to
apply to some of its other lucrative businesses, like the concert
venues it owns all over the country. This summer, performers like
Blink-182, the Ozzfest with Ozzy Osbourne, Britney Spears, Ludacris,
and Slayer will be performing at numerous Clear Channel-owned concert
venues.
Before I continue, let me clarify, no criticism of the performers above
is intended; rather I wish to draw attention to the hypocrisy of Clear
Channel’s recent decision.
Blink-182, a band who has a very young teen fan base, has been to known
to perform naked onstage and sing songs with lyrics such as “It's
Christmas eve and I've only wrapped two fucking presents - And I hate,
hate, hate your guts - I hate, hate, hate your guts - And I'll never
talk to you again - unless your dad will suck me off - I'll never talk
to you again - unless your mom will touch my cock - I'll never talk to
you again - ejaculate into a sock (from the song “Happy Holidays You
Bastard”). Or from the song “Family Reunion”, “shit piss fuck cunt
cocksucker motherfucker tits fart turd and twat - I fucked your mom.”
And in this time of heightened terrorist activities, check out the
lyrics from “Degenerate,” “For a hobby I make bombs.”
Or how about Ludacris’s lyrics to the song “Hos,” “Come on playa once a
ho always - And hos never close they open like hallways - An here’s a
ho cake for you whole ho crew - an everybody wants some cuz hoes gotta
eat too.”
Britney Spears has been famously pushing the envelope for years with
her sex-charged performances. How is it possible that Clear Channel
finds what Howard Stern says on the radio more offensive than the video
for “Slave 4U,” which features grinding and simulated sex. This video
has been shown, all or in part, on numerous TV shows, including on some
of the shows aired on Clear Channel-owned television stations.
A review of one of Britney’s recent performances said, “Last night, she
did her masturbation song. She had her dancers practically having sex
on stage wearing nothing but their underwear. She had guys doing guys,
girls doing girls and a silhouette of people having sex on a bed in a
hotel room.” This is something she performs on stage in front of
10,000+ people every night of her tour, with many young people in the
audience. And again, how about these lyrics, promoting promiscuous sex
“Get up, baby - We can drop a little something - Ride it, baby - We can
do a little something - Take out, baby - Wanna get a little somethin' -
You know, baby – Let’s hook up a little somethin’” and “Baby, I can’t
believe everything - Your body makes me wanna do” (from the song “The
Hook Up”). This is acceptable sex talk? How is it possible that Clear
Chanel finds this kind of performance acceptable in their concert
halls, but finds Stern’s less offensive sex talk objectionable? After
all Stern is only talking about sex, Britney is acting it out in front
of people.
One of the summer’s biggest tours is The Ozzfest featuring Ozzy
Osbourne. Ozzy’s expletives filled rants on MTV’s enormous hit “The
Osbournes” have made him a bigger star than he was in the entirety of
his career. On the show, Ozzy has talked about his drug and alcohol
addiction, as has his son Jack, while constantly being bleeped to block
out the incessant swearing. Howard Stern doesn’t swear on his show. So
why does Clear Channel support a man who calls himself “The Prince Of
Darkness,” glamorizes drugs and alcohol, and constantly uses profanity?
One of the headline bands on Ozzfest this year is Slayer. Slayer has a
record entitled “God Hates Us All.” The lyrics to the song
“Necrophiliac” include the following lines, “Virgin child now drained
of life - Your soul cannot be free - Not given the chance to rot in
Hell - Satan's cross points to Hell - The earth I must uncover - A
passion grows to feast upon - The frozen blood inside her - I feel the
urge the growing need - To fuck this sinful corpse - My tasks complete
the bitch's soul - Lies raped in demonic lust.” Again I am confused -
is Clear Channel endorsing Satanism, necrophilia and rape? After all
they are appearing at Clear Channel-owned venues, they must not have a
problem with it.
Why does Clear Channel deem it acceptable to perform songs in the
performance venues glorifying rape, promoting drug use, Satanism,
necrophilia, prostitution and profanity but find what Howard Stern does
unacceptable? Could it be that they make a lot of money from these
tours? While that is true, they also make a lot of money from Stern’s
radio show. So there must be another reason.
When Stern first mentioned that he felt Clear Channel’s actions were
retaliation for his bashing President Bush for the first time on his
show, it seemed absurd. But a closer look reveals that there may be
more to that then immediately meets the eye.
There are close ties between Clear Channel and President Bush. The Vice
Chair of the company is Tom Hicks, a member of the Bush Pioneer club
for elite (and generous) donors. When Bush was governor of Texas, Hicks
was chairman of the University of Texas Investment Management Co.,
called Utimco, and Clear Channel's chairman, Lowry Mays, was on its
board. Under Hicks, Utimco placed much of the university's endowment
under the management of companies with strong Republican Party or Bush
family ties. The contracts were given to firms politically connected to
both Hicks and Bush, including the Carlyle Group - a firm which has the
first President Bush on the payroll and had the second one on the
payroll until just weeks before receiving this lucrative business. The
board of UTIMCO also included the Chair of Clear Channel, L. Lowry Mays.
In addition, Hicks purchased the Texas Rangers from George Bush, making
him a wealthy man through a deal that was partially sweetened by a
shiny new taxpayer financed stadium, which included valuable land
obtained at below market rates through the use of eminent domain.
(“Radio Ga Ga,” New York Press, March 20, 2003)
Not only that, but when the country was divided about going to war with
Iraq, many of the pro-war rallies all over the country were organized
by Clear Channel affiliates. (“Clear Channel Has Ties to Bush”, March
26, 2003, The International Herald Tribune)
Theoretically, none of Stern’s recent problems would have occurred it
not for Janet Jackson exposing her breast at the Super Bowl, so it is
entirely possible that Clear Channel’s timing has nothing to do with
Stern’s bashing President Bush on his show.
But there is a pattern.
If quality programming really is a top priority, why did Clear
Channel recently hire Michael Savage at Houston 's KPRC? Isn't Mr.
Hogan aware that Savage was fired from MSNBC for referring to a caller
as a "sodomite" who should "get AIDS and die"? And, if vulgarity truly
is the issue, what was Clear Channel's complaint against disc jockey
Charles Goyette?
In an article entitled "How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio: Clear
Channel Gags an Antiwar Conservative," Goyette discussed why he
believes he was removed from his prime-time spot at KFYI in Phoenix.
"Why did this happen? Why only a couple of months after my company
picked up the option on my contract for another year in the
fifth-largest city in the United States, did it suddenly decide to
relegate me to radio Outer Darkness?" he asked. "The answer lies hidden
in the oil-and-water incompatibility of these two seemingly
disconnected phrases: 'Criticizing Bush' and 'Clear Channel.'"
Saying that badmouthing Bush and his fairy tale war was enough to
derail his career, Goyette explained a policy that, from his vantage
point, seemed to be company wide. “Criticism of Bush and his
ever-shifting pretext for a first-strike war (what exactly was it we
were pre-empting anyway?) has proved so serious a violation of Clear
Channel’s cultural taboo that only a good contract has kept me from
being fired outright,” he wrote. Fellow Clear Channel D.J. Roxanne
Cordonier (Roxanne Walker), however, wasn’t so lucky. “Her lawsuit
against the company alleges that she was belittled on the air and
reprimanded by her station for opposing the invasion of Iraq. Then she
was fired,” Goyette explained. (Buzzflash.com, March 2004)
And in a shocking twist, one of the people Howard Stern attacks the
most on his show is defending him, in a twisted way of course.
"I've never heard Howard Stern. But when the federal government gets
involved in this, I get a little frightened. If we are going to sit by
and let the federal government get involved in this, if the government
is going to 'censor' what they think is right and wrong... What happens
if a whole bunch of John Kerrys, or Terry McAuliffes start running this
country? And decide conservative views are leading to violence? I am in
the free speech business. It's one thing for a company to determine if
they are going to be party to it. It's another thing for the government
to do it." (Rush Limbaugh, DrudgeReport.com)
More shocking than the support from Limbaugh, is the lack of support
Stern has received from the many entertainers and politicians he has
helped promote on his hugely popular show in the past. The former
Governor of New Jersey Christie Todd Whitman and current New York State
Governor George Pataki both benefited from Stern’s endorsement. In
Whitman’s case, many believe Stern’s endorsement was the difference
between her getting elected and not getting elected (she thanked him by
naming a rest stop on the Jersey Turnpike after him, strangely
appropriate).
Where are all the entertainers who have been happy to promote their
latest project on Stern’s show? Stern’s influence with his die-hard fan
base has helped sell a lot of tickets and CD’s. In New York City, when
Stern promotes a band on his show, that bands records quickly sell out
in the area stores.
Ozzy Osbourne has been a frequent guest on the Stern show, so why
haven’t Ozzy and his wife Sharon spoken out about this?
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the new Governor of California and a frequent
Stern guest, went on Stern’s show to help garner support for his
gubernatorial bid . Why has the Governator suddenly gone so quiet?
Sting, Pam Anderson, Kid Rock, Bon Jovi, Gilbert Godfried, Richard
Belzer, Jenna Jameson, John Stamos, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Andy Dick,
Ben Stiller, David Spade, Magic Johnson, Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick ,
Julianna Marguiles, Heather Locklear, David Blaine, Ivan Reitman,
Garry Shandling, Flavor Flav, John Bon Jovi & Ritchie Sambora, Willie
Nelson, Richard Lewis, James Brown , Al Sharpton, Maury Povich, Chuck
Norris, Janice Ian, Mario Van Peebles, Boy George, Penn & Teller,
Melissa Gilbert, Phil Hartman, Belinda Carlisle, Rip Torn, Milton
Berle, Jason Priestley, Tom Jones, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Suzanne Vega, Geraldo
Rivera, Joan Rivers, Andrew "Dice" Clay, Robin Leach, KISS (Gene
Simmons & Paul Stanley), Richard Marx, Don King, Fabio, Donald Trump,
Dick Cavett and Marg Helgenberger have all appeared on the show when
they needed Stern’s promotional muscle, and the list could go on and
on. The question is, why are you are all so quiet? Do you all believe
once the FCC is done with Howard Stern it will end there? Do you all
think if you keep quiet nothing will happen to your careers? If it is
true that Clear Channel took Stern off the air as favor to George Bush,
then this is just the beginning. It will get worse.
And less than two weeks after Sterns diatribe against President Bush,
and less than a week after Clear Channel removed Stern’s show from its
stations, the FCC announced that it was, “close to levying about two
dozen fines for indecency against radio companies, including Viacom
Inc.'s Infinity Broadcasting (Stern’s parent company) and Clear Channel
Communications Inc.” (“FCC Planning Two Dozen Indecency Fines Against
Radio,” March 5th ,Bloomberg.com). By the way, the current chairman of
the FCC is Michael Powell, the son General Colin Powell, the current
Secretary of Sate and a close advisor to both Bush administrations.
Starting to get the picture?
I am reminded of the famous words of Pastor Martin Niemöller’s, “First
they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said
nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a
Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then came the trade unionists, but I
was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was
not a Jew, so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no
one left to stand up for me.”
We must not repeat those mistakes. We shouldn’t have to fear our own
government.
Who says Clear Channel’s decision to remove Howard Stern is not political?
Earlier this week, Clear Channels Worldwide Inc., the nation’s largest
owner of radio stations (over 1200 stations in all 50 states and DC),
announced that it would remove Howard Stern from six of its stations.
"We will not air Howard Stern on Clear Channel stations until we are
assured that his show will conform to acceptable standards of
responsible broadcasting," said a Wednesday statement from John Hogan, president and CEO of Clear Channel Radio.
But the standard Clear Channels applies to radio does not appear to
apply to some of its other lucrative businesses, like the concert
venues it owns all over the country. This summer, performers like
Blink-182, the Ozzfest with Ozzy Osbourne, Britney Spears, Ludacris,
and Slayer will be performing at numerous Clear Channel-owned concert
venues.
Before I continue, let me clarify, no criticism of the performers above
is intended; rather I wish to draw attention to the hypocrisy of Clear
Channel’s recent decision.
Blink-182, a band who has a very young teen fan base, has been to known
to perform naked onstage and sing songs with lyrics such as “It's
Christmas eve and I've only wrapped two fucking presents - And I hate,
hate, hate your guts - I hate, hate, hate your guts - And I'll never
talk to you again - unless your dad will suck me off - I'll never talk
to you again - unless your mom will touch my cock - I'll never talk to
you again - ejaculate into a sock (from the song “Happy Holidays You
Bastard”). Or from the song “Family Reunion”, “shit piss fuck cunt
cocksucker motherfucker tits fart turd and twat - I fucked your mom.”
And in this time of heightened terrorist activities, check out the
lyrics from “Degenerate,” “For a hobby I make bombs.”
Or how about Ludacris’s lyrics to the song “Hos,” “Come on playa once a
ho always - And hos never close they open like hallways - An here’s a
ho cake for you whole ho crew - an everybody wants some cuz hoes gotta
eat too.”
Britney Spears has been famously pushing the envelope for years with
her sex-charged performances. How is it possible that Clear Channel
finds what Howard Stern says on the radio more offensive than the video
for “Slave 4U,” which features grinding and simulated sex. This video
has been shown, all or in part, on numerous TV shows, including on some
of the shows aired on Clear Channel-owned television stations.
A review of one of Britney’s recent performances said, “Last night, she
did her masturbation song. She had her dancers practically having sex
on stage wearing nothing but their underwear. She had guys doing guys,
girls doing girls and a silhouette of people having sex on a bed in a
hotel room.” This is something she performs on stage in front of
10,000+ people every night of her tour, with many young people in the
audience. And again, how about these lyrics, promoting promiscuous sex
“Get up, baby - We can drop a little something - Ride it, baby - We can
do a little something - Take out, baby - Wanna get a little somethin' -
You know, baby – Let’s hook up a little somethin’” and “Baby, I can’t
believe everything - Your body makes me wanna do” (from the song “The
Hook Up”). This is acceptable sex talk? How is it possible that Clear
Chanel finds this kind of performance acceptable in their concert
halls, but finds Stern’s less offensive sex talk objectionable? After
all Stern is only talking about sex, Britney is acting it out in front
of people.
One of the summer’s biggest tours is The Ozzfest featuring Ozzy
Osbourne. Ozzy’s expletives filled rants on MTV’s enormous hit “The
Osbournes” have made him a bigger star than he was in the entirety of
his career. On the show, Ozzy has talked about his drug and alcohol
addiction, as has his son Jack, while constantly being bleeped to block
out the incessant swearing. Howard Stern doesn’t swear on his show. So
why does Clear Channel support a man who calls himself “The Prince Of
Darkness,” glamorizes drugs and alcohol, and constantly uses profanity?
One of the headline bands on Ozzfest this year is Slayer. Slayer has a
record entitled “God Hates Us All.” The lyrics to the song
“Necrophiliac” include the following lines, “Virgin child now drained
of life - Your soul cannot be free - Not given the chance to rot in
Hell - Satan's cross points to Hell - The earth I must uncover - A
passion grows to feast upon - The frozen blood inside her - I feel the
urge the growing need - To fuck this sinful corpse - My tasks complete
the bitch's soul - Lies raped in demonic lust.” Again I am confused -
is Clear Channel endorsing Satanism, necrophilia and rape? After all
they are appearing at Clear Channel-owned venues, they must not have a
problem with it.
Why does Clear Channel deem it acceptable to perform songs in the
performance venues glorifying rape, promoting drug use, Satanism,
necrophilia, prostitution and profanity but find what Howard Stern does
unacceptable? Could it be that they make a lot of money from these
tours? While that is true, they also make a lot of money from Stern’s
radio show. So there must be another reason.
When Stern first mentioned that he felt Clear Channel’s actions were
retaliation for his bashing President Bush for the first time on his
show, it seemed absurd. But a closer look reveals that there may be
more to that then immediately meets the eye.
There are close ties between Clear Channel and President Bush. The Vice
Chair of the company is Tom Hicks, a member of the Bush Pioneer club
for elite (and generous) donors. When Bush was governor of Texas, Hicks
was chairman of the University of Texas Investment Management Co.,
called Utimco, and Clear Channel's chairman, Lowry Mays, was on its
board. Under Hicks, Utimco placed much of the university's endowment
under the management of companies with strong Republican Party or Bush
family ties. The contracts were given to firms politically connected to
both Hicks and Bush, including the Carlyle Group - a firm which has the
first President Bush on the payroll and had the second one on the
payroll until just weeks before receiving this lucrative business. The
board of UTIMCO also included the Chair of Clear Channel, L. Lowry Mays.
In addition, Hicks purchased the Texas Rangers from George Bush, making
him a wealthy man through a deal that was partially sweetened by a
shiny new taxpayer financed stadium, which included valuable land
obtained at below market rates through the use of eminent domain.
(“Radio Ga Ga,” New York Press, March 20, 2003)
Not only that, but when the country was divided about going to war with
Iraq, many of the pro-war rallies all over the country were organized
by Clear Channel affiliates. (“Clear Channel Has Ties to Bush”, March
26, 2003, The International Herald Tribune)
Theoretically, none of Stern’s recent problems would have occurred it
not for Janet Jackson exposing her breast at the Super Bowl, so it is
entirely possible that Clear Channel’s timing has nothing to do with
Stern’s bashing President Bush on his show.
But there is a pattern.
If quality programming really is a top priority, why did Clear
Channel recently hire Michael Savage at Houston 's KPRC? Isn't Mr.
Hogan aware that Savage was fired from MSNBC for referring to a caller
as a "sodomite" who should "get AIDS and die"? And, if vulgarity truly
is the issue, what was Clear Channel's complaint against disc jockey
Charles Goyette?
In an article entitled "How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio: Clear
Channel Gags an Antiwar Conservative," Goyette discussed why he
believes he was removed from his prime-time spot at KFYI in Phoenix.
"Why did this happen? Why only a couple of months after my company
picked up the option on my contract for another year in the
fifth-largest city in the United States, did it suddenly decide to
relegate me to radio Outer Darkness?" he asked. "The answer lies hidden
in the oil-and-water incompatibility of these two seemingly
disconnected phrases: 'Criticizing Bush' and 'Clear Channel.'"
Saying that badmouthing Bush and his fairy tale war was enough to
derail his career, Goyette explained a policy that, from his vantage
point, seemed to be company wide. “Criticism of Bush and his
ever-shifting pretext for a first-strike war (what exactly was it we
were pre-empting anyway?) has proved so serious a violation of Clear
Channel’s cultural taboo that only a good contract has kept me from
being fired outright,” he wrote. Fellow Clear Channel D.J. Roxanne
Cordonier (Roxanne Walker), however, wasn’t so lucky. “Her lawsuit
against the company alleges that she was belittled on the air and
reprimanded by her station for opposing the invasion of Iraq. Then she
was fired,” Goyette explained. (Buzzflash.com, March 2004)
And in a shocking twist, one of the people Howard Stern attacks the
most on his show is defending him, in a twisted way of course.
"I've never heard Howard Stern. But when the federal government gets
involved in this, I get a little frightened. If we are going to sit by
and let the federal government get involved in this, if the government
is going to 'censor' what they think is right and wrong... What happens
if a whole bunch of John Kerrys, or Terry McAuliffes start running this
country? And decide conservative views are leading to violence? I am in
the free speech business. It's one thing for a company to determine if
they are going to be party to it. It's another thing for the government
to do it." (Rush Limbaugh, DrudgeReport.com)
More shocking than the support from Limbaugh, is the lack of support
Stern has received from the many entertainers and politicians he has
helped promote on his hugely popular show in the past. The former
Governor of New Jersey Christie Todd Whitman and current New York State
Governor George Pataki both benefited from Stern’s endorsement. In
Whitman’s case, many believe Stern’s endorsement was the difference
between her getting elected and not getting elected (she thanked him by
naming a rest stop on the Jersey Turnpike after him, strangely
appropriate).
Where are all the entertainers who have been happy to promote their
latest project on Stern’s show? Stern’s influence with his die-hard fan
base has helped sell a lot of tickets and CD’s. In New York City, when
Stern promotes a band on his show, that bands records quickly sell out
in the area stores.
Ozzy Osbourne has been a frequent guest on the Stern show, so why
haven’t Ozzy and his wife Sharon spoken out about this?
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the new Governor of California and a frequent
Stern guest, went on Stern’s show to help garner support for his
gubernatorial bid . Why has the Governator suddenly gone so quiet?
Sting, Pam Anderson, Kid Rock, Bon Jovi, Gilbert Godfried, Richard
Belzer, Jenna Jameson, John Stamos, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Andy Dick,
Ben Stiller, David Spade, Magic Johnson, Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick ,
Julianna Marguiles, Heather Locklear, David Blaine, Ivan Reitman,
Garry Shandling, Flavor Flav, John Bon Jovi & Ritchie Sambora, Willie
Nelson, Richard Lewis, James Brown , Al Sharpton, Maury Povich, Chuck
Norris, Janice Ian, Mario Van Peebles, Boy George, Penn & Teller,
Melissa Gilbert, Phil Hartman, Belinda Carlisle, Rip Torn, Milton
Berle, Jason Priestley, Tom Jones, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Suzanne Vega, Geraldo
Rivera, Joan Rivers, Andrew "Dice" Clay, Robin Leach, KISS (Gene
Simmons & Paul Stanley), Richard Marx, Don King, Fabio, Donald Trump,
Dick Cavett and Marg Helgenberger have all appeared on the show when
they needed Stern’s promotional muscle, and the list could go on and
on. The question is, why are you are all so quiet? Do you all believe
once the FCC is done with Howard Stern it will end there? Do you all
think if you keep quiet nothing will happen to your careers? If it is
true that Clear Channel took Stern off the air as favor to George Bush,
then this is just the beginning. It will get worse.
And less than two weeks after Sterns diatribe against President Bush,
and less than a week after Clear Channel removed Stern’s show from its
stations, the FCC announced that it was, “close to levying about two
dozen fines for indecency against radio companies, including Viacom
Inc.'s Infinity Broadcasting (Stern’s parent company) and Clear Channel
Communications Inc.” (“FCC Planning Two Dozen Indecency Fines Against
Radio,” March 5th ,Bloomberg.com). By the way, the current chairman of
the FCC is Michael Powell, the son General Colin Powell, the current
Secretary of Sate and a close advisor to both Bush administrations.
Starting to get the picture?
I am reminded of the famous words of Pastor Martin Niemöller’s, “First
they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said
nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a
Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then came the trade unionists, but I
was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was
not a Jew, so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no
one left to stand up for me.”
We must not repeat those mistakes. We shouldn’t have to fear our own
government.