Clear Channel cans Bubba the Love Sponge
WASHINGTON (Hollywood Reporter) - Just days before Congress rekindles its investigation into broadcast smut, Clear Channel Communications decided to can Bubba the Love Sponge -- the Florida shock jock who caused federal regulators to propose the largest-ever single fine for violating indecency rules.
Clear Channel, the nation's largest radio station group, announced that it was ending the "contractual relationship" with Todd Clem who performed as Bubba on three radio stations in Florida. In a statement the company said it was reacting to the feelings of local listeners.
"We recognize the importance of understanding and airing content that is consistent with the standards and sensibilities of the local communities we serve," said Dan Di Loreto, vp and market manager at Clear Channel Radio in Tampa. "After conducting a review of the 'Bubba the Love Sponge Show,' we concluded the show will no longer be carried in our markets."
Clear Channel Radio CEO John Hogan said he supports the decisions of our local managers in Florida. The FCC proposed a fine for broadcasts of Bubba's show of $715,000 for indecency and $40,000 for record-keeping violations. It is the largest single fine ever issued for indecent broadcasts.
Yanking Bubba off the air comes as the debate over indecent broadcasts appears to be gaining momentum. Top executives from three of the Big Four networks are set to appear Thursday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's telecommunications panel. Viacom president and chief operating officer Mel Karmazin appeared before the telecommunications subcommittee last week, and the panel already has approved legislation that would increase the amount the FCC could fine a station for an indecent broadcast from $27,500 per incident to $275,000 per incident.
Karmazin last week told the general managers and program directors of Viacom's 186 radio stations that the company now has a zero-tolerance policy for indecency.
"This company will not be a poster child for indecency," he told the general managers and program directors during a Feb. 18 conference call, according to published reports. Howard Stern, the shock jock syndicated by Viacom's Infinity radio station group, was the target of the largest-ever settlement for indecency in 1995.
The drumbeat on the issue hasn't abated since singer Janet Jackson's breast was exposed by Justin Timberlake during the Super Bowl halftime show as policy-makers from the White House to the FCC have sought to clamp down on the broadcasts. The Bush administration already has signaled that it would support the legislation raising the fines, and one administration official said he supported legislation that would increase the fines for performers who violate the indecency regulations.
"If we're going to do it in one place, we should do it across the board," said Michael Gallagher, the acting chief of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, at a luncheon sponsored by the Media Institute, a free-speech think tank.
While Gallagher cautioned that his support was personal and not a statement of administration policy, the legislation raising the fine a "non-licensee" can face from $10,000 to $100,000 per incident is sponsored by Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas. Barton will take over as chairman of the full House Commerce Committee today. It is likely to be attached to the overall fine-increase when the full committee votes on it in March.
Gallagher urged lawmakers to include language in the legislation that would require the FCC to consider the maximum fine for indecency if it is broadcast on a program that is rated as OK for children.
Broadcast indecency has become a hot topic in recent weeks because of repeated incidents of the use of the F-word on television, increasingly course talk radio and the halftime incident.
FCC officials said they hoped to wrap-up their consideration of a proposal to fine NBC stations for U2 singer Bono's remarks that "this is f---ing great" during the Golden Globes in 2003. While the FCC's enforcement bureau ruled that Bono's use of the word wasn't obscene, the commissioners want to overrule that. Sources at the commission said they were close to making a decision, but there was a hang-up over exactly how big the fine should be.
As defined by the FCC, material is indecent if it "in context, depicts or describes sexual or excretory activities or organs in a patently offensive manner as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium." While obscene speech is not protected by the First Amendment, indecent speech has free speech protection, but only if it is aired between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Witnesses at Thursday's hearing include ABC Television Network president Alex Wallau, Fox Broadcasting Co. entertainment president Gail Berman; NBC president of research and media development Alan Wurtzel, Paxson Communications Corp. chairman and CEO Lowell "Bud" Paxson, Clear Channel's Hogan and Pappas Telecasting Companies chairman and CEO Harry Pappas.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news...&w=RTR&coview=
Reply With Quote
