NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/alt/fan/howards/2810

Text File | 1992-12-22 | 7.7 KB | 175 lines

Newsgroups: alt.fan.howard-stern
Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!umn.edu!csus.edu!netcom.com!jest
From: [e-mail] (Jeff Stieglitz)
Subject: Wall Street Journal Article
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 04:37:11 GMT
Lines: 164



Here's something that was in the Wall Street Journal this
morning:


Marketing & Media -- Advertising:
Stern's Sponsors Don't Touch That Dial
   ----
By Kevin Goldman

12/21/92 WALL STREET JOURNAL (J)

   Howard Stern, the New York-based radio host whose morning talk
show is riddled with scatological humor, sexual innuendo and
racial epithets, may have few friends at the Federal
Communications Commission.

But he is beloved by advertisers.

   Last week the FCC socked the shock jock's employer, Infinity
Broadcasting, with a record $600,000 obscenity fine. Yet
advertisers on his show seem to savor the caustic and often funny
morning host. Sponsors such as the Snapple beverage brand and
electronics maker Brother International remain fiercely loyal to
him.

   They don't seem to mind the relentless sketches, including Mr.
Stern's latest favorite: inviting female listeners to the studio
and asking them to strip so he can use their bare buttocks as
drums.

   That stands in sharp contrast to the skittishness of
advertisers on television. In recent years they have been quick
to run for cover when a show dares to dabble in the mildest form
of controversy (although that tendency may be easing). The
difference says something about the realm of radio, which seems
to be less threatening than television, where images can be seen.
Radio also seldom faces the same kind of boycott threat that can
send TV sponsors fleeing.

   But most of all, Mr. Stern's popularity among his advertisers
is a fact of sheer audience reach and verifiable results. Whereas
a television show has a national sponsor, such as McDonald's,
that must fret over standards of taste in every market in the
country, radio tends to attract local advertisers. "And these
stores have a better way to measure the effectiveness of their
ads when read by certain radio personalities," says Randy
Bongarten, president of classic music station WNCN-FM in New
York, who was Mr. Stern's boss for several years in the 1980s
when the two worked at WNBC-AM in New York.

   "Howard," he continues, "brings bodies into the stores."

   More than a million listeners in the New York area alone tune
in every weekday morning -- radio's prime time. While people
drive to work in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago and
six other cities, Mr. Stern tests the limits of the First
Amendment and the patience of the FCC.

   Mr. Stern, who is paid over $2 million annually, has said his
goal is to spread his morning sarcasm and questionable taste to
200 stations and to be the first radio personality to host a
national show in the morning. Traditionally, stations want local
shows in the morning so they can emphasize traffic, sports,
weather and other local concerns. Mr. Stern defies the theory.

   His show brings in more than half of the $22 million in ad
sales that New York station WXRK will generate this year, says
Jim Duncan, publisher of Duncan's American Radio. Advertisers pay
dearly to be on the Stern show. For Mr. Stern to read a
commercial, the charge is $3,000, more than three times the
amount usually charged by the New York station, which is owned by
Infinity.

    "He personalizes all the commercials and gives our product
credibility," says Dean Shulman, vice president of sales and
marketing at Brother, a unit of Japan's Brother Industries, which
has advertised its P-Touch label maker on the Stern show for 2
1/2 years. "He incorporates the spots into the show so it doesn't
seem like you're listening to a commercial."

   Major national advertisers don't seem to have problems
sponsoring Mr. Stern's somewhat tamer weekly half-hour cable
television show, "The Howard Stern `Interview,'" which began
Sept. 27 on the E! Entertainment network channel. Last Friday,
such companies as 20th Century Fox, Fila sneakers, the ABC
television network, Alka-Seltzer and Pledge polish sponsored Mr.
Stern's one-on-one session with talk meister Dick Cavett, in
which Mr. Stern called Mr. Cavett "a mental case" and asked
whether he had ever had a homosexual experience.

   "We're careful when selling the show to separate it from his
radio show," says David Cassaro, the channel's senior vice
president of advertising sales. He concedes, however, there are
potential sponsors he approached who remain "cautious."

   Curiously, while Mr. Stern remains a target of the FCC, his
antics haven't attracted calls from listeners to boycott his
sponsors. But a new effort may be coming.

   Terry Rakolta, head of Americans for Responsible Television,
says she is considering turning her attention to Mr. Stern's
radio show next month. Although she can't even tune in to Mr.
Stern's show because it isn't carried in Detroit, Ms. Rakolta
says she has been receiving transcripts for the past three months
and "can't believe my eyes." She adds: "Advertisers will be
targeted. This is going to be the definitive battle of the public
interest vs. commerce."

   Television networks are often besieged by right-wing groups,
such as the American Family Association, which have waged
boycotts that had little impact on sales but had a significant
effect on advertisers' decisions. The boycott calls "have no
lasting significance," says Barbara Burns, associate general
counsel of Greater Media, owner of KLSX-FM in Los Angeles, which
broadcasts Mr. Stern's radio show.

   Two years ago, six sponsors dropped out of Mr. Stern's show
after a listener went on a letter-writing campaign. The sponsors
included Radio Shack, Sears Roebuck and the U.S. Army, which
ended up on his show after placing ads on the ABC Radio Networks.
Mr. Stern's New York outlet is a Capital Cities/ABC radio
affiliate.

   While advertisers like his reach, some of Mr. Stern's most
prominent sponsors didn't seem eager to discuss their ads or his
show on Friday, when news broke of the latest FCC go-round.
Snapple, Dial-aMattress, the Nutri System weight-loss program and
Cellular Activators didn't return several telephone calls seeking
comment. Nor did Infinity Broadcasting, which owns 11 FM stations
and seven AM stations. Don Buchwald, Mr. Stern's agent, also
declined to comment.

   As for the shock jock himself, Mr. Stern had plenty to say on
the air the morning the FCC took action. The host, who turns 39
next month, didn't back off in pushing the limits of humor and
taste. During a sketch, a member of his staff impersonated
Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott, who recently apologized for
making derogatory remarks about black baseball players.

   The impersonator let loose with a string of derogatory terms
for blacks, Jews, Puerto Ricans, Chinese and Japanese, among
others.

   How does a sponsor defend financially supporting such bits?
The one sponsor that would comment on the record, Brother
International's Mr. Shulman, says, "We don't endorse what he
says. But people who don't like his material have the right not
to listen."

   In a companion decision, the FCC allowed Infinity to buy three
more big radio stations for $100 million. That decision could put
the Howard Stern Show on more stations, although the commission
warned that it could take tougher steps, including revoking
Infinity licenses, if new controversies involving Mr. Stern come
to light in current enforcement cases. The FCC gave Infinity 30
days to show why it shouldn't be fined.

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Jeff Stieglitz                                               [e-mail]
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