Stern Get Sirius

by on October 6, 2004

Well, it was bound to happen. Howard Stern announced today that he signed a five-year deal with Sirius Satellite Radio, jumping ship from Infinity Broadcasting. The move frees Stern from from the radio nannies at the FCC, who have long hounded the shockjock for on-air indecency.

Personally, the change won’t change my listening habits. I’ve always found Stern more boring than shocking, at least since I left junior high school. But the move is significant–rather than stamp out indecency, the FCC has merely pushed it to new media the FCC doesn’t control (thanks to that pesky 1st amendment). Along with Rathergate, just more evidence that the media world has changed, and that broadcasters (and the FCC) no longer enjoy a bottleneck on what Americans see and hear.

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James Gattuso / James Gattuso is a Senior Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy in the Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation. Gattuso also leads the Enterprise and Free Markets Initiative at Heritage, with responsiblity for a range of regulatory and market issues. Prior to joining Heritage, he served as Vice President for Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and also as Vice President for Policy Development with Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE). From 1990 to 1993, he was Deputy Chief of the Office of Plans and Policy at the Federal Communications Commission. From May 1991 to June 1992, he was detailed from the FCC to the office of Vice President Dan Quayle, where he served as Associate Director of the President's Council on Competitiveness. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife Dana, 8 year-old son, Peter (whom he relies upon to operate his VCR), and his four year-old daughter Lindsey (who does the DVD player.) He has no known hobbies, but is not nearly as boring as he seems.

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