wolfamngstsheep
All-American
<HR SIZE=1> Howard Stern's schwing voters
The raunchy jockey is mobilizing his army of listeners against Bush --
and they could make a difference in November.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Eric Boehlert
March 12, 2004 | Declaring a "radio jihad" against President Bush,
syndicated morning man Howard Stern and his burgeoning crusade to drive
Republicans from the White House are shaping up as a colossal media
headache for the GOP, and one they never saw coming.
The pioneering shock jock, "the man who launched the raunch," as the
Los Angeles Times once put it, has emerged almost overnight as the most
influential Bush critic in all of American broadcasting, as he rails
against the president hour after hour, day after day to a weekly
audience of 8 million listeners. Never before has a Republican
president come under such withering attack from a radio talk-show host
with the influence and national reach Stern has.
"The potential impact is huge," says Charles Goyette, talk-show host at
KFYI in Phoenix. "And it's not just with the 8 million people who tune
it, it's that he breaks the spell. Everybody's been enchanted by Bush,
that he's a great wartime leader and to criticize him is unpatriotic.
Now Stern pounds him every day and it shatters that illusion that the
man is invincible and he shouldn't be criticized."
"He's got one of the biggest audiences in all of radio, and perhaps the
most loyal," says Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, the
nonpartisan monthly that covers radio's news/talk industry. "And that's
why he's so dangerous for the White House."
Stern had strongly backed Bush's war on Iraq, but in the past two
weeks, he has derided the president as a "Jesus freak," a "maniac" and
"an arrogant bastard," while ranting against "the Christian right
minority that has taken over the White House." Specifically, Stern has
assailed Bush's use of 9/11 images in his campaign ads, questioned his
National Guard service, condemned his decision to curb stem cell
research and labeled him an enemy of civil liberties, abortion rights
and gay rights.
In other words, it's the kind of free campaign rhetoric the Democratic
National Committee couldn't have imagined just one month ago.
"Our research shows many, many people in the 30- to 40-year-old range
who were Bush supporters are rethinking that position and turning away
from Bush because of what Howard Stern has been saying," says Harrison.
Coming in tandem with Wednesday's announcement that the
much-talked-about liberal radio network Air America will debut at the
end of the month, there's an indication that Republicans may finally
get a taste of the commercial talk-radio wars, which for years have
tilted almost uniformly to the right and teed off on progressive causes
and politicians.
"Overnight, Stern's probably increased by an important percentage the
amount of talk-radio airtime that is not right-wing," notes Martin
Kaplan, associate dean of the University of Southern California's
Annenberg School for Communications. "His show does make a difference
in terms of media ecology and what's out there. It's letting people
know how they feel is an acceptable way to feel. What the media do is
put out a version of what's normal. And if all that's out there is Rush
Limbaugh and Dittoheads, then centrists and progressives see themselves
as the minority. But if you can hear voices on the airwaves that sound
like the voice in your own head, you begin to realize it's a polarized,
50/50 nation."
Kaplan will host a nightly media affairs program on Air America.
[Salon.com will contribute one story each day to Air America's
programming.]
Stern's sustained FM taunts come at a tough time for the White House,
which has watched Bush's approval ratings fall to new lows. Even more
disturbing for Republicans was the revelation in the latest USA
TODAY/CNN/Gallup poll that Bush's traditionally strong support among
male voters is down significantly, and that Bush actually trails Kerry
among those voters.
"That's the demographic Howard Stern targets specifically," says
Goyette. "If Bush's grip on men continues to soften, he could be in big
trouble."
Anecdotally, those daily phone calls from listeners -- mostly men --
who tell Stern they usually don't vote, but this year they're
definitely going to vote against Bush (and it's usually against, Bush
not for Sen. John Kerry) cannot be comforting to the Bush/Cheney '04
strategists.
"Karl Rove and the White House would have to be brain-dead to not know
they have a problem here," says Goyette.
There are early signs that Bush supporters are indeed nervous about
Stern's crusade. This week Limbaugh wrote a newspaper Op-Ed column
dismissing Stern's claims against Bush as coming from "the left-wing
fringe." (Stern returned fire, labeling Limbaugh a Bush "lackey.")
Stern's torrent of Bush barbs came in the wake of Clear Channel
Communications' move in late February to pull Stern off six of its
stations, condemning his program as "vulgar, offensive and insulting."
Following the controversial Super Bowl halftime show featuring Justin
Timberlake and Janet Jackson, Clear Channel, like most major
broadcasters, was under scrutiny over allegations it broadcast
indecency. Clear Channel's radio chief was scheduled to testify before
Congress where he was sure to face hostile questioning. On the eve of
that congressional appearance, Clear Channel, which had never raised
serious concerns about Stern's show before, suspended the program from
its radio outlets.
Clear Channel's move appeared to be more a symbol than a substantive
effort to shut Stern down. The communications giant carried the shock
jock only in six markets. Viacom's Infinity Broadcasting -- a Clear
Channel competitor -- is Stern's syndicator and main radio vehicle.
But Stern quickly complained on-air that the real reason Clear Channel
yanked his show was that just days earlier he'd begun questioning the
president and praising comedian/commentator Al Franken's anti-Bush book
"Lies, And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them." Stern insisted it was
political speech, not indecency, that got him in trouble with the San
Antonio broadcasting giant, whose CEO, Lowry Mays, is close to the
president and the Bush family. The jock still condemns Clear Channel
and its Republican connections, but most of Stern's firepower today is
directed squarely at Bush and his close association with the religious
right, which Stern says is the driving force behind the FCC crackdown
on indecency.
Some in the broadcast business see Stern, perhaps best known for
ushering into radio "Lesbian Dial-a-Date" contests, as a corporate
clown whose political influence is not on par with the likes of Don
Imus, the syndicated shock jock turned smart-aleck pundit. "Who cares
what Howard Stern thinks about people running for public office?" says
one longtime radio executive. "Imus is different, that's more of a
thinking guy's show. With Howard, it's pure narcissism."
Yet Stern has proven his political clout in the past. Known mostly for
his libertarian take on politics, in 1992 he made news by endorsing
Republican Christie Todd Whitman for governor of New Jersey, and she
then won in an upset over Democrat Jim Florio. (She repaid the favor in
1995 by naming a New Jersey highway rest stop after the jock.) Stern
has also backed Republican George Pataki for New York governor. "When
Stern says he helped Pataki win," says Goyette, "I don't think anybody
doubts that."
That's because of the bond Stern has built with his fans. "He's got a
passionately loyal audience, which includes many extremely affluent and
white-collar listeners," notes Paul Colford, who wrote an authorized
biography of Stern, "The King of All Media." "However he wants to play
his most recent grievance, he's got a nucleus of tens of thousands of
fanatics who are willing make the phone calls and send e-mails and show
up at Times Square to protest, whatever the course of action may be."
"They're addicted to this guy and that's an awesome power," says
Harrison. "Stern has moral authority with these people, in part because
he has not been beating the drum for a political agenda for all these
years."
It's that relative absence of political discussion on Stern's show in
the past that might make the current anti-Bush barrage more
influential. "The fact that his audience does not tune in to him to
hear about politics means that he is not just preaching to a choir, in
the way that most of the conservative talk-show hosts are doing," says
David Barker, author of "Rushed to Judgment: Talk Radio, Persuasion and
American Political Behavior." It's an audience, he suggests, that might
be more open to persuasion from a broadcaster like Stern.
Approximately 8 million listeners tune in each week. And at any given
moment during his four-hour program roughly 1.4 million people are
tuned in. By way of comparison, that's more than the number of morning
viewers at any given time watching Fox News, CNN and MSBNC -- combined.
"There's no question," says Harrison, "Stern is the sleeping giant of
liberal radio."
The raunchy jockey is mobilizing his army of listeners against Bush --
and they could make a difference in November.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Eric Boehlert
March 12, 2004 | Declaring a "radio jihad" against President Bush,
syndicated morning man Howard Stern and his burgeoning crusade to drive
Republicans from the White House are shaping up as a colossal media
headache for the GOP, and one they never saw coming.
The pioneering shock jock, "the man who launched the raunch," as the
Los Angeles Times once put it, has emerged almost overnight as the most
influential Bush critic in all of American broadcasting, as he rails
against the president hour after hour, day after day to a weekly
audience of 8 million listeners. Never before has a Republican
president come under such withering attack from a radio talk-show host
with the influence and national reach Stern has.
"The potential impact is huge," says Charles Goyette, talk-show host at
KFYI in Phoenix. "And it's not just with the 8 million people who tune
it, it's that he breaks the spell. Everybody's been enchanted by Bush,
that he's a great wartime leader and to criticize him is unpatriotic.
Now Stern pounds him every day and it shatters that illusion that the
man is invincible and he shouldn't be criticized."
"He's got one of the biggest audiences in all of radio, and perhaps the
most loyal," says Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, the
nonpartisan monthly that covers radio's news/talk industry. "And that's
why he's so dangerous for the White House."
Stern had strongly backed Bush's war on Iraq, but in the past two
weeks, he has derided the president as a "Jesus freak," a "maniac" and
"an arrogant bastard," while ranting against "the Christian right
minority that has taken over the White House." Specifically, Stern has
assailed Bush's use of 9/11 images in his campaign ads, questioned his
National Guard service, condemned his decision to curb stem cell
research and labeled him an enemy of civil liberties, abortion rights
and gay rights.
In other words, it's the kind of free campaign rhetoric the Democratic
National Committee couldn't have imagined just one month ago.
"Our research shows many, many people in the 30- to 40-year-old range
who were Bush supporters are rethinking that position and turning away
from Bush because of what Howard Stern has been saying," says Harrison.
Coming in tandem with Wednesday's announcement that the
much-talked-about liberal radio network Air America will debut at the
end of the month, there's an indication that Republicans may finally
get a taste of the commercial talk-radio wars, which for years have
tilted almost uniformly to the right and teed off on progressive causes
and politicians.
"Overnight, Stern's probably increased by an important percentage the
amount of talk-radio airtime that is not right-wing," notes Martin
Kaplan, associate dean of the University of Southern California's
Annenberg School for Communications. "His show does make a difference
in terms of media ecology and what's out there. It's letting people
know how they feel is an acceptable way to feel. What the media do is
put out a version of what's normal. And if all that's out there is Rush
Limbaugh and Dittoheads, then centrists and progressives see themselves
as the minority. But if you can hear voices on the airwaves that sound
like the voice in your own head, you begin to realize it's a polarized,
50/50 nation."
Kaplan will host a nightly media affairs program on Air America.
[Salon.com will contribute one story each day to Air America's
programming.]
Stern's sustained FM taunts come at a tough time for the White House,
which has watched Bush's approval ratings fall to new lows. Even more
disturbing for Republicans was the revelation in the latest USA
TODAY/CNN/Gallup poll that Bush's traditionally strong support among
male voters is down significantly, and that Bush actually trails Kerry
among those voters.
"That's the demographic Howard Stern targets specifically," says
Goyette. "If Bush's grip on men continues to soften, he could be in big
trouble."
Anecdotally, those daily phone calls from listeners -- mostly men --
who tell Stern they usually don't vote, but this year they're
definitely going to vote against Bush (and it's usually against, Bush
not for Sen. John Kerry) cannot be comforting to the Bush/Cheney '04
strategists.
"Karl Rove and the White House would have to be brain-dead to not know
they have a problem here," says Goyette.
There are early signs that Bush supporters are indeed nervous about
Stern's crusade. This week Limbaugh wrote a newspaper Op-Ed column
dismissing Stern's claims against Bush as coming from "the left-wing
fringe." (Stern returned fire, labeling Limbaugh a Bush "lackey.")
Stern's torrent of Bush barbs came in the wake of Clear Channel
Communications' move in late February to pull Stern off six of its
stations, condemning his program as "vulgar, offensive and insulting."
Following the controversial Super Bowl halftime show featuring Justin
Timberlake and Janet Jackson, Clear Channel, like most major
broadcasters, was under scrutiny over allegations it broadcast
indecency. Clear Channel's radio chief was scheduled to testify before
Congress where he was sure to face hostile questioning. On the eve of
that congressional appearance, Clear Channel, which had never raised
serious concerns about Stern's show before, suspended the program from
its radio outlets.
Clear Channel's move appeared to be more a symbol than a substantive
effort to shut Stern down. The communications giant carried the shock
jock only in six markets. Viacom's Infinity Broadcasting -- a Clear
Channel competitor -- is Stern's syndicator and main radio vehicle.
But Stern quickly complained on-air that the real reason Clear Channel
yanked his show was that just days earlier he'd begun questioning the
president and praising comedian/commentator Al Franken's anti-Bush book
"Lies, And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them." Stern insisted it was
political speech, not indecency, that got him in trouble with the San
Antonio broadcasting giant, whose CEO, Lowry Mays, is close to the
president and the Bush family. The jock still condemns Clear Channel
and its Republican connections, but most of Stern's firepower today is
directed squarely at Bush and his close association with the religious
right, which Stern says is the driving force behind the FCC crackdown
on indecency.
Some in the broadcast business see Stern, perhaps best known for
ushering into radio "Lesbian Dial-a-Date" contests, as a corporate
clown whose political influence is not on par with the likes of Don
Imus, the syndicated shock jock turned smart-aleck pundit. "Who cares
what Howard Stern thinks about people running for public office?" says
one longtime radio executive. "Imus is different, that's more of a
thinking guy's show. With Howard, it's pure narcissism."
Yet Stern has proven his political clout in the past. Known mostly for
his libertarian take on politics, in 1992 he made news by endorsing
Republican Christie Todd Whitman for governor of New Jersey, and she
then won in an upset over Democrat Jim Florio. (She repaid the favor in
1995 by naming a New Jersey highway rest stop after the jock.) Stern
has also backed Republican George Pataki for New York governor. "When
Stern says he helped Pataki win," says Goyette, "I don't think anybody
doubts that."
That's because of the bond Stern has built with his fans. "He's got a
passionately loyal audience, which includes many extremely affluent and
white-collar listeners," notes Paul Colford, who wrote an authorized
biography of Stern, "The King of All Media." "However he wants to play
his most recent grievance, he's got a nucleus of tens of thousands of
fanatics who are willing make the phone calls and send e-mails and show
up at Times Square to protest, whatever the course of action may be."
"They're addicted to this guy and that's an awesome power," says
Harrison. "Stern has moral authority with these people, in part because
he has not been beating the drum for a political agenda for all these
years."
It's that relative absence of political discussion on Stern's show in
the past that might make the current anti-Bush barrage more
influential. "The fact that his audience does not tune in to him to
hear about politics means that he is not just preaching to a choir, in
the way that most of the conservative talk-show hosts are doing," says
David Barker, author of "Rushed to Judgment: Talk Radio, Persuasion and
American Political Behavior." It's an audience, he suggests, that might
be more open to persuasion from a broadcaster like Stern.
Approximately 8 million listeners tune in each week. And at any given
moment during his four-hour program roughly 1.4 million people are
tuned in. By way of comparison, that's more than the number of morning
viewers at any given time watching Fox News, CNN and MSBNC -- combined.
"There's no question," says Harrison, "Stern is the sleeping giant of
liberal radio."
