RUMOR MILL
"We simply weren’t willing to put the future of our radio station licenses in the hands of Mr. Stern or Infinity."
——Andy Levin, Clear Channel Chief Legal Officer
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
CLEAR CHANNEL FITS
HOWARD FOR A SUIT
Radio Behemoth Counters with Suit of their Own, Charging Show With Jeopardizing License
The culture wars continue, as lines get drawn in the sand.
Clear Channel Communications filed a countersuit against One Twelve, Inc., the company owned by Howard Stern, and Infinity Broadcasting, charging breach of contract and claiming more than $3 million in damages.
Stern and Infinity previously sued Clear Channel several weeks ago for $10 million, claiming that Clear Channel had no right to drop the Stern show in six markets earlier this year.
The Stern show has since returned to those markets and nine new cities in all, all of them Infinity-owned.
Clear Channel today claimed the right to terminate Stern's contract since certain shows were "not in compliance with federal law and FCC regulations, as is explicitly required by the contracts between the parties." The contracts also stipulate that Clear Channel could not alter the show in any way, meaning the company was powerless to delete unlawful content before it aired.
Sheeez. We can't wait to hear what Linda Ronstadt thinks about this.
"The radio show was pulled because Mr. Stern and Infinity refused to assure us that future programs would conform to the law," said Clear Channel's well-paid legal eagle Andy Levin. "That was a key term in the agreement, and we gave them every opportunity to make good on their word before we permanently retired the show. The program just hasn't been the same since Jackie the Jokeman passed away. Whaddaya mean he's still alive?"
Mr. Levin said that continuing to broadcast the show would have put Clear Channel’s radio licenses in jeopardy.
"We simply weren’t willing to put the future of our radio station licenses in the hands of Mr. Stern or Infinity," he said. "Fortunately, our contract doesn’t require us to do that."
Clear Channel is suing for damages relating to lost advertising revenue, refund of monies paid to Infinity and One Twelve, Inc. while the show was suspended, and indemnification for fines imposed by the FCC relating to the show.
Neither Beetlejuice nor Bababooey was available for comment, while Ronstadt will undoubtedly tell her side of the story before her next concert, tomorrow night in Livermore, CA.
