Until this week, it was the R-word few radio industry types mentioned: responsibility.
But now that the controversy over indecency in broadcasting has brought an avalanche of public hostility, a $755,000 proposed fine and threats of yanked station licenses, it's all anyone can talk about.
It popped up Thursday as Clear Channel Radio president John Hogan appeared before a congressional subcommittee, capping a week in which the company fired Tampa-based shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge Clem, suspended New York raunch master Howard Stern's show from six stations and sent Hogan to admit he was "ashamed" of Clem's show.
"We were wrong to air that material," said Hogan, speaking before the House Energy and Commerce telecommunications subcommittee. "I accept responsibility for our mistake, and my company will live with the consequences of its actions."
In response, Clem released a statement Thursday saying he was "saddened and confused" by his firing. "I have always striven to be a responsible broadcaster and entertainer," read the statement, distributed to journalists by Clem's agent, Thomas Bean.
Such remorse was scarce in January when the Federal Communications Commission proposed a $755,000 fine against Clear Channel for segments aired during Clem's show. Back then, Hogan offered a nondenial of the content, saying "none of us defend or encourage indecent content."
In fact, nobody wanted to take responsibility: Clear Channel blamed the FCC for not clearly defining indecency. The FCC blamed Clear Channel for developing a business model focused on explicit content. Shock jocks blamed their bosses and the FCC for hassling them.
But the hassling wasn't too severe. Even though Clear Channel now claims it needed an "internal investigation" to figure out Clem's show didn't meet corporate standards, it might have gotten a clue in 2001 when a boar was slaughtered during the show. Or maybe in 1998, when Clem drew a $23,000 FCC fine for depicting someone getting an enema.
Now, finally, Clear Channel is talking tough, but not too clearly.
Wednesday, it announced a "zero tolerance policy" for indecent content, saying future contracts would make DJs partially responsible for FCC fines. Those found guilty of broadcasting indecent content by the FCC or the company would be fired "without delay."
But what exactly is "indecent content?" The statement didn't say, and Clear Channel executives haven't elaborated.
"They've put the responsibility back on the talent," said Joel Denver, president and publisher of the trade journal Web site AllAccess.com, who said many radio personalities are afraid to comment publicly on the issue. "The radio companies have opened themselves wide to a torrent of complaints about anything a listener doesn't want to hear."
Even Stern - whose suspension, rather than permanent removal, from Clear Channel stations in San Diego, Pittsburgh, Rochester, N.Y., Louisville, Ky., Fort Lauderdale and Orlando seems to violate the new zero tolerance policy - held back on his show Thursday.
"I could blow my stack. . . . I'm trying to be cryptic," said Stern, who still airs on dozens of non-Clear Channel stations nationwide. "They are so afraid of me and what this show represents."
All this could make for strange alliances. Conservative firebrand Rush Limbaugh waded in during his show Thursday, ignoring the role of Republican FCC chairman Michael Powell in leading the indecency charge while criticizing figures such as Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe.
"Smut on TV gets praised. . . . On radio, there seems to be a little bit of a different standard," said Limbaugh. "If we sit by and let a federal government start to define what is okay for someone to say on radio . . . what happens if a whole bunch of John Kerry . . . Terry McAuliffe types end up running this country?"
(News flash, Rush: Indecency on radio has been regulated by the FCC since 1936. It's the enforcement that has been lax.)
But here's the question thousands of radio listeners are asking: Who gets Bubba's job? (Bean, Clem's agent, denied a report that Clem would start broadcasting his show Monday on the satellite radio service XM Radio.)
Several industry sources, including AllAccess.com, have mentioned the Jacksonville-based duo Lex Staley and Terry James, whose syndicated Lex and Terry Morning Show airs to healthy ratings in Jacksonville, West Palm Beach, Gainesville, Seattle and Tulsa, Okla., among other places.
"Those are just rumors," said Peter Welpton, director of syndication for the Lex and Terry Morning Radio Network. He added that the week's events haven't affected content on the show, which features edgy bits such as Drunk B-- Friday.
"Everybody has a vague idea of what the line is," Welpton said. "Lex and Terry have every intention of staying behind that line."
CLEM RESPONDS
Bubba the Love Sponge Clem is "deeply saddened and confused" by the actions of Clear Channel, he said in a statement Thursday.
Calling himself a dedicated and valued employee for 12 years, Clem said he understood the pressures facing Clear Channel but was troubled by them.
He said he has "always striven to be a responsible broadcaster and entertainer. The success of my shows, my deep involvement in the community and significant support of many charitable initiatives fully attests to that belief."
At his home on Thursday night, Clem said he had much more to add, particularly after the House hearing that afternoon in which John Hogan, president of Clear Channel Radio, said he was "ashamed" of Clem's show.
"They made me look like an idiot," Clem said.
However, Clem said he could not comment further because he is talking with lawyers as he tries to figure out his next step, which he plans to detail within two weeks.
In his statement, Clem said his concern was best put by conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who he quoted as saying on Thursday: "We're in the free speech business. It's one thing for a company to determine if they are going to be party to it. It's another thing for the government to do it."
