Stern finds home on Tampa Bay airwaves

A local AM station is among nine Infinity Broadcasting stations nationwide adding the shock jock.

For years, local fans of shock jock Howard Stern have asked if his controversial radio show ever would come to a Tampa Bay area station.

They got their answer Wednesday when Stern announced his morning show will debut July 19 on sports talk station WQYK-AM 1010, one of nine additional Infinity Broadcasting stations picking up the program. Currently, local fans must tune in to Stern's TV show on the E! Entertainment cable channel or catch his radio program on the Internet.

Infinity also filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking $10-million from rival Clear Channel Radio over its February decision to remove Stern from six of its stations, part of a companywide effort to curb controversial content in the wake of increased pressure from the Federal Communications Commission.

Analysts saw both the lawsuit and the Stern expansion as Infinity supporting its biggest star while poking at a major industry nemesis. But Infinity officials would say little about that theory.

"Howard was reaching out to get on some other radio stations ... and we saw an opportunity to make the station more successful," said Charlie Ochs, senior vice president and Tampa Bay market manager for Infinity.

"All the other (Infinity) stations in the market are doing just fine with what they're doing," Ochs said. "For (WQYK), it's the right move at the right time."

Infinity owns higher visibility FM stations here, such as country-oriented WYUU-FM 92.5 and WQYK-FM 99.5, rap-oriented WLLD-FM 98.7 and smooth jazz focused WSJT-FM 94.1. But it is placing Stern on a lesser-known AM station, which could limit its moneymaking potential.

"Certainly, it's not going to generate the kind of revenue that a big FM station would," said Jack Messmer, executive editor of Radio Business Report trade magazine, from his Sarasota office. "It's hard to draw people over to an AM in this market."

But Infinity's move found approval from an unlikely source: Tampa-based shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge Clem, who lost his job on Clear Channel-owned WXTB-FM 97. 9 in February after incurring a $755,000 indecency fine from the FCC.

"I applaud (Infinity) for standing behind its talent," said Clem, who expects fans of his once top-rated show to check out Stern's program, which features a similar mix of explicit jokes and talk centered on sex and other adult subjects. "What better way to build faith with a guy who makes them a lot of money? But I would have put him on 92.5 (FM). ... Between him and WQYK-FM, you would own the market."

Known as 1010 ESPN Radio, WQYK-AM will keep its sports talk format during the rest of its broadcast day, with Stern replacing the nationally syndicated Mike & Mike show, Ochs said.

The expanded reach comes at an important time for Stern, who had complained on-air that his days were numbered at Viacom-owned Infinity after the resignation of his biggest corporate supporter, Viacom president and chief operating officer Mel Karmazin.

In addition to Tampa, Infinity will add Stern's show to WPBZ-FM in West Palm Beach, WOCL-FM in Orlando and stations in Houston; San Diego; Pittsburgh; Austin, Texas; Fresno, Calif.; and Rochester, N.Y.

Clear Channel had removed the program from stations in Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, San Diego, Pittsburgh, Rocheste r and Louisville, Ky., as part of a massive effort to address indecency issues after Clem's firing. Earlier this month, the company settled all indecency complaints by negotiating a record $1.75-million fine with the FCC.

During a news conference broadcast on his show Wednesday, Stern called the FCC's increased enforcement "a witch hunt," saying the expansion of his show will send a message that "I'm not taking it sitting down." In 1995, Infinity paid a $1.7-million fine over material broadcast by the self-styled King of All Media - the largest FCC fine to that date.

Ochs downplayed the possibility of WQYK-AM drawing indecency complaints by airing Stern's show.

"For me to say I don't expect any complaints would be ludicrous ... but people are complaining about a lot of things they hear on the radio these days," he said. "Howard stays within the law and we have a time delay on all our stations ... even the smooth jazz station."

But lawyer John B. Thompson of Coral Gables, whose complaint to the FCC about a 2003 Stern broadcast prompted a $495,000 fine against six Clear Channel stations in April, said Infinity is leaving itself vulnerable by supporting the show.

"The best way for Infinity to avoid (government action) would be to say, "We made a mistake, we're going to rein Howard in,' " Thompson said. "Instead, they're playing chicken with the regulatory agency that controls their broadcast license. It makes no sense."

- Information from Times wires was used in this report.

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