Infinity Puts Stern Where Its Mouth Is; Host Vows to ‘Fight On’

Howard Stern is coming back to several of the markets where Clear Channel dropped him in February over indecency concerns.
His employer, Infinity, is adding “The Howard Stern Show” to its stations in San Diego, KPLN(FM); Pittsburgh, WBZZ(FM); Orlando, WOCL(FM); and Rochester, WZNE(FM).
Clear Channel also dropped Stern in Fort Lauderdale and Louisville. Infinity is adding Stern in West Palm Beach, WPBZ(FM); it does not have a station in Louisville, but is adding Stern to Houston, KIKK(AM); Austin, KQBT(FM); Fresno, KRNC(FM) and Tampa, WQYK(AM).
“I can’t wait to get back into the markets where we were taken off,” the company quoted Stern as saying. “I’ve missed my fans, and judging from the countless e-mails and calls I’ve received, they’ve missed the show.”
This brings the number of stations that carry Stern to 45, including 27 Infinity O&Os.
Stern also “vowed to fight on” Wednesday morning, according to MTV.com, “announcing that he is not headed for the FCC-free waters of satellite radio, but rather will keep his show right where it is. … ‘We are going to fight back,’ Stern told reporters.”
About Clear Channel’s decision to yank him from its stations, Stern said, “This is a joke and a smokescreen that it’s about sex … I dared to go on the air and say that I do not support George W. Bush, I support John Kerry … all of a sudden, Clear Channel took me off the air in six markets. When you criticize the president, you get thrown off the air,” MTV quoted Stern as saying.