Yesterday I tuned into Howard Stern for 10 minutes on the morning radio show. I was treated to several people calling in extolling the virtues of having sexual intercourse with dead bodies.

Today, I listened for 10 minutes and the lineup was 1) making fun of the way Kirk Douglas talks now that he's had a stroke; 2) an airing of the soundtrack from a porn movie featuring a woman screaming during anal sex; and 3) a four year-old girl calling in singing "Jackie ain't nothing but a fat old drunk"

Now, I don't have any problem with adult entertainment, as long as its directed at adults. But why do you continue to support this man and his program when it is apparent that very young children are listening to his material?

-- not a prude, but not a pervert either (@ .), October 26, 2000

Answers

Cool! Unk has hisself a real live anon troll. Quality button-pushing. Well done.

-- Bingo1 (howe9@shentel.net), October 26, 2000.

Yep, definite 'quality' button pushing.

Passes Bingo a toast (with ice-water, of course:-)

Leans back and 'waits', hee hee.

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), October 26, 2000.

For clarification, I label the thread originator a troll because it calls upon a long-time forum regular by name in the thread title, yet hides itself in the shadows of anonymity.

I do believe the subject matter is worthy of discussion.

To address the following paragraph: "Now, I don't have any problem with adult entertainment, as long as its directed at adults. But why do you continue to support this man and his program when it is apparent that very young children are listening to his material?"

I do believe the program is directed toward adults. As you are probably aware, radio broadcast signals do not discriminate as to who's radio captures them, within the range of the signals themselves of course. As it should be in a purportedly free society, IMO.

Therefore, parents & guardians of these children to which you refer have the responsibility to say yea or nay as to whether the kids in their charge are to listen to Stern's program.

Or is Unk the role model for ALL God's children? Good Lord tell me this isn't the case, although it would explain a great deal...

Rich

-- Bingo1 (howe9@shentel.net), October 26, 2000.

Bingo1,

I guess you don't have a problem with your grandkids downloading beastiality at the local library either, huh?

-- not a prude, but not a pervert either (@ .), October 26, 2000.

Anon, I remind those grandkids of mine every night before bed: "ALL bestiality downloads must be approved by me." Period. I am the alpha dog. ALL my many children and grandchildren accede to MY dictates or else!

Rich

-- Bingo1 (howe9@shentel.net), October 26, 2000.

I don't find Howard Stern to be adult entertainment at all. I find it to be juvenile delinquent entertainment.

-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), October 26, 2000.

Bing--

Yes, Unc Deedah is a long time forum regular but that isn't his "name". Unlike you, I don't think he has ever published is real first name on the Forum. "not a prude's" question was valid and, as a Stern enthusiast, Unc should have no trouble answering it.

Your remarks about parents and guardians saying yea or nay about whether their kids listen to Stern is a little disingenuous. C'mon, get real.

IMO, Stern is a whore (a funny whore) and the stations that play him are whorehouses.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), October 26, 2000.

As I stated, the anon's question is valid. This is why I posted a response. I think it is cowardly to challenge a regular in a thread title when the originator hides behind complete anonymity. I'll continue to beat this horse for as long as I post on this forum, Lars. Unk has been around since fall of 1998, he provides an email address, he chats, he posted pictures, etc. HeBs a known entity.

My comments regarding my "grandkids", of which I have none, were disingenuous. I hesitated posting that paragraph but I really don't give a shit that the anon or anyone else might not know this fact. I posted it to be disingenuous, to offer up my distaste for anonymous button-pushers. I've been off the board for a bit, so maybe this anon and Unk have been engaged in discussions lately. If so, my bad.

Lars, how was I disingenuous regarding parents laying down the law to their kids? I sure as hell didnBt listen as a kid, so I'm not operating from some dream world where all kids actually do as they are taught. But it IS the parents responsibility to instill guidelines for what their kids say and do. Please awaken me to the REAL as you experience it. Should this type of programming be censored? Banned? What?

Lastly, I don't listen to Stern or his ilk. I did occasionally as a teenager in NJ, when he was broadcasting on WNBC, 660 on your AM dial. People I know who do listen to his show these days tell me the format hasn't changed. He's lewd, crude, rude and VERY popular.

One personBs whorehouse is another's route to getting through the day. Not my cup of tea, so I don't tune in. Pretty simple really.

Rich

-- Bingo1 (howe9@shentel.net), October 26, 2000.

Bingo--

Well, free speech is a tricky business, I totally admit it. I think the argument against broadcasting sleazy material is akin to the argument against pollution. Stern, or anyone who broadcasts over public radio spectrums is not legally permitted to "pollute" this public resource. I don't know the relevant FCC legalities but I am sure that free-speech on the public airwaves is not extended to hate-mongerers, pedophiliacs, etc.

If Stern did in fact do this--

Today, I listened for 10 minutes and the lineup was 1) making fun of the way Kirk Douglas talks now that he's had a stroke; 2) an airing of the soundtrack from a porn movie featuring a woman screaming during anal sex; and 3) a four year-old girl calling in singing "Jackie ain't nothing but a fat old drunk"

then I'd bet that he is pushing the FCC limit. At least I hope so.

I don't think children can be prevented from hearing what is broadcast over radio and TV. If it is there, they will listen. It is not censureship to put some limits on what is broadcast. There is always the freedom to publish. There is always the Internet.

I do retract one thing I said about Stern. I think I have a sense of humor but I rarely, if ever, find him funny.

I don't retract calling him a whore. I don't retact calling his stations whorehouses. He is venal. He sells his God-given ("natural" if you prefer) talents for the highest dollar for the purpose of human exploitatation. The man has talent--think what he could do with it if he tried even a little to be positive. Shoot, the skies the limit. He could be a Don Imus!

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), October 26, 2000.

Now Don Imus is one negative, crabby, pompous a**hole. The only redeeming factor about his show is that he presents politicians and spinmeisters on a daily basis. What a jerk.

And I disagree wholeheartedly about the airwaves. One should be allowed to broadcast anything beyond issues of national security and copyrighted material, though I know nothing in these areas, really. Just a guess. No one is forced to tune into a particular frequency. Period.

-- Bingo1 (howe9@shentel.net), October 26, 2000.

Sorry, rushed but a few more items.

Books and magazines cost money to the end user (except for libraries which filter availability of works) and require financing, publishers, vendors to get distributed. The internet requires an ISP, computer and can be censored by the ISP before content ever gets to the end user.

A cheap radio costs a few bucks. That's all the end user requires. There's no censorship (shortwave is another kettle of fish) once the signal gets out.

-- Bingo1 (howe9@shentel.net), October 26, 2000.

Stern has been off the air here for a while, the station he was on was bought-out and they switched to redneck music. Talk about obscene!

Why am I to answer for those parents who do not control their kids? Are you concerned that these kids will desire to have sex with corpses simply because someone else said they enjoyed it? Did it have that effect on you? If someone told me that they enjoyed sex with a cow it would not make me want to date a Holstein. And most curious of all, why is it that you cannot tear yourself away from his show? You listen more than I do, ya pervert. 10 minutes my ass.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), October 26, 2000.

Lars, who of us has never compromised his or her principles either for financial gain or to avoid financial loss. There aren't many jobs that don't require compromise to some degree. What do you feel separates Stern from the rest of us (besides $$).

-- David L (bumpkin@dnet.net), October 26, 2000.

"Never" is a tough word David. To answer you qustion though, dignity comes to mind.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), October 26, 2000.

Granted, Stern isn't what most people would consider "dignified." On the other hand, my impression from having listened is that he wouldn't have something on his show that he didn't find funny. So I think he may be about as far from "whore" as is possible in the entertainment industry.

Unk, you mention not wanting to date a Holstein. Maybe you just haven't met the right one.

-- David L (bumpkin@dnet.net), October 26, 2000.

Lenny Bruce was funny David. Best, he pointed the finger at all of us when declaring "it's all tits and ass". Maybe it's a generational thing but I certainly hope what I've seen of Stern isn't that same finger. He might be the *best* pimp on the block but he's still a pimp.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), October 26, 2000.

Brian, do you have an opinion here? An opinion of the airwaves as part of the "commons", not an opinion of the entertainment quality of Stern. Just curious, anxious to find at least one thing to agree with you on.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), October 26, 2000.

Unk, you and others seem to want to dilute the issue and pretend that if I would just quit listening to the show, the issues I raise would go away.

This is not about censorship or Stern's talents. It is not about whether you and I can tell that he's just making fun of perverse material. My point is that kids don't even have to like or listen to Stern: the damage is done when they see how their adult role models accept Stern as normal entertainment. What will these kids grow up to value?

Maybe a better question would be:

Is there anything that Stern could broadcast that you WOULD find morally reprehensible?

Call me old fashioned, but I believe that we need to restrict broadcasts like Stern's for the same reason you used to lock the bedroom door: so you wouldn't be screwing your ole' lady in front of the kids.

-- not a prude, but not a pervert either (@ .), October 26, 2000.

You're old fashioned.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), October 26, 2000.

OK, now that I got that out of my system.

This is not about censorship or Stern's talents. Followed by...but I believe that we need to restrict broadcasts like Stern's...

So it's not about censorship, it's about...ummm....help me out here. That which we call a rose would by any other name...

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), October 26, 2000.

So there is nothing you would find reprehensible?

And you let your kids peek?

-- not a prude, but not a pervert either (@ .), October 26, 2000.

not a prude,
If an adult listens to a given radio program only in privacy, how would his or her children have any idea what their parent thinks of that broadcaster. Whether to be discreet about tuning in should be up to the parent, not the state.

-- David L (bumpkin@dnet.net), October 26, 2000.

not a prude, you wrote: "...the damage is done when they see how their adult role models accept Stern as normal entertainment..."

So how do you suppose this is anyone's fault but those supposed "role models"?

Sorry, but this goes back to the question of Responsibility, and the Responsibility lies with their parents; no one else.

-- Patricia (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), October 26, 2000.

Last I heard,Stern fell into the category of "shock jock",a schtick, embelished to keep the audience guessing as to what outlandish act or sentence would come next.His ratings certainly attest to the fact that this works very well for him and his audience.

He's on a tight rope with the FCC,he knows from experience exactly how far he can go and where he may not.Personally,I don't watch his cable show because to me it's boring and often to base for even me.That's why God made the remote.

-- capnfun (capnfun1@excite.com), October 27, 2000.

I've never seen [or heard] Stern's show, but I did watch a show called Jerry Springer a few years ago when I kept the T.V. on for background noise. I watched it three days in a row, because I thought the first day must have been a fluke. I later learned that the folks at the type-B facility at which my mom resides tune into Springer regularly. Wheel of Fortune is second to Jerry Springer at the old folks' homes.

I'll be going over to see mom and her friends next Wednesday. If I remember, I'll ask them if they ever catch Stern.

BTW, I agree completely that PARENTS should be monitoring what their children see/do. I know some of them don't, but that doesn't mean that the rest of us are responsible. I'm reminded of a time I did some student-teaching in a 2nd-grade class. One 7-year old met me with the news that she'd watched the Texas Chain Saw Massacre the night before. You don't want to know my thoughts on her parents.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), October 27, 2000.

Heavens to Betsy! 'Nita,

"...the folks at the type-B facility at which my mom resides tune into Springer regularly."

You've entered into the Twilight Zone where the children might have to monitor what their parents 'see/do'.

-- flora (***@__._), October 27, 2000.

Once a man & twice a child.

FWIW, I believe this allows for kids who dis their parents to have an opportunity to make up for it, relieve any existing guilt through service, perhaps. This reversal of roles also affords perspective on one's lifetime, places the ever-present shadow of death firmly into everyday consciousness - where it should be, IMO.

-- Bingo1 (howe9@shentel.net), October 27, 2000.

Flora:

Did you see the movie The Green Mile with Tom Hanks? It's EXCELLENT, and if you haven't, you should rent it ASAP. The movie begins with Tom watching T.V. at an old folks' home and a Springer- like show is what all the folks are watching. Someone asks, "Why are we watching this junk?" One elderly woman yells out, "Because it's interesting." He changed the channel, and that began the story of The Green Mile.

I think there's an excitement in these types of shows that appeal to folks who don't have a whole of which to look forward in their own lives. You might remember the time I took my mom to Hypermart and put her in one of those battery-operated carts, except one had to push the handle-bars forward to stop and I treated it like a horse and pulled back. We hit EVERYTHING, and hit it at great speed. I'm sure they were grateful when we left. Mom said, "Never again!", and her friends said, "Take ME next time. That sure sounded more exciting than anything that ever happens around here."

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), October 27, 2000.

'Nita,

We were just talking about renting that movie, thanks for the recommendation.

Our crazy scouts did a Jerry Springer show for a campfire show a couple of summers ago. My son was thrilled to be one of the hos in the catfight over their bad man. Chairs were thrown, shills in the audience joined in the fray. Times have changed, & in a way they haven't. Though it surely wasn't the Globe Theater, I wish I'd seen the teens with two paper cups tied across their chests for bazooms.

As for the old folks, I used to think that nintendo games would be great in some of those environments. Some folks would get much enjoyment from role playing games, or logic puzzle games. I hope when it's our time, we might have more interesting & involving options.

-- flora (***@__._), October 27, 2000.

Anita: Great movie, loved it so much I watched it 2x and for me, its a record. The opening scene was great.

The mouse, ohhh the mouse, hee hee.

I enjoyed your story bout your mom, hope she is doing well.

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), October 27, 2000.