Clear Channel Interested In Hiring Howard Stern If He Plays Nice

(HMG) – With Howard Stern’s  five-year, $500 million contract with current employer, Sirius XM Radio set to expire at the end of the year, speculation has swirled on whether the shock jock will sign a new contract or find greener pastures. Now the nation’s largest radio station owner, Clear Channel Communications is expressing interest in signing Stern to come back to FM radio.  The radio network already has a couple well known outspoken pundits, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

In 2006 Howard burned his free radio bridges, blasting his former employer, CBS, and its boss, Leslie Moonves, regularly on the air, and also got into a legal tussle with Clear Channel Communications after it stopped carrying his show in the wake of a Federal Communications Commission crackdown on indecency. John Hogan, CEO of Clear Channel’s radio division, told Bloomberg BusinessWeek earlier that the company’s interest depends on whether Stern would be willing to work within the limitations of over-the-air radio. As the LA Times writer Joe Flint reports, the plus side of Stern moving to satellite was that it freed him of scrutiny from the government, allowing him to say what he wants. The flip side of the coin is that since going to satellite Stern does not get the attention from the mainstream media and the general public that he used to command when he was on FM radio.  So will he take a likely pay cut to get more attention?