INDECENCY CHARGES FCC reaches settlement with Clear Channel

The broadcasting company dropped Howard Stern's radio show in February.
WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Communications Commission has reached a record-setting, nearly $2 million settlement with Clear Channel Communications Inc. that would clear the radio giant of all charges of indecency lodged against it, including on-air remarks made by shock jock Howard Stern, according to government and radio industry sources.
Stern was the cause of the previous record settlement between the FCC and a radio company. In 1995, Viacom Inc.-owned Infinity Broadcasting, which syndicates Stern's show in 35 cities, including Washington, paid the FCC $1.7 million to wipe away indecency charges against the popular host. Clear Channel dropped Stern's show from six stations in February.
The deal, which could be announced as early as today, is the result of months of negotiations between the FCC and Clear Channel, the nation's largest radio company with more than 1,250 stations, according to the sources, who declined to be identified because the details of the agreement have not been finalized.
Complaints cleared
Perhaps most important, one source said, the deal would not only cover Clear Channel's outstanding fines but dozens of listener complaints in the FCC's indecency pipeline that have not been ruled on. If those complaints became fines, they could cost the radio company millions.
After the FCC's enforcement bureau levies a fine, a broadcaster can choose to pay it, contest it or negotiate a settlement. It takes a majority vote of the FCC's five commissioners to demand a fine or accept a settlement, such as the one crafted between the FCC and Clear Channel lawyers Wiley Rein & amp; Fielding. Sources said the deal was approved by a vote of 4 to 1.
The FCC's three Republican commissioners -- Chairman Michael K. Powell, Kevin J. Martin and Kathleen Q. Abernathy -- voted for the settlement, according to sources on both sides. Democratic Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein agreed in part but Democrat Michael J. Copps voted against the settlement, according to FCC sources.