Stern shows remorse for cancer remark

NEWSDAY
A contrite Howard Stern? Maybe the big move to satellite radio next month is making the big guy a little soft.
In an interview with Ed Bradley to air on tonight's "60 Minutes," Stern seems to offer some remorse for his comments about former Federal Communications Commission chairman and Stern antagonist Al Sikes, for whom he had "prayed" for a recurrence of cancer.
He tells Bradley, "You know what, I don't know that I would do that now. I'm older," said Stern, 51, adding, "when I get angry and really fired up and feel like my back is up against the wall, I will say vicious things. Rather than hide that, I would rather put that out on the radio and let someone see the full range of emotions."
At the time of the Sikes remark -- 1992 -- Stern employer Infinity Broadcasting had been hit with a series of fines over on-air remarks. Bradley asks whether the move to Sirius satellite radio next month represented a final victory for the FCC, but Stern said, "You could choose to look at it that way, but I don't. I look at it that I won. I go to a new medium. I'm uncensored, and for me, it's a checkmate."
Sikes is doing fine. He's a consultant for the Hearst Corp. and is on several boards, notably the Reading Excellence and Discovery Foundation.