Stern as ‘Talent’ judge? Group says no

Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES

Does the Parents Television Council have a Howard Stern bias?

Rumors that Stern is being considered as the new judge for the NBC talent competition show “America’s Got Talent” has the advocacy group fired up, and they are instructing NBC to vote him out of consideration, saying he is not appropriate for the family-friendly series.

“If the rumors are true that NBC is considering the addition of radio shock-jock Howard Stern to the ‘America’s Got Talent’ judges table, the result will be the alienation of tens of millions of advertising dollars,” said PTC President Tim Winter in a statement. “Such a move smacks of desperation by the once-proud peacock network. Any short-term buzz from Stern’s shock value will result in a longer-term decline as families abandon the show for more suitable programming.”

Rumors about Stern began circulating last week following the announcement that judge Piers Morgan was departing to concentrate on his CNN talk show.

WInter added that it was been “25 years since (NBC) legendary network president Grant Tinker fired Howard Stern ‘because he was disgusting.”’ Stern worked for the network’s flagship New York radio station WNBC at the time.

“Bringing Stern to a program like ’America’s Got Talent’ is decidedly a bad business decision,” Winter said. “We hope the executives at NBC realize it before Stern has an opportunity to sucker-punch families who tune in for a talent show.”