Howard Stern Suspended For A Day!



(image via chron)

It's a thorny thing these last few weeks of Howard Stern on free radio. On the one-hand, Infinity Radio needs Stern, for the ad revenue he generates for the company. On the other hand, though, try controlling him with regards to his on-air plugs for satellite radio, or, as he calls it, "erhr-ehr, ehr-er."

And if you punish him, as the sour and embittered Infinity CEO Joel Hollander just did, well, then you only reward him with free publicity like the free publicity The Corsair and a thousand bloggers will be doing doing, no doubt, as well.

According to Matt Flamm at Craine's NewYorkBusiness:

"Howard Stern will be taking a rest on Tuesday, courtesy of his employers at Infinity Broadcasting Corp. The 'King of All Media' was suspended with pay for one day for talking too much about Sirius Satellite Radio, where he is moving his show in January. He has become an increasing annoyance for his current employer with seemingly nonstop promotion of the satellite service and diatribes against Infinity, a division of Viacom Inc.

�'He�s been doing that a lot, and I�m sure he�ll continue to do it,' said a media buyer ... Despite his promotion of the competition, Infinity has kept Mr. Stern on the air to take advantage of the premiums advertisers pay to appear on his show. According to a radio insider, a 'live read' on the Howard Stern Show -- in which the host promotes the product himself -- can cost as much as $5,000. Running a taped commercial on the show, as WXRK will do tomorrow, costs about half that. Tomorrow morning, the shock jock�s fans will hear a 'best of' the Howard Stern Show on WXRK-FM and in the more than 20 markets around the country where the show still airs."

The full story here. And, of course, on Howardstern.com