I will start off by saying that I am not the biggest Howard Stern fan…That said, do I think that his move is a watershed movement against censorship or a shift from traditional radio? No. That movement started last year with podcasting…
Last year, we saw a big explosion of podcasts from people that want to be heard, and as a listener I can choose what I want to listen to. Be it Science, News, Humorous or Explicit, it is available for everyone to hear, world wide. Not just Satellite radio subscribers only in the US. I say that is the thumbing the nose to censorship and a shift from traditional radio.
I am sure that Howard Stern will be entertaining without his constraints to regular radio markets…but think of this…Why pay for Satellite Radio to listen to Howard Stern and all the100’s of other channels and shows that you will never listen to (You can’t there just isn’t that much time) when you can take that monthly payment, get an mp3 player, and support some podcasters and pick and choose the Free content that is available to you. I will dare say that podcasts are more entertaining, because the people that make them want to…and are not just getting paid to do it.
Howard Stern: King of the Future
Will Howard Stern’s rebirth on satellite radio eventually represent a pivotal shift in societal limits on censorship? The pervasiveness of material that historically has been deemed objectionable has proved almost impossible to avoid in an increasingly digitized world. Already, some studies claim that exposure to readily accessible online pornography has fundamentally altered youths’ attitudes toward sexual behavior.