FCC Probes Three More Stern Outlets : Radio: The agency could levy more fines if the stations aired the same indecent Howard Stern material that resulted in a record penalty against KLSX.

Following the record $105,000 fine imposed by the Federal Communications Commission on KLSX-FM (97.1) for broadcasting indecent material during Howard Stern’s morning radio program last year, the regulatory agency is now turning its attention to three other stations that aired the same broadcasts.

On Wednesday afternoon, the FCC sent a letter to Infinity Broadcasting Corp., which owns Stern’s New York-based show, asking if the material that was cited in its fine against KLSX in Los Angeles also aired on three other stations that were carrying the Stern program last winter--WXRK-FM in New York, WJFK-FM in Washington and WYSP-FM in Philadelphia.

Bob Ratcliffe, assistant chief of law in the agency’s mass media bureau, said that Infinity must respond to the inquiry within seven days. After that, the FCC will decide whether to take action against those stations. It is “certainly a possibility,” he said, that they could also be fined as KLSX was.

Stern, whose morning talk show is No. 1 in Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia, views the FCC actions as a way for the government to stop the spread of his program nationally, along with a host of “shock” radio imitators he has spawned. The program currently is heard in nine markets and is due to add a tenth Nov. 9.

On his program Thursday morning, Stern said: “I know what they’re doing. What they’re saying is, ‘Hey, the rest of you radio stations out there, don’t hire Howard Stern. Or we’re going to get you.’ But you know what, that’s not going to stop me, because nobody’s going to pay any fines, and everybody sees right through this ruse.”

Jeff Pollack, head of Pollack Media Group, a Los Angeles consulting firm for MTV and 100 radio stations worldwide, also saw the commission’s move as ominous. “This is war now. This is a declaration of war between the FCC and radio stations,” he said.

The $105,000 fine was described by people in the radio industry as a “staggering” and “unbelievable” amount, even given that KLSX was the No. 14 station in Los Angeles last year in advertising revenue with $15.5 million in billings, according to the industry publication American Radio.

Similar fines to other radio stations in the past have ranged from $2,000 to $15,000. The FCC said that KLSX’s penalty was higher because of the quantity of violations.

“There’s no question that the heightened awareness of something like this in the markets where Howard is in certainly will create attention, word of mouth and interest in listening to the show,” Pollack said. “But I think it will have an impact in markets where Howard is not in yet, as stations assess the liability of adding his show. It certainly will have a chilling effect in terms of the eagerness to pick up Howard Stern in other markets.”

Tom Milewski, executive vice president of Greater Media Inc., which owns KLSX, agreed that the FCC is making a strong statement with its actions. He said that his company will require the full 30 days--and may ask for additional time--to respond to the FCC charges. If the commission is not persuaded by Greater Media’s defense and does not rescind the fine, Milewski said, the matter most likely will go to court.

“The FCC sent us 18 pages of transcripts,” he said. “We obviously have not finished going through each and every line and phrase in there. But we do know at this point that the transcripts include material that in the past the FCC has not found to be indecent.”

Stern said Thursday that he believes FCC Chairman Al Sikes has a personal vendetta against him. But the FCC claims to have no quarrel with Stern.

“I don’t know why he believes that,” the FCC’s Ratcliffe said. “To my knowledge there’s no truth to that at all. We have fined other stations, too. It just happens that there are more complaints about Stern, so that leads to lots of investigations. Some of the complaints are not properly documented, and therefore not actionable, and some are well-grounded. The commission does not go out of its way to monitor him.”

The FCC only investigates indecent programming after a complaint has been made. Al Westcott, the Las Vegas man who filed the complaint against KLSX last year when he was living in Los Angeles, spent three months listening to Stern’s show and kept careful notes and recordings to provide the agency.

The FCC defines indecent broadcasting as “material that depicts or describes in a manner that is patently offensive under community standards for the broadcast medium sexual or excretory functions, activities or organs.”

Stern complained about the vagueness of that definition and some industry observers agreed that it will no longer suffice.

“A fine that large will certainly cause broadcasters everywhere from now on to analyze what they put on the radio,” said John Lund, head of the Lund Consultants to Broadcast Management in San Francisco. “Ultimately, perhaps as a result of all this, someone is going to have to define what obscenity is. Someone is going to have to write a legal document defining what you can and cannot say on the radio. This all comes down to censorship, and it will be amazing to see what happens.”