Giving In to the FCC and Editing Stern

As a listener of KLSX-FM and a believer in free speech, I was disturbed to find that the station is editing Howard Stern’s broadcasts (“Editing of Stern Show Admitted,” March 12). Greater Media Inc. Executive Vice President Tom Milewski finds it necessary to monitor the East Coast broadcast to take out objectionable parts before L.A. listeners hear them.

While the Federal Communications Commission has given Greater Media a $105,000 fine for indecent broadcasting, that’s no reason for the company to buckle under and start censoring Stern’s show. They are sacrificing First Amendment rights for profits, and in the process they will kill the goose that lays the golden ratings.

How does Milewski decide what to cut? “It’s very difficult,” he says. Why doesn’t Milewski do something really difficult, like facing tough situations when they come up? A $105,000 fine is not going to break his company, which must have earned many times that in profits from Stern’s No. 1-rated show. But the editing could dull the broadcast’s sharp edge and lose listeners and ratings.

The fine hasn’t yet been collected, and a lawsuit to stop the FCC is pending. By giving in so early, Greater Media is sending the wrong message. If radio station owners won’t stand up for free speech, who will?

LAURA BROWN

Pasadena