ting and speaking. As most of us are aware, many communities are dissimilar and comprised ofmany people who might have different outlooks on what indecent material would consist of. This new regulation sparked much protest against Howard Stern from many communities and individuals because the FCC essentially made the "citizen" the watchdog. If one person in a community heard Howard Stern, or any broadcaster, say something that was offensive to them and reported it to the FCC, the FCC was required to take action and administer penalties. With this new regulation many watchdog groups and campaigns formed with the soul purpose to "remove the obscene and indecent Howard Stern from the airwaves."(Stern, 1995) One with great influence in particular was the "Morality in America Campaign" headed by a minister from Mississippi named Donald E. Wildmon. Mr. Wildmon, famous for these types of protests, wrote a heavily promoted national letter writing campaign to the FCC by sending out flyers to communities across the nation. Because of this action the chairman of the FCC, Alfred Sikes, took a closer look at Howard Stern and decided that his show was indecent and issued the corporationthat represents Stern, Infinity Broadcasting, a warning. This warning brought publicity to Infinity Broadcasting. Ratings soared and revenue was high. Stern became such a center of attention that Infinity decided to keep The Howard Stern Show running . Mr. Wildmon's organization still pushed for "morality in America" and caused Howard Stern and Infinity Broadcasting to receive more fines than anyone in the history of radio, 1.7 million dollars worth. After years of protest and behind the scenes disputes Infinity Broadcasting paid the 1.7 million dollars in fines to the FCC on September 3, 1995. The FCC's authority was boldly challenged by Howard Stern and the fines sent a clear message to other broadcasters that the FCC would not tolerate indecent material ov...
