October 21, 2005
Here's some good news.
So-called "Shock Jock" Howard Stern is losing listeners.
Stern, who will be paid $100 million a year to spew his filth on sirius radio starting in January, suffered what the Washington Post calls a "dramatic fall" in the summer audience ratings.
Sterns share of radio's most lucrative audience - adults age 25 to 54 - fell by nearly one third during the July-September period, bottoming out at 3.4 percent.
That is the lowest rating for Stern in years and possibly decades.
My own view is that even people who enjoy Stern get bored with raunch.
Filth has to get more and more outrageous, otherwise people won't listen.
And it must get worse and worse or people have heard it all before.
Pretty soon, you've reached your limits.
How many dirty jokes and comments about body parts and sex can one deliver before people begin to yawn and want something else?
I wish that stern's falling ratings meant a return to decency, but sadly I don't think that's the reason.
Still, it's nice to see him in ratings trouble and one hopes he will soon be gone from all media.
I'm Cal Thomas in Washington.
Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.
