
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, December 31, 1993                   TAG: 9312310166
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

FCC TARGETS RADIO STAR'S EMPLOYER

The Federal Communications Commission is raising the stakes in its campaign against Howard Stern, the New York radio personality whose on-air revels in scatological humor and sexual topics already have generated $1.2 million in fines.

The agency has decided to delay deals totaling $170 million by Infinity Broadcasting Corp., Stern's employer, to buy three big radio stations while the FCC ponders a new series of complaints about Stern's program. His show is heard by millions across the nation each weekday morning.

At a minimum, any delay past New Year's Day could cost Infinity several million dollars in financial penalties as a result of deadlines laid down in its purchase agreement for the largest of the stations, KRTH-FM of Los Angeles.

But agency officials say at least two of the three FCC commissioners who will vote on the matter favor blocking the purchases altogether - the first time any company would be barred from buying a station because of its record of sexually raucous programming.

Some FCC officials also are considering a full-scale legal proceeding to revoke one or more of the 20 valuable station licenses already held by Infinity.

"They've had violation after violation after violation," said James H. Quello, one of the agency commissioners. "We've already fined them all the way to $1.2 million."

The battle, which pits the constitutional right to freedom of speech against the responsibilities of broadcasters using the public airwaves, is likely to work its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

by CNB