So, what do you do when your flagship presenter keeps plugging his new show on a rival station on your primetime slot? But you know that if you sack him for it that new radio show will just get even more publicity - and he'll get to switch to the opposition quicker - which is what he wants anyway? I am guessing you just have to grin and bear it.
Probably not best to suspend him for a day - because that gives him the publicity without stopping him from using your airtime to sell the opposition in the future. But nevertheless, that is what US radio giant Infinity did to Howard Stern who, as previously reported, is using his Infinity produced US-wide radio show to tell everyone to go to their rivals - satellite broadcaster Sirius - where he will start a new show in the New Year.
Stern was off the air for one day only on Tuesday morning after an altercation with the General Manager of Infinity's flagship station K-rock over his constant Sirius plugging. An announcement was made after Monday's show that Stern would not be back the next day. He returned yesterday waxing lyrical about his day off the air, though he was keen to stress that he had no hard feelings against Infinity, adding that a meeting between him, his agent and Infinity chairman Joel Hollander on Tuesday had cleared the air.
Recalling the meeting, Stern told his listeners: "I sat quietly and listened to Joel and then finally he stopped talking and I had nothing to say. Look, this whole thing is really dumb. This is just stupid. I have twenty-two shows left. I have all along maintained the same thing. I am happy with whoever replaces me. I don't feel competitive with David Lee Roth and Adam Carolla and Rover and The Sports Guys. I don't feel competitive with these people. I wish them the best of luck. It has been an amazing experience working for Viacom, and more importantly, Infinity for twenty years. We all came to this company early on when it was a couple of radio stations. Through hard work, not only mine, but Joel's, Tom's, and a lot of people who work here at this radio station every day, the show was successful. The company was successful. We were able to buy CBS and merge with them and then merge with Viacom. This is a very big success story."
Still, it must have been tense for a while, because there are reports that Stern's producer started clearing his desk after the suspension was announced.