(BTW it’s interesting to note how attenuated regulatory reach has become, in that it’s really only premised on the “public airwaves.” I’m not anti-regulation, but it seems to me we should trust people to make their own decisions about what information they want to consume. Banning Stern and others from the “public” airwaves does very little, in the end, save create “private” channels outside of regulatory (and therefore common cultural) reach. In other words, by forcing our citizens to make choices outside of our attenuated cultural commons, by refusing to be inclusive in what we allow into the public space, we are weakening our social fabric, driving conversation underground, and lessening the trust and responsibility which binds us as a society. Is that a good thing?)
Notwithstanding the larger regulatory questions, Stern leaving radio and heading for the Net could be a great thing – for the Net, in any case (it’s also quite unlikely, but…). If he did, it would create all sorts of interesting issues from the standpoint of programming and UI. The program is predicated on real-time community – the call ins, the references to breaking news, etc. When it heads to the internet, it will, I would hope, be wrapped in all sorts of new media forms – time shifted, cut and pasted, linked, etc. The show will change, for sure, and many, many new shows will thrive in the traces Stern would create. If Stern does do this, I hope he and his folks think it through. They shouldn’t adopt a Clear Channel/Viacom/Comcast-like approach to the Web, but instead try to do something that feels native. Stern has a chance to be an innovator in a new medium. He already has plenty of money. Why not try this?
Though I don’t listen to Stern much, I’ll warrant I’d listen to a lot more if it were on the web, and searchable. Some of his bits are amazing, many are lame, and some are really offensive. But it’d be great to pick and choose, like we do with blog items, news reports, and most other media on the web. Stern being Stern, he’d also figure out how to make money on the show, which is not a bad thing for web media models to boot.
In any case, it’ll be fun to watch what happens next. My guess is that nothing happens, he gets a slap on the wrist, everyone promises to play nice, and nothing changes till the next election cycle. But you never know.