Howard Stern is coming back to the Pittsburgh airwaves. Starting July 19, he'll be on mornings (6 to 10 a.m.) on WBZZ-FM, replacing the "Dave-Bubba-Brian-Shelley" morning show.

		Previous article Broadcast giant takes whack at shock radio (2/27/04)

In February, Clear Channel, citing concerns about indecency, dropped Stern's show from its six stations that carried it, including WXDX-FM here. Stern held a press conference on yesterday's show, which was carried locally on WBZZ (93.7), to announce that nine stations were picking up his show, including six markets where it hasn't been airing: Pittsburgh; Houston; San Diego; Tampa, Fla.; Orlando, Fla.; Austin, Texas; West Palm Beach, Fla.; Rochester, N.Y.; and Fresno, Calif. That brings the number of markets carrying Stern to 45, with 27 of them owned and operated by Infinity.

"I can't wait to get back into the markets where we were taken off," Stern said in a statement yesterday. "I've missed my fans, and judging from the countless e-mails and calls I've received, they've missed the show."

Since he's been off the air here, Stern has railed against Clear Channel. He and his supporters feel that the decision to drop him came about because of his anti-Bush administration statements in recent months, and not because of alleged indecency on his program. Stern called the situation "a cultural war" on the air yesterday.

The decision to bring Stern back was made locally, and not by its parent company, says Michael Young, senior vice president and Infinity Pittsburgh market manager. "Stern is undoubtedly the premier host in the country," Young said.

Following Stern's show yesterday, WBZZ announced a switch from its long-running contemporary hits format to a classic and modern rock format: 937/K-Rock, The Rock of Pittsburgh. The station will be changing its call letters soon.

The WBZZ morning team said their farewells on yesterday's show. Young said some of the nine WBZZ staffers affected may be hired for the new format, and others may be picked up by Infinity's three other stations here (KDKA-AM, WDSY-FM and WZPT-FM).

The un-silencing of Howard Stern by Infinity-owned WBZZ and the promotion of Alan Cox to morning drive on Clear Channel-owned WXDX are part of a much bigger deal -- aggressive moves in the battle for dominance between two broadcasting giants.

Re-introducing Stern to Pittsburgh morning drive is designed to make a dent in Clear Channel's morning drive assets, including Jim Krenn and Randy Baumann on WDVE, the new Alan Cox show and Jim Quinn on all-talk WPGB-FM.

When WXDX lost Stern in February, its morning drive ratings plummeted sharply to ninth place among total listeners in the winter 2004 Arbitron book, compared to third place in winter 2003. Post-Stern, WXDX fell to number 7 in the target 25- to 54-year-old group, down from a consistent second place behind WDVE.

Contemporary hits WBZZ-FM had been sharing audience with Clear Channel's WKST-FM. Switching to a classic and modern rock mix now pits it against WXDX and WDVE-FM, as well as classic rock WRRK-FM.

It was Stern's availability and popularity among listeners here, and not so much the WBZZ-WKST rivalry that triggered the decision to drop a 23-year-old format, says Keith Clark, vice president of programming for Infinity Pittsburgh. "The fact that Howard Stern was available to us was an opportunity we couldn't pass up."

Addressing the issue of declining ratings for WBZZ, Young said: "It's been a very successful Top 40 for 23 years. But radio evolves and changes." He cites the ratings success of sister station WZPT-FM (100.7) (Star 100.7). Former WBZZ morning host John Cline is now on the Star morning team. "We created Star to be a comfortable home for people who loved B94 in the '80s and '90s," Clark adds.

Meanwhile, the competition is also circling the wagons. Clear Channel senior vice president of programming Gene Romano thinks Cox will hold his own against Stern in keeping listeners tuned to Stern's former home on The X. "Alan lives the lifestyle He's not a 50-year-old Howard."

Romano also doesn't believe moving Cox to mornings will have an impact on the dominance of sister station WDVE's morning show, which is consistently No. 2 among total listeners and No. 1 among 25- to 54-year-olds. "The WDVE morning show is a unique animal. It has an incredibly loyal audience. It's a different audience from the one Alan will be targeting."

Although WXDX lost ground in morning drive without Stern, Romano notes that the station has held steady at other times of the day while other Clear Channel stations that dropped Stern "took an enormous hit."

As for WBZZ"s format change, Romano calls it "a desperate move by Infinity in Pittsburgh."

Now WBZZ is up against WDVE, WXDX, WPGB and WRRK, Romano says. "All of those other stations have an identity in the market already. [WBZZ] won't have any distinct format position after Stern: After 10 o'clock, they won't have anything."